Leicester City are only seven games into the season, but manager Steve Cooper already seems at a crossroads.
The slow start was predictable after a summer of change in which head coach Enzo Maresca moved to Chelsea and player-of-the-season Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who made the same move, was one of 10 players to leave. With nine signings coming in, plus a new head coach, a period of transition was inevitable.
Time and patience would be key as the new players settled in and the established players adjusted to a different style of management, one based more on freedom of expression and individual decision-making than the structured, strategic and detailed approach of Maresca.
However, time and patience are in short supply in the Premier League.
Cooper and Leicester needed a good start, not least because when the season kicked off the spectre of a points deduction loomed. They won their appeal against the Premier League’s charge for a profit and sustainability (PSR) breach on September 3, but the good start did not transpire on the pitch.
While they have lost only two matches in seven across all competitions, they have failed to win a single match in the Premier League. Their recent performances have been concerning, most notably their shootout win on Tuesday night against Walsall of League Two, which left supporters venting their frustration.
Cooper should have known he started with a deficit in the bank with some supporters because of his recent association with East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest, but that link is just a small factor. On the pitch, some fans question his side’s approach and are struggling to see an identity in his team or what they are trying to achieve.
While Maresca’s patient, possession-based approach was questioned by a section of the fanbase, it did have a clear identity. Cooper sets up in a 4-2-3-1, with one high full-back and another sitting in to form a back three, but it is less structured. Supporters have also been questioning his selections, in particular why Ricardo Pereira and Abdul Fatawu have not been starting — though neither built a convincing case for themselves against Walsall.
Sources close to the playing squad, kept anonymous to protect relationships, suggested some players are equally unclear about the identity of the team. There has been no lack of application during games, but execution has been the issue.
Cooper could also be suffering from the disconnect between some fans and the club over the past two years, following relegation, financial issues, the threat of punishments relating to PSR, and decisions made on matchday prices and season tickets.
The 44-year-old, who was popular with supporters at Nottingham Forest and managed Swansea City mainly during Project Restart due to the Covid-19 pandemic, may be surprised with how quickly fans have turned. He seems confident his side will click soon but is under no illusions about how important the coming month will be.
“Every manager is never too far away from challenging times or criticism,” Cooper said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday. “You go through tough times and have to handle tough times.
“There is a lot of talk about me, but I promise you, I’m not thinking about that. All I’m thinking about is how we play well. How can we win? How can supporters be connected to the team? How can they be proud of the team? What can I do to help that? That is who I am.
“I can only tell you how I feel. I want nothing more than those three things of winning, playing well, and then on the back of that, a positive, happy fan community that is connected to the team.
“I’m more committed than I’ve ever been to that.”
The only way to earn the credit with the fanbase is to start winning games. “That is the simple solution,” Cooper added. “And playing well.”
That may not be easy this weekend as they travel to title-challengers Arsenal, but after that game on Saturday, there are four matches that could be hugely significant, including against Cooper’s former club, Forest.
They are at home against Bournemouth on October 5 and Forest on October 25, and away at the two clubs that came up with them from the Championship, Southampton on October 19 and Ipswich Town on November 2.
Leicester have made early managerial changes in seasons before. Paulo Sousa lasted just nine games in 2010 before he was removed in October, while more recently Craig Shakespeare was sacked after just eight games in October 2017, with Leicester in the relegation zone.
Leicester want it to work with Cooper and they have backed him in the transfer window, although the PSR issue and possible points deduction hampered their efforts with a few of Cooper’s preferred targets.
They delayed the decision to sack Brendan Rodgers until there were just 10 games to go in 2023 and the club could not be saved. They have learned from that experience.
The stakes seem even higher now, with the EFL waiting to hit Leicester with sanctions if they are relegated again.
Cooper seems relaxed about the situation and says he is committed to his approach, seemingly ruling out a change of tactics or formation, something he did at Forest in 2022-23 to keep them in the Premier League as Leicester went down.
He knows Leicester managers have faced tough times and fan dissatisfaction before and turned things around. Martin O’Neill, another former Forest favourite, famously did so in the 1990s and had success.
A good month in October and Cooper can do the same.
But if things don’t improve, the terrace chant of “Cooper, sort it out”, which was heard at Walsall, may end up being tweaked so that the middle two words are taken out. There is usually no way back from that.
(Top photo: Richard Heathcote via Getty Images)
