Cooper: It's About Sticking Together
- Leicester City lost 3-0 to RC Lens in Saturday’s pre-season friendly
- Manager Steve Cooper reflected on a difficult afternoon in France
- He also provided an injury update on three Foxes players
There was clear disappointment as a result of the 3-0 scoreline in favour of the Ligue 1 side at Stade Félix Bollaert-Delélis, where Kevin Danso's goal and an Angelo Fulgini brace – all in the space of 10 minutes at the start of the second half - saw the hosts claim victory in the Foxes’ final outing ahead of the Premier League opener.
“A defeat and obviously a really poor performance as well,” the Manager expressed. “Let's not hide away from that point. Certainly in possession, there was nothing really good about our play at all. We couldn't really handle the intensity of the game, so that was clear.
“We did more defending than what we needed to do in the first half. But in saying that, the amount of defending that we had to do, we did okay with it. We gave the ball away too much and we were too static with our positioning and our ball speed.
Lens Claim Victory In Pre-Season Bout
The best of the action from Stade Félix Bollaert-Delélis and City's friendly against Lens.
“It was a weak start to the second half, we didn't embrace the challenge of the game and what we set the guys at half-time, because it was clear that we needed to step up, certainly with the ball, and there wasn't a great reaction to that. Obviously, it became a really difficult second half. There's no sugar coating it.
“It’s a pre-season result, but the performance was one that warranted the result, there's no doubt about that. The challenge has to be to not let this derail us, to recognise that there will be an even tougher game next Monday.
“Can we try and look at today and in a silly way, go: 'I'm glad that it happened today', and not for this league that we're just about to re-enter. It's about sticking together. We know where we are with the level of the team in certain positions.
“We'll keep going with what we've got, we'll be positive. We certainly won't be fluffy with the lads, but we won't be negative. We'll be positive and we'll be demanding to try and get the best out of it while it is what it is. Hopefully, in time, we can strengthen.”
With just over a week to go until Tottenham Hotspur arrive at King Power Stadium, a big effort is required from everyone, Cooper says, to prepare for the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
He explained: “Nothing changes in terms of the schedule and the planning that needs to go into the next nine days. If we've got the mentality that we hope to have this year, we'll get back to the training ground now with a personal hunger from this disappointment.
“We need motivation to step up because we know we certainly haven't attacked well enough in the last three games. We’ve got a lot of players playing out of position, and we've got to fill spots with new signings, but we can still do better than what we've done for sure.
“We're re-entering the biggest and hardest league in the world and we've got to be more ready than what we were today and that's everybody.”
'A Difficult Second Half'
Steve Cooper offers his reflections on Leicester City's 3-0 reverse to RC Lens in pre-season.
Leicester were without centre-back Conor Coady in France through injury and Jamie Vardy also did not travel due to an ongoing injury issue. Patson Daka, meanwhile, went off in the first half and Cooper is awaiting an update on his fitness.
“Conor [Coady] will be out for at least a month, so he's not available,” the 44-year-old revealed. “Patson [Daka], we'll have to see. Obviously, it didn't look good the way he came off and he's currently in a boot, but the next day or so will tell us the extent of it.
“Vards is still not with us and is not with the group training, so that's going to be a while as well. That doesn't help, because there's three more experienced players as well, but I'm not one for crying about that.
“Every day our work will be strong with the guys that are coming through into the training ground at the moment. And we'll give them everything we can to get them ready.”