Steve Cooper - New Manager

[volpeazzurro]

1 hour ago, Blue-fox said:

The players aren’t good enough to play a possession based game in the premier league. 
 

Hes obviously looked at this and thought we need to sit back and hit teams on the counter. Which is absolutely fine. I think this is our best chance to stay up this season. We aren’t going to attract better quality players unless we can stay in the league this season. 
 

Looking at the other teams that will be around us, Ipswich/southampton/everton etc…. I think we have a chance. 

As long as he gets his team selections right. Assuming he keeps the same formation and these players remain fit, he needs to dump JJ, Ndidi and Reid in favour of Ricardo, Skipp and Mavididi!

[Kierzz]

1 hour ago, Blue-fox said:

The players aren’t good enough to play a possession based game in the premier league. 
 

Hes obviously looked at this and thought we need to sit back and hit teams on the counter. Which is absolutely fine. I think this is our best chance to stay up this season. We aren’t going to attract better quality players unless we can stay in the league this season. 
 

Looking at the other teams that will be around us, Ipswich/southampton/everton etc…. I think we have a chance. 

We are defending too deep to launch counter attacks.

 

Players aren't able to make the normal runs down the channels as they start from so deep like Fatawu

[SafewayFox]

5 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Such a poor response and dare I say fishing for a fight. This is a Leicester City forum. You asked for it, so here it is. The fella who wrote the original has asked a genuine set of questions which should worry every single one of us. But unless you’re happy clappy (your words), you’re moaning ?. The football club has dropped so significantly, we are burdened by a training ground that believe me, ten years or more in the Championship just won’t cut it. I don’t understand that if someone has very little insight why they’d want to create an argument on genuine points. They’ve ****ed it so badly that if as fans you’re not questioning it every time you log on here, go to the ground etc. it’s weird. 
 

So sorry if it’s tiresome for you but getting behind the team and questioning the hierarchy is not mutually bound. The hierarchy need these questions presented to them on a daily basis. 
 

 

I actually think @Dahnsouff does come off reasonable most of the time but normally tries to create a healthy challenge….ideal for what we’re all on a forum about the club we’ve loved for years.

 

However, I agree that this mornings one probably didn’t hit the mark nor read the room….one positive though he didn’t do personal insults which so many of the Top/Rudkin fans seem to come out with.

[Turtle27]

If we sort our attack out we actually don’t have a bad team on paper, the issue is the tactics if we sit off and let teams come at us and don’t press them we won’t survive and that’s down to the manager. We might have won the league playing this way but it’s not the same team and the leagues a lot different, the mid table teams now such as Brighton are better than the mid table teams back in 2015 such as Stoke. 

[Collymore]

I feel that foxestalk could be looked at very impatient and negative, or as I would put it, 'first to see the warning signs'

 

It sometimes feels like a different set of fans supporting another club when you hear them call up on 606 with differing opinions to the main consensus on here. 

 

Most of the times these fan struggle to pronounce the names of players which says a lot though!

 

 

Edited 25 August by Collymore

[Dahnsouff]

10 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Such a poor response and dare I say fishing for a fight. This is a Leicester City forum. You asked for it, so here it is. The fella who wrote the original has asked a genuine set of questions which should worry every single one of us. But unless you’re happy clappy (your words), you’re moaning ?. The football club has dropped so significantly, we are burdened by a training ground that believe me, ten years or more in the Championship just won’t cut it. I don’t understand that if someone has very little insight why they’d want to create an argument on genuine points. They’ve ****ed it so badly that if as fans you’re not questioning it every time you log on here, go to the ground etc. it’s weird. 
 

So sorry if it’s tiresome for you but getting behind the team and questioning the hierarchy is not mutually bound. The hierarchy need these questions presented to them on a daily basis. 
 

 

Sorry if it came off as demeaning in any way as this was not my intent. Yes of course review the events of the club and hold them to account. The point was, as much as these are  rightful complaints they are just doomed to be echoed. So my bad if that is the end game, I see it as proliferation of a negative mood which inevitably passes onto the terraces and thereby pitch. We are all different and see things in different ways though. 

[honeybradger]

27 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

No disagreement from me re: Rudkin, I am just not convinced Top et al are paying any attention. 

I do agree in some respects as the better approach is to come to an acceptance with how poorly the club is run and not to get too invested in the decision making at the club or the club in general at this point in time, whilst also being firm that change at the top has to be made.

 

You cant blame people on here for being upset with how far the club has fallen and is continuing to fall, getting emotional doesnt personally do us any good but it's a natural response.

