Presumably, a major reason why Steve Cooper was recruited was due to the expected points deduction. We were looking for someone used to the bottom end of the PL who could work in adversity and be a bit of a yes man.
Now I do like Cooper. He seems a very straight talking and acting guy. He's supposed to be a good coach. The problem seems to be that he's not got our key players onside at all.
It's pretty obvious that people like Hermansen and Winks are not enjoying their roles now. The sidelining of Ricardo is odd in itself but the fact that you then have the guy Cooper has chosen over him (Justin) calling out the attitude and approach of the team on Saturday was especially worrying to me. If he hasn't got someone he's backed so heavily being positive, what's that all about?
Vardy seems to like working for him. Ndidi too. But the list of players that don't seem to be enjoying their football is much longer than those that do. Cooper has already made a few 'half' comments about needing senior players to buy into his approach.
I don't know if Cooper is the sort to bark instructions from the bench but there seems to be a disconnect at the moment. When there is an delay, I often look to see who goes over to the manager and it rarely seems to be anyone with Cooper. I thought the body language and communication on the pitch before the penalties last night was terrible. It was as though he didn't want to talk to his players and the feeling was mutual.
I certainly wasn't expecting miracles this year. We've got a large, unbalanced squad of mainly very average players. We're still carrying about 10 players that we'd hardly notice if they disappeared. But I did expect more fight and hunger from a lot of them than we've seen so far.
Then there is the weird attitude to young players. Alves has been kept and then ignored. Golding? Fatawu just doesn't seem to be being coached to deal with the PL at all. McAteer has vanished from the PL squad now too.
Based on the first five rounds of PL performances, the only team I can see us finishing above is Southampton. I'd swap places with every other club in the league. Both in terms of squad and manager.
He's got a hell of a job on his hands making this all come together from where it is right now.
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