Puel's decision to leave Adrien Silva out of the first team squad and make him train with the under-23s was criticized by the player's father, who accused the manager of unfairly "picking on his son". A shock 2–1 FA Cup third round defeat to League Two club Newport County on 6 January 2019, in which Puel was jeered by Leicester fans for fielding an understrength side, was voted by BBC viewers as the biggest upset of the competition. After six league games without a win, Puel was sacked by Leicester on 24 February 2019, following a defeat at home to Crystal Palace the previous day.