[Mickyblueeyes]

7 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Sorry if it came off as demeaning in any way as this was not my intent. Yes of course review the events of the club and hold them to account. The point was, as much as these are  rightful complaints they are just doomed to be echoed. So my bad if that is the end game, I see it as proliferation of a negative mood which inevitably passes onto the terraces and thereby pitch. We are all different and see things in different ways though. 

Yeah I get that. The comment you responded to was perfectly reasonable not “novel”. 
 

The group that went yesterday were fairly vocal, even had a chant for Ayew! They spoke out against the poor leadership. It enhanced the atmosphere and didn’t hinder it.

 

Too much has happened to us unanswered for this club to just continue. Fans NEED to be vocal.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

"right back isn't an area I need to be concerned about" after just losing a game to two goals down the right hand side with the right back absolutely nowhere.

 

He needs to shape up fast.

Edited 25 August by Sol thewall Bamba

[Corky]

16 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

Mavididi offers way more grit than BDCR. 

They are two of the hardest working wingers I've seen but you know that they'll look at the stepovers and tricks and think it is a luxury. Reid and Ayew will be predictable and safe.

[funkyrobot]

Just now, Corky said:

They are two of the hardest working wingers I've seen but you know that they'll look at the stepovers and tricks and think it is a luxury. Reid and Ayew will be predictable and safe.

Reid’s been predictable but he’s been anything but safe! It’s remarkable that he started after having a stinker against Spurs, if he starts against Villa after being a liability v Fulham then Cooper will put himself and Reid under massive pressure with the fans. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

2 hours ago, phoneticerror said:

 

I wouldn’t write Ipswich off just yet. 

It will be interesting to see how they do against Fulham at Portman Road next week.

 

I’m sure a lot of fans will point to them ‘having a go’ at teams - not setting out defensively - as a further criticism towards Cooper.

 

But McKenna does have some distinct advantages over Cooper in that it’s fully his side, there’s no ghost of a previous manager in the background and he has credit in the bank - he’s not going to be sacked after 6-10 games regardless of results.

 

And when you consider this sort of stuff; you can perhaps start to understand why Cooper would go with a more defensive approach and line-up, preferring industry to creativity - because in terms of his professional situation he simply can’t afford to play open football and succumb to a bunch of 3 and 4 nils across his opening games.

 

This is not to say I don’t get why most fans want to see Ricardo and Mav in the side and to play like we did last year; but fans also have no risk attached to their suggestions, the worst that can happen is the manager picking their exact formation and team selection and it going wrong - at which point it’s the manager and players fault anyway.

[Dr The Singh]

Its sad that he is refering to type.  Its a result business, playing shit, boring, defensive football and not winning is a disaster, and he will not last

[Levi Port]

Early doors but we looked awful in possession yesterday. Trying to make a box midfield with Ndidi one of those at the base and Bobby one of those at the top was horrid to watch, Ndidi can’t pass and Bobby can’t receive it.  
 

Both good players but do not suit that style. Hoping with Skipp and a new 10 to replace both of them will mean we’ll have much more quality on the ball playing that shape and hopefully be able to keep the ball longer than 5 seconds. But yesterday it was awful. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Just now, Dr The Singh said:

It’ssad that he is refering to type.  Its a result business, playing shit, boring, defensive football and not winning is a disaster, and he will not last

Absolutely.

 

But if you’re a manager and having to think about the side all week, whilst watching Kristiansen and Thomas get beat repeatedly by the junior’s you’ve promoted, having to prepare attacking movements without your lead striker and realising that the tea lady moves faster than your best central defender - it then becomes very easy to go that way.

[Noahfence]

In the end I did fine EnzoBall pretty boring and probably wasn’t for me and I realise we were in an inferior league. But at least you could see the tactics and set up. I’ve got no idea what the Cooper way is. 

[Marshall Cockney Fox]

I've only seen highlights. But both Fulham goals came from bad defending in my eyes. Defenders getting pulled out of position. And the midfield cover (Fats 1st goal, Winks 2nd) not doing their roles. To me that's just football basics. And is about organisation and effort. If Cooper can get them better drilled, we stay in the game and then our more creative players have a chance to knick the points. 

[Claridge]

19 minutes ago, Noahfence said:

In the end I did fine EnzoBall pretty boring and probably wasn’t for me and I realise we were in an inferior league. But at least you could see the tactics and set up. I’ve got no idea what the Cooper way is. 

ENZO DIDNT HAVE A CLUE IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS OF THE SEASON.

[Nickaj]

I've said before on this site so apologies if I repeat myself but it has always seemed to me that the first requirement of management is to ensure that you get the very best that you can out of your staff - as a football manager, that primarily means your players.

