Cooper: We Got Punished
- Leicester City fell to a 2-1 defeat by Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday
- Wout Faes found the net, but goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi sealed the points
- Manager Steve Cooper admitted the home side started the game better
- However, the Welshman credited his side for settling into the west London clash
Although admitting that the Foxes suffered from the 'ruthlessness' of the Premier League in their first away match of the campaign, the Manager found reasons for optimism from the performance.
Emile Smith Rowe's opener was equalised before the break by defender Wout Faes, although Alex Iwobi's second-half hit settled a tight encounter in west London.
Marco Silva's home side were probably on top for longer periods, but City stood up to the challenge well on their maiden Premier League away day since lifting the EFL Championship title last May.
"When you lose a game, you should be disappointed," Cooper said at full-time. "You’re never going to accept losing too easily – and that’s how I feel, that’s how the guys feel. I’m sure the supporters are the same.
"Fulham definitely started the game better than us, which can often happen in a game away from home, but I felt like we gradually got to grips with the game.
Cooper: We Got Into Good Positions
Watch Manager Steve Cooper's assessment of Leicester City's 2-1 loss at Fulham in the Premier League.
"I know we went 1-0 down, but we got to grips with the game, we showed a bit of momentum. We had some good attacks, some dangerous attacks, some territory. We won some set-pieces and scored off one of them.
"It’s ridiculous to think that it could have been disallowed. At half-time, we were really confident that we could go and win the game to be honest – or certainly get something from it.
"I thought you saw that in the first phase of the second half. I thought we got into some dangerous positions.
"I would have liked us to have made more of it, in terms of more attempts on goal, and hopefully that will come as we integrate new players and players get stronger. We’ve been punished, on both goals, for that moment where you’re not quite right tactically in the game."
With time will come progress, Cooper believes, as Leicester resettle in the Premier League and new signings start to familiarise themselves with the Welshman's methods.
"We felt the ruthlessness of the league because it wasn’t as if the goals were coming," he added. "Maybe for the first one, Fulham were in the game more than us, but it wasn’t as if the goal was getting peppered.
"The second goal was at a moment where there was a lot of changes going on and it just came out of nowhere really. We got punished for being a little bit out of position, but we do it all together.
"We’re disappointed we haven’t got anything out of the game but I also saw a team more than competing at Premier League level, feeling at around three quarters of the way through the game that we were going to get a positive result – and thinking we’d go on and win it. We have to look at that and think that’s progress.
"In the first two games, we’ve shown that we can more than play well at this level. In my opinion, it can only get better. The lads will get fitter and stronger, they’ll have more belief and get to the level – with the step up from last year – and obviously there’s some new players.
"With the competition for places and training hard, we’ll get better at being the team we want to be. That’s the process we’re in at the moment."