Cooper: We Took Control

- Leicester City were 2-1 winners over Villarreal across two 60-minute training exercises on Saturday
- Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi were on the scoresheet at the end of a week in France
- Manager Steve Cooper praised the squad for taking on his ideas so far this summer
- He also looked ahead to the weeks to come ahead of the Premier League season

The Foxes squad followed a week of work in Seagrave with another in eastern France before emerging as 2-1 winners in a pre-season exercise against Spanish side Villarreal on Saturday.

Over two 60-minute matches, with different XIs taking to the field for each match-up, Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi found the net for City on the continent. Now back in the UK, work continues ahead of the new Premier League season.

Tuesday will see Leicester take on Shrewsbury Town at The Croud Meadow as their pre-season programme gathers pace and Cooper has been pleased with the effort and application of his new squad so far this summer.

"It’s obviously nice to win, winning’s a good habit, but it’s not the be all and end all," the Welshman said. "It’s capped off a really good week, truth be told. We’ve put a strong programme in place for the guys, a lot of hard work, a lot of long days.

"They’ve been excellent. They’ve been excellent with engagement, excellent with the level of training and what you saw in the game today, and they’re really trying to take on the ideas, which is obviously what we need.

"We know that we’re starting from a good place with what went on last year, but at the same time, we’ve got to build to get ready for the Premier League. That’s something that we’re talking about a lot, getting Premier League ready.

"It’s been a really good week – minutes in the legs, training in the legs, ideas in the head. We go back now in a better place than when we came out, for sure."

The performances of many players in that encounter with Villarreal also impressed the new Foxes Manager, who says lessons can be learned from the outing. 

"We played some really, really good stuff, with our ideas as well, which is the most important thing," he added. "The one or two things which didn’t quite go right is good as well because that’s how you learn, that’s how you get better.

"You need to look at those things and talk about them for the future. I think, also, we played against a really good team. Villarreal is a strong opponent for this time of pre-season.

"Two 60-minute games, you can see the weather, it’s really, really hot here. The conditions were difficult as well for this time of pre-season and the lads didn’t just stand up to it, they took control really and dominated what was a really good exercise."

Planning for the new top-flight campaign will continue in earnest now, with the opening-weekend visit of Tottenham Hotspur now less than a month away.

"It’s been a really productive week," Cooper continued. "We’ve got young players here as well, which is always important to me and important to the Club.

"They’ve had some good training exercises and a lot of them have played good minutes today, so they’ll go back in a stronger place as well. There’s loads of positives and it just leaves us really hungry now to get back to work in Seagrave and continuing to build.

"We’ve got the boys returning from international duty. It was important they got a few weeks’ rest. They needed it, but they rejoin on Monday, and that will be good.

"Hopefully, as well, we can add a few new faces, which I know the Club is trying to do and working really hard with, and that will give the guys another boost as well. Two very good weeks, but we need to make sure the next week is even better."