Apart from perhaps 25 minutes during the second half of the Spurs game, I'm not convinced that SC is currently doing that in terms of team selection, positional play or overall tactics.

Then there is the separate question of his role in player recruitment.

And as regards yesterday's post-match comments, if he honestly believes we were unlucky in not winning against Fulham I can only think that he wasn't watching the same match as everyone else. Encouraging and supporting the players is one thing but sometimes a bit of clear thinking is needed.

Yes we are only two games into the new season but still ..........

 

[ClaphamFox]

18 minutes ago, Claridge said:

ENZO DIDNT HAVE A CLUE IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS OF THE SEASON.

We won three out of our last four games - and the loss only came when we’d already won the league and the players had been on the piss all week. 
 

An absurd statement rendered in capitals is still absurd statement. 

[BKLFox]

The gap between Winks/Ndidi to Facunda/Vardy is to big and opposition are just walking through unhindered & then just able to restart attacks when the ball is pumped forward from our defensive line as no one there from ourside.

Then when we have the ball we are so deep and that lack of numbers means we can’t make any headway up field because we have no options.

We need the extra body that Ricardo provided last season which allowed for triangle's & options to progress upfield, currently it all seems to be just pump it…unless @StriderHiryu maybe you can explain is this extra body meant to be coming from 1 of the 2 CBs being asked to push up to support? which then gives the issue of yesterday where JJ has to slide along to cover the central hole at the expense of opening the width to opposition?

 

We all saying we need that CAM but unless the gap between the 2 6s and the CAM is narrowed we could put Messi in there but he’d fail to produce.

Hopefully 2 players comfortable with the ball in Winks & Skipp played together might allow us to play a little more, something needs to change because we are getting swamped, Spurs for sure then Fulham yesterday always seemed to have the extra body to just bypass us.

[Richmondfox]

2 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

As long as he gets his team selections right. Assuming he keeps the same formation and these players remain fit, he needs to dump JJ, Ndidi and Reid in favour of Ricardo, Skipp and Mavididi!

Changing those players will improve the team, reduce mistakes and add energy and attacking ability. I have no faith in him just for putting Soumaré and Ndidi in attacking positions towards the end of games, is it Hamza’s there n turn next game. 
 

His pre season choices have carried into the season. Let’s see if this will carry on over the next cope of give him ten games. 

[albrok]

Just to give you some respective as a Forest fan, Cooper could never crack Premier League midfields at this level. I think it is what killed him at Forest, I can barely remember a single game where our midfield won a battle whilst he was in charge and we went through a lot of good midfielders so I am seeing a lot of familiar complaints that we had.

 

We came up playing attacking football and got crucified so he just went to his low block football. (remember that 4-0 win you guys had against us? That pretty much spelt the end of getting lots of players forward as Maddison just had so much space that game)

 

You can look at it as a positive or negative but Cooper will always adapt the system/style to the players he has. If you don't have players capable of playing a certain type of football he won't do it. He isn't an Enzo that has a set way of playing which is rare in the modern game for better or for worse i'll let you guys decide.

 

I watched you against Spurs & it was a mirror image of us under Cooper, we spent most of the game very passive but something just happens in a game which gets you going.

 

I am not convinced you care about my thoughts about Cooper but for me he was so niave at PL level - he got a lot of leeway others wouldn't have had based on how he got us promoted. He did have a difficult job here because we signed loads of players but he was a driving force behind that recruitment. 

[coolhandfox]

If we hadn't recruited any new players would we be any worse off?

 

Not sure we would.

[StriderHiryu]

59 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

The gap between Winks/Ndidi to Facunda/Vardy is to big and opposition are just walking through unhindered & then just able to restart attacks when the ball is pumped forward from our defensive line as no one there from ourside.

Then when we have the ball we are so deep and that lack of numbers means we can’t make any headway up field because we have no options.

We need the extra body that Ricardo provided last season which allowed for triangle's & options to progress upfield, currently it all seems to be just pump it…unless @StriderHiryu maybe you can explain is this extra body meant to be coming from 1 of the 2 CBs being asked to push up to support? which then gives the issue of yesterday where JJ has to slide along to cover the central hole at the expense of opening the width to opposition?

 

We all saying we need that CAM but unless the gap between the 2 6s and the CAM is narrowed we could put Messi in there but he’d fail to produce.

Hopefully 2 players comfortable with the ball in Winks & Skipp played together might allow us to play a little more, something needs to change because we are getting swamped, Spurs for sure then Fulham yesterday always seemed to have the extra body to just bypass us.

 

 

See the tactics thread