- Leicester City beat Tranmere Rovers 4-0 in the Carabao Cup Second Round
- The Foxes won for the first time under new Manager Steve Cooper
- Jordan Ayew, Stephy Mavididi, Wilfred Ndidi and Harry Winks all netted
- Cooper praised the second-half performance to see off the League 2 club
The Foxes made light work of progressing into the third round, with goals from Jordan Ayew, Stephy Mavididi, Wilfred Ndidi and Harry Winks sealing a first victory of Steve Cooper’s reign.
Assessing Tuesday evening’s performance at King Power Stadium, City’s Manager was very happy with the way they stepped it up a gear in the second half to get the job done.
“The objective obviously is to get through to the next round and do it with a good performance and I thought that was the case,” he began. “The most important thing is to win and play well. We had real dominance from start to finish.
“We could have been more of a threat in the first half for all of the good positions we got into. Jordan made it happen with his goal, which is obviously a wonderful strike and good for him to get off the mark on his debut, but we needed more moments in the final third, whether it was one vs. one or combination work.
“Skippy (Oliver Skipp) and Wilf [Ndidi] did get in, so we could have been more than one goal up, but the challenge was to continue to play as we were and where we were playing our football, get good numbers ahead of the ball and then be more of a threat on the goal.
“They really took that on in the second half and were good for the three more goals and the numerous chances, but the expectation is to play well. That starts with the right attitude, and I think we showed that mentality in the game tonight, which should be non-negotiable.”
Academy forward Chris Popov made his First Team bow in the victory from the bench, the latest off the Foxes production line to be handed an opportunity, while the eight changes from Saturday’s defeat by Fulham allowed several players to get minutes in the tank.
Cooper continued: “There were lots of other good things and positives from the game beyond the result and performance, it’s always good when that’s the case. We had seven Academy graduates [in the squad], players making their debuts and senior players who hadn’t featured too much in the first couple of Premier League games starting and getting well-earned minutes.
“Me and the coaching staff have all worked in academy football, so we are always going to show an interest in that and our job is to provide opportunities if players deserve it; and we will always do that if it’s right for the team.
“That was the case tonight with a couple of the guys and I think fans like to see it as well. We’ve a productive academy and everything set up to produce players, but one of the most important things about an academy is an exit route into the First Team and we want to be able to do that. It creates hope for the younger boys and hopefully that’s the case tonight.”
Cooper handed full debuts to goalscorer Ayew and midfielder Skipp, the former sending a sensational strike into the top corner to start the scoring on Filbert Way. The Welshman explained his importance to the side moving forward.
The 44-year-old added: “It (Ayew’s goal) was really important in the game because we needed attacking players to do something to make a difference. He did that. He had a good impact in the game, scored, got the right amount of minutes and that’s something we would have written if we could have planned it.
“He’s obviously an experienced player and he’ll be determined to do well for us now in the Premier League. He was so keen to come here and we look forward to involving him and we’re going to need him alongside everyone else as well.”