Cooper - In

[Jobyfox]

Strange appointment after Puel, Rodgers and Maresca.

Report so far:

 

Cons:

No discernible style of play

Strange team selections

In game management usually poor

 

Pros:

Despite looking very poor at times we've managed to stay in every game 

Players have more fight than they did last time we were in this league

Has a points total that is acceptable and, if we did beat Forest, it would actually be a good start

 

To be fair today was the first time I've seen good game management. The change in formation and proactive substitutions.

 

I'm still not a fan, but I'm pragmatic enough to not care as long as he keeps us out of the relegation zone. Better game management and use of his better players (Fatawu, Ricardo) might help convince me, but I can't see it working long term as I just can't work out what he stands for in terms of his style and philosophy

[Deeg67]

Here's the thing with Cooper. Somehow the whole usually manages to be more than the sum of the parts.

 

First off, I don't see how anyone can question the will of the players to fight for him considering how many points we've scavenged with good second-half performances. Second, the numbers bear it out - we're good on set pieces. Clever. When you're a club trying to survive relegation, that's a vital component. And third, his in-game management yesterday at least is trending up.

 

Still lots of questions to be asked. Generally speaking, the style of football is not easy on the eyes and he needs to be more attacking from the opening whistle. But somehow Cooper teams find a way to stay up and he does deserve some credit for us being mid-table.

Edited 20 October 2024 by Deeg67

[kristianity77]

Cooper in or cooper out isn’t really the issue.  It’s that he has to be seen to be learning from mistakes and currently he doesn’t seem able to do that. We were absolutely dreadful in the first half and had we been 3 or 4 down we couldn’t have complained. 
 

We’ve rode our luck to 9 points from 8 games but for god sake Cooper, recognise what you’ve got and play to our strengths in both personnel and tactics and the vast majority of us will give you approval.  Just don’t keep trying over and over and over with what doesn’t work, we saw it with Rodger’s over two seasons, we know it doesn’t end well. 

[trabuch]

9 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

Here's the thing with Cooper. Somehow the whole usually manages to be more than the sum of the parts.

 

First off, I don't see how anyone can question the will of the players to fight for him considering how many points we've scavenged with good second-half performances. Second, the numbers bear it out - we're good on set pieces. Clever. When you're a club trying to survive relegation, that's a vital component. And third, his in-game management yesterday at least is trending up.

 

Still lots of questions to be asked. Generally speaking, the style of football is not easy on the eyes and he needs to be more attacking from the opening whistle. But somehow Cooper teams find a way to stay up and he does deserve some credit for us being mid-table.

Fats came on - after being sidelined - wrongly - and played like his life depended on it.  I think there are many players who would say "**** you" by that point.  Maybe Vesty and Ricky are like that. I don't really blame them by the way. Winks is borderline on that front too. I don't think it's any way to go on to any great success, but it's oddly effective for a team that just wants to finish 17th.

[J. James]

8 hours ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

We won because we have some quality especially in Fatawu, that is all. Nothing to do with cooper, I’m sure he was just spinning a wheel to see what subs to make and got lucky with Fatawu 

Lol.. Exactly as l predicted in the pre match.. The haters will say that if we win it was down to the players not Cooper..

 

And if you're sure he's just lucky it MUST be true!

 

Congratulations you're the first of the haters.

[Dahnsouff]

3 hours ago, kristianity77 said:

Cooper in or cooper out isn’t really the issue.  It’s that he has to be seen to be learning from mistakes and currently he doesn’t seem able to do that. We were absolutely dreadful in the first half and had we been 3 or 4 down we couldn’t have complained. 
 

We’ve rode our luck to 9 points from 8 games but for god sake Cooper, recognise what you’ve got and play to our strengths in both personnel and tactics and the vast majority of us will give you approval.  Just don’t keep trying over and over and over with what doesn’t work, we saw it with Rodger’s over two seasons, we know it doesn’t end well. 

He changed it in game, correctly, not sure how that is not learning. It was clear why he did not start Winks as it had previously worked with Skipp, it was not versus Saints so he changed it. The Fatawu thing needs to change after the last game but at least he got more than 5 minutes this time, and to devastating effect!

[foxes_rule1978]

2 hours ago, J. James said:

Lol.. Exactly as l predicted in the pre match.. The haters will say that if we win it was down to the players not Cooper..

 

And if you're sure he's just lucky it MUST be true!

 

Congratulations you're the first of the haters.

I want him to do well of course, just need convincing right now, sure we have two wins in a row which is good and also reasonably placed. It’s more the performance that haven’t convinced me, there have been periods of games that we look very good and that is promising so let’s see if he can start to get us a full 90 of good football and not just 15/20 minutes here or there. 

[trooky]

He's already IN but the sooner he's OUT the better.

