‘We’re Very Much A Collective’ – Cooper’s Call For Continued Unity
A trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham is on the agenda on Saturday afternoon (3pm BST kick-off), as the Foxes aim to build on the point picked up at home to Tottenham Hotspur – Cooper’s first competitive game in charge.
A busy press conference room awaited the former England youth coach on Thursday, as he told the media what he has taken from that opening game, as well as what to expect from his side this coming outing…
‘Really excited to play again’
Central midfielder Oliver Skipp has been added to the Foxes’ ranks ahead of the clash with the Cottagers, while the squad remain in a buoyant but focused mood, Cooper revealed, heading into a first away fixture of the season.
“The Premier League demands everything of you and even sometimes all in one game,” he commented from LCFC Training Ground. “It’s always important to have the right strength in depth for what’s needed from game to game.
“We have a nice balance in midfield now and it allows us to pick the right players for the right gameplan, which is what we want. I want to be in that place with every position on the pitch, but the guys are in a great place. There’s a really good vibe and they’re in really good spirits.
“There has been all pre-season, but especially since getting that first game out of the way with a fairly positive result. We want to be winning, of course, especially at home, but against a team talking about being at the top end of the league, there’s a lot of good to be taken out of it. We’re really excited about playing again.”
‘Silva has built a good team’
Asked what he made to Fulham’s opening weekend fixture, a narrow 1-0 reverse at Manchester United, City’s Manager was impressed with what he saw from the Cottagers, who could have taken the points themselves on another day, falling to defeat courtesy of a late Joshua Zirkzee goal.
“They played well,” the 44-year-old mused on the west Londoners. “Marco [Silva] has obviously been there for a good few years now and has built a really good way and a good team. They are the same as us, have added players recently, and we need to be ready for that. It’s a really well coached team and full of players who can make a difference.
“What we learned from the other night, more than anything else, is that if we don’t do what we can do, then it ends up being irrelevant because this is the Premier League. Every game we play, we could talk about the opponent and where the strengths are and how good they are.”
‘A lot of confidence’
Taking on an established Premier League side, Cooper anticipates another tough encounter in the capital following on from facing Tottenham, which tested many aspects of City’s credentials, but also provided a performance with much promise, particularly in the second 45.
He explained: “It was a great reminder against Spurs that if we don’t look after ourselves, you’re not able to look after anything else. That’s really where our focus is. There always are a lot of learnings from a game but you’ve always got to bear in mind the context as well. With it being the first back in the Premier League, and some debuts, all of that can add to it.
“Maybe a little bit of that showed in the first half, as well as playing against a really good team and allowing them too much of the ball and too much respect. We just needed to be a lot braver in the second half. That’s on all of us – we’re very much going to be a collective this year. We played with some good intent and ambition in the second half.
“You’ve got to back yourself and believe in yourself and do what you can do in terms of strengths and that will always be the main influence on our game. A lot of confidence will be taken from that second half, but we’ve also got to be not narrow-minded enough to learn from the first half as well. There’s been more talk about that in the game review.
“That’s the process on how we get better and improve, because we really want to become a team who compete successfully week in, week out. There’s been a lot to reflect on, a lot to learn from and a lot to be encouraged by.”