In the end, Leicester City booked their place in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup, but it was another challenging night for Steve Cooper, his team and the fanbase.
The seventh game of Cooper’s tenure was a frustrating affair and that dissatisfaction threatened to boil over in the away end of the Poundland Bescot Stadium.
They may have been cheering at the end after Danny Ward’s hat-trick of penalty saves in the shootout saw off a valiant effort from League Two side Walsall — the supporters clapped the players off the pitch — but that was in stark contrast to the mood that darkened as the game wore on towards a goalless stalemate. Cooper’s side, featuring 10 changes from the draw against Everton, looked unconvincing.
Over 2,250 Leicester fans within a total attendance of just over 8,000 certainly made their feelings known, with one even running onto the pitch and appearing to point towards Cooper in the technical area before being bundled to the ground as he tried to make his escape.
He seemed to be laughing as he made his arcing run across the pitch, so just how much of a disgruntled fan he was is difficult to say. But there was no such uncertainty about the tone of some of the chants that emanated from the away end.
Encouraging chants of ‘attack, attack, attack’ turned into ‘Cooper, Cooper sort it out’ as Leicester again squandered possession cheaply.
When Abdul Fatawu overhit a pass through to Odsonne Edouard, the Walsall fans chanted ‘Premier League, you’re having a laugh’, to which the Leicester supporters replied by echoing their agreement, singing the same chant.
The harshest was still to come as the game edged towards penalties, with Leicester fans clearly chanting ‘this is embarrassing’ and then booing at the final whistle before Ward’s heroics.
If they wanted to get a message to Cooper, it was certainly delivered and understood.
“I didn’t really see it (the fan on the pitch), but obviously I heard the chanting in the crowd,” Cooper said. “I will own that and you will never hear me disrespecting fans’ opinions or views.
“I obviously have to build some credit here with the supporters and earn the right to do the job. I knew that anyway.
“Things like that will make me even more committed and determined to do well because I am desperate to do that.
“I have no problem with it. What an opportunity it is to show how good I and the team are.
“Perhaps it is nights like this that you can look back upon and end up forming a strong relationship with the supporters.”
That may become the case in the future. Martin O’Neill, who also had a strong connection to East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest before he became Leicester manager in 1995, experienced a rough start amid criticism from fans, but he won them over by winning games.
That is the only way Cooper can do so as well, but it will not be easy and it could get worse before it gets better, with a trip to face Arsenal this Saturday and Leicester still looking for their first league win of the season.
The connection to Forest may not even be an issue for the vast majority. After all, Premier League-winning captain Wes Morgan spent 10 years there before enjoying the most fruitful part of his career in Leicester blue.
For some, it is the manner of the overall performances. There have been spells when Leicester have looked like making progress after the disruption of the summer following promotion, when they lost manager Enzo Maresca and player of the year Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea. There were also several personnel changes in the transfer window and it is taking time for the squad to settle back down.
“It’s been a mixed bag,” said Ward of the start to the season. “We have yet to put in a 90-minute performance where we can say that it was fantastic. There have been halves and periods when we have looked really good.
“There are things we have to work on and this is a young group. Some of them haven’t experienced the Premier League, while some of us experienced what happened two years ago (relegation) and want to put it right.
“It is an adjustment period; new manager and new staff. Everything is brand new. Players are still forming relationships with each other, on and off the pitch.”
The expectations are high at Leicester after a decade of unprecedented success, rather than the reality that this is a newly-promoted club. It wasn’t very long ago Leicester were winning trophies and challenging in the top eight of the Premier League, but this is now a different time, a new era and they have to rebuild.
Many of Cooper’s selections have been questioned so far, but having made 10 changes, including starts for Ricardo Pereira and Fatawu — two players whose omissions have perplexed some supporters — no one at Walsall demonstrated they should be starting against Arsenal this weekend.
It could be six games without a win, but after the trip to the Emirates Stadium, Leicester face a run of fixtures that they have to pick up points in — against Bournemouth, Southampton, Forest and Ipswich Town.
If they do not, then the dissenting voices and the chanting will only get louder as frustration grows, and Cooper will not have earned the credit with the fanbase he desires.
(Top photo: Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
