The Foxes boss said his players did their best against the Carabao Cup holders but some fans questioned his choice of personnel on the pitch.
Claude Puel has claimed that Leicester City’s players could not be faulted for the performance they put up in Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at the King Power Stadium.
The holders took the lead after just 14 minutes through Kevin De Bruyne’s low drive into the bottom corner of Danny Ward’s net.
Leicester regrouped at the break and found themselves level on 73 minutes when Marc Albrighton latched on to Wilfred Ndidi’s ball over the top before slamming home.
However, the ensuing penalty shootout saw the Foxes fail three attempts as Pep Guardiola’s side went on to reach the semi-finals of the competition.
“Of course, I’m disappointed for my players because they gave their best,” Puel told the official club website. “They worked hard on the pitch and showed togetherness. I think we had quality.
“Sometimes, we played under pressure in the first half, but we had good organisation and in the second half we played with more quality, with more confidence. Step by step, we’re improving our play.”
Some Leicester fans were not pleased with Puel following the defeat and, although they didn’t disagree with the comments regarding the players having had a good try, they blamed the manager for having picked the ones he did.
Here is what some Foxes supporters had to say on Twitter in reaction to the Frenchman’s comments:
Leicester will now hope to get back to winning ways going into the busy festive period but, with Chelsea away and Man City at home in the Premier League, it looks as though Puel will have to pull out all the stops to placate the murmurs from sections of the fanbase.
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