When you’re without a win from the first five Premier League games of the season, a trip to an unbeaten title contender is far from ideal. Leicester City have an almighty task to end their winless start at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium this weekend.
That’s especially with the mood among the fanbase downbeat. Last Saturday, the draw with Everton was met with boos. On Tuesday at Walsall, supporters told Cooper to “sort it out”. The fans’ response is likely to be a hot topic at Thursday’s press conference.
Also on the agenda is the fitness of the City squad, particularly Jamie Vardy after he took a kick to the ankle last weekend. We are live at Seagrave to bring you updates on our blog below, with Cooper due to take his seat at 1.30pm.
What are your core principles?
“When it comes off it looks great, but when it doesn’t there will be questions. We want to play with the ball if we can. We want to play exciting football. We want to create overloads in certain areas to hit the hotspots where we can hurt the opponents. That’s with a number of players in the middle. Then it’s about having width from a high full-back and a wide winger. When you get up the pitch, it becomes a numbers game and you need to get numbers in the box. There’s lots of things we’re working on. But we believe we’re going to succeed and getting through tough spells defines you.”
What improvements do you want?
“We’re only taking one game at a time. We’re working daily and trying to promote the team we want to be. What we really want to do is put a complete performance together that gets a result. We’re put together some really good things, but we need to be consistent through a game, and we haven’t done that. We started well at Palace but then we had a spell where we under the cosh. Against Everton, we were poor for the first half but were the dominant team in the second half. We have to be at the level all through the game, because that’s what the Premier League demands of you. The players are clear in how we want to play, we train it every day. We have to show it. If you don’t have a way of playing, you don’t know what it looks like when it goes wrong. But we do have a way of playing. We believe if we perform it consistently, we’ll get results.”
“You do get punished when you drop your levels. The way I’m asking the players is not easy tactically nor technically. But when we get it right, we’ll attack well, dominate games, get good territory, and it will be exciting with the high full-back, the winger coming inside for the box midfield.”
Not going to define season?
“We’re not going to go into any game seeing it as a free hit or a bonus. I can’t think of anything worse. If I as a leader said that, I wouldn’t blame players for not listening. We have to back ourselves to achieve the right result. Very rarely is it plain sailing for a newly-promoted club. I know Leicester should never have been in the Championship, but granted we were a Championship team last year and we’re still transitioning to being a Premier League. We know it wasn’t going to be easy. But we back ourselves to achieve in the league this year. Me and my team, we’re proud to be part of this club. The supporters discontent, we have to own that and give them a team to be proud of and excited by.”
Gulf between top and bottom?
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest it’s ever been. We’re not the only side not to win a game. There’s a big group of teams who are one result away from each other. The guys who have been competing at the top end are well-oiled machines and they’ve been put together with great investment. But I don’t think you can go into a game thinking: ‘Let’s just get through it.’”
How to approach Arsenal?
“Everything in our game has to be right, on the ball, off the ball, set-pieces, they’ve scored some important goals from set-pieces. Everything has to be perfect, including the mentality and belief. We need to be mindful of where Arsenal’s strengths are.”
Arsenal are toughest test?
“Definitely. They’re an incredible team who have been in great form for a number of years. They’ve been challenging for trophies. We’re coming up against a really tough opponent. It’s these games that you have to embrace and not fearing failure. That’s what we want to do, to back ourselves. We want to go for it.”
Fan chants?
“You’re never too far away from a challenging time. Sometimes it’s far, sometimes it’s unfair. If you don’t like it, don’t take these jobs. I accept that. I will always try to understand fans’ perspectives and my initial reaction is not to be too defensive and see why the feeling is the way it is, and then try to do something about it. Like everybody else, I’m never too far away from being questioned. I see it as a good opportunity to show the real me, to show how well I want to do here and how strong I am as a character, and how good I am as a coach. The mark of a strong leader is standing up to difficult times. We’re trying to thrive on the challenge of the Premier League. Nothing’s changed in terms of our preparation for Arsenal. We’ve got to keep building to get the results we want. I’ve never been more determined than I am. Every supporter’s reaction is authentic and they pay a lot of money. I’ll never get too high from praise nor too low from criticism.”
Injuries?
“We had a few bumps and bruises and some lads didn’t make it on Tuesday. Everybody came through Tuesday fine. Jannik Vestergaard is not available. It’s the same squad as the last Premier League game.”
Pragmatic or dogmatic?
Simon Jordan has labelled the chants towards Steve Cooper as having “an element of unfairness” with the former Crystal Palace chairman backing the manager to keep Leicester City in the Premier League.
Jordan was giving his thoughts after City supporters chanted “Cooper, sort it out!” and “This is embarrassing!” during the Carabao Cup tie at Walsall. City needed penalties to go through, setting up an away tie at Manchester United, after a goalless draw.
Jordan believes the reaction has been unfair and says Cooper’s tactics can keep the club up. He thinks it’s preferable to the “idealistic” approach being taken by Russell Martin at Southampton.
“The squad is good enough for 15th position, which is what they’re in. There’s an element of unfairness about the response.
“If they don’t like the football, they’re perfectly entitled to voice their views. They’re perfectly entitled to cheer, so the consequence of that is that they’re perfectly entitled to boo. But I think there’s a pragmatism about Steve Cooper that may keep Leicester in the division. There’s an idealism about Southampton that may not keep them in the division. ”
Cry more
The Premier League has spent more than £45m on legal costs last season as it fights to uphold its rules.
The league is involved in two separate legal disputes with four-times-in-a-row champions Manchester City, while it is also investigating Chelsea over alleged irregular payments linked to the club’s former owner Roman Abramovich.
On top of that, there have been legal cases connected to its profit and sustainability rules (PSR) involving Everton and Nottingham Forest, who were docked points last season, and Leicester City who will not now face an independent commission over an alleged breach.
Arsenal team news
As a potential boost for Leicester City, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he knows not whether first-choice goalkeeper David Raya will be available for the teams’ Premier League meeting this weekend.
Top-flight teams have again been in League Cup action this midweek, with it the Foxes’ turn in the competition’s third round on Tuesday night. Their progression on penalties against League Two Walsall has set up a future tie with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Also playing last night were Arsenal. They entertained Bolton Wanderers and even with a rotated squad came out on top, 5-1 the end scoreline. Though some changes were forced on Arteta, in particular between the sticks.
On the agenda today
Here’s what we’re expecting to be discussed today:
- City squad fitness and how Vardy is after not training at the start of the week
- The search for a first win and facing a title challenge in Arsenal
- Selection and how best to combat the Gunners
- The fan chants on Tuesday and how to win them over
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