Steve Cooper knows he is very much up against it when it comes to winning over the Leicester City fanbase.
Leicester City fans were sceptical about the club appointing a coach whose last job was as manager of rivals Nottingham Forest in Steve Cooper.
To add to this, Cooper is not the most passionate of managers and he plays a fairly negative brand of football.
Despite this, many amongst the Leicester fanbase were willing to give Cooper a chance as they recognised the club were not the most attractive prospect in the summer as it was assumed a points deduction was on its way.
However, Cooper is yet to win a Premier League game as Leicester manager and the 0-0 draw with League Two Walsall in the Carabao Cup last week saw fans’ frustrations boil over.
With that in mind, here are three strange decisions Cooper has made that have seen him lose the Leicester fanbase.
Steve Cooper has shunned Ricardo Pereira at Leicester City
When a new manager comes in they are always likely to have players they feel do not fit the way they are looking to play.
The fact that Cooper has not played Ricardo Pereira for a single minute in the league since arriving is baffling, though, given he was one of the club’s best players last season.
Instead, Cooper has preferred James Justin and Victor Kristiansen at full-back and Leicester supporters have been left bemused by Pereira’s lack of involvement.
The 30-year-old is one of Leicester’s longest serving players and was expected to again be key this campaign but he has instead been a mere observer in the Premier League despite Leicester remaining winless.
Cooper tactics saw Leicester fumble Crystal Palace win
Leicester have drawn three and lost three since returning to the Premier League, but one of those draws should have been a win.
The Foxes raced into a 2-0 lead away at Crystal Palace in the fourth game of the season before Cooper made defensive substitutions in bringing on Hamza Choudhury and a third centre-back in Conor Coady after the deficit had been halved.
This backfired spectacularly as Leicester invited relentless pressure and could not get out before eventually succumbing to wave after wave of Palace attacks as Coady brought down Ismaila Sarr for a penalty in second-half stoppage time.
Leicester had been well on top in the game and fans found it difficult to understand why Cooper decided to allow Palace to take control with his defence-minded substitutions.
Stephy Mavididi did not start season in Leicester City team
Leicester made a couple of fairly uninspired winger signings in the summer in the shape of Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Jordan Ayew.
Both are experienced Premier League players but are not the most exciting of players, but the fact both players were used at the expense of arguably Leicester’s biggest threat last season in Stephy Mavididi frustrated Leicester fans no end.
Cooper’s reluctance to start Mavididi finally ended as he played the winger against Palace and he scored at Selhurst Park before making it two goals in two games in the 1-1 draw against Everton.
Everyone could see that Mavididi needed to be in the side, so there are question marks over why it took Cooper so long to arrive at the same conclusion.
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