[kingpower]

Credit where credit is due. Yesterday was the first time he got his in game management bang on. Whether tactical or pure luck it paid off. 
 

one swallow doesn’t make a summer though…

Edited 20 October 2024 by kingpower

[trooky]

1 minute ago, kingpower said:

Credit where credit is due. Yesterday was the first time he got his in game management bang on. Whether tactical or pure luck it paid off. 

Only, in the 2nd half. Not sure giving the opposition a 2-0 head start was in the plan.

[Claridge]

Bit weird not playing abdul, bit like Pearson and Albrighton, but to have the points we have with all the turmoil in the summer is a pretty good effort. Think he is doing a good job

[dr.o.ball]

7 hours ago, trabuch said:

Fats came on - after being sidelined - wrongly - and played like his life depended on it.  I think there are many players who would say "**** you" by that point.  Maybe Vesty and Ricky are like that. I don't really blame them by the way. Winks is borderline on that front too. I don't think it's any way to go on to any great success, but it's oddly effective for a team that just wants to finish 17th.

You should really blame them my friend because our players are very well payed and looked after, pro footballers means professional, and Fats is a model pro doing his job.

We can't use any player with a bad attitude in such an important season and negative fans are about as much use too.

Well done Cooper for the win, regardless of how most fans feel, the game was well executed full stop.

 

[foxfanazer]

Just now, dr.o.ball said:

You should really blame them my friend because our players are very well payed and looked after, pro footballers means professional, and Fats is a model pro doing his job.

We can't use any player with a bad attitude in such an important season and negative fans are about as much use too.

Well done Cooper for the win, regardless of how most fans feel, the game was well executed full stop.

 

Going 2-0 down isn't an indication of a well executed game plan however you want to dress it up. He deserves some credit for sure but he can't be applauded for being two down to Southampton 

[Lionator]

If Man City and Forest do a job this weekend and we win on Friday, we’ll be 9 (NINE) points clearly of 18th, at this stage. That would probably be way beyond what any of us could’ve hoped for.

[Lionator]

2 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Going 2-0 down isn't an indication of a well executed game plan however you want to dress it up. He deserves some credit for sure but he can't be applauded for being two down to Southampton 

We did it three weeks in a row in 2015/16

[foxfanazer]

Just now, Lionator said:

If Man City and Forest do a job this weekend and we win on Friday, we’ll be 9 (NINE) points clearly of 18th, at this stage. That would probably be way beyond what any of us could’ve hoped for.

Yeah nobody can deny that. Way beyond expectations in terms of position 

[foxfanazer]

3 minutes ago, Lionator said:

We did it three weeks in a row in 2015/16

The point remains

 

*Goes and checks the odds on us to win the league 

[murphy]

4 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

He changed it in game, correctly, not sure how that is not learning. It was clear why he did not start Winks as it had previously worked with Skipp, it was not versus Saints so he changed it. The Fatawu thing needs to change after the last game but at least he got more than 5 minutes this time, and to devastating effect!

The set up, selection and the first half is the not learning bit, but credit for changing things second half. 

[Nolucklcfc]

I still have big concerns. The first half cannot keep happening and the amount of goals we concede down our right hand side is an issue that should have been sorted by now. Are the players having him? Hard to say they aren’t after games like yesterday. First time I saw proper in game management that ultimately won us the game. Southampton should have had the game dead and buried at half time and just after. Arguably we got lucky with that to some extent  but you make your own luck. Not like we didn’t have chances too. At the current time, he’s doing a solid job. 

[guest123]

16 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

Scored every game still so far, as well.

 

13th, 6 points buffer to relegation, no complaints currently.

put your doctor spock back in your pants please

[Blueman1967]

Give the bloke a break we won the last two, and yes the first half yesterday was awful

[dr.o.ball]

16 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Going 2-0 down isn't an indication of a well executed game plan however you want to dress it up. He deserves some credit for sure but he can't be applauded for being two down to Southampton 

True It absolutely is no indicator, but how do you legislate for conceding two sloppy goals? Cooper sets up the team so that his players can take advantage of their opponents in certain areas/situations, and they did so over the course of the 100 minutes. Games ebb and flow, no manager needs applauding for a half a game, but they do for the 3 points.

[foxfanazer]

Just now, dr.o.ball said:

True It absolutely is no indicator, but how do you legislate for conceding two sloppy goals? Cooper sets up the team so that his players can take advantage of their opponents in certain areas/situations, and they did so over the course of the 100 minutes. Games ebb and flow, no manager needs applauding for a half a game, but they do for the 3 points.

We're conceding the same goal every week though and it isn't being addressed. 

 

My point is we need to learn to play before we're behind as eventually we'll leave ourselves with too much to do. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve any credit by the way but we can't say we executed our game plan well yesterday 

[Torten]

Paraphrasing Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 

“Don’t give me a good manager, give me a lucky manager.”

[fox_up_north]

Steady on. Two swallows don't make a summer.