Steve Cooper and Enzo Maresca might be in reverse dugouts on Saturday however each perceive the hardest problem going through any Leicester supervisor – to tame a stressed dressing room.
Although the characters might change, the storyline stays the identical. Simply ask Claudio Ranieri, Claude Puel or Brendan Rodgers.
Ranieri gained the Premier League title at King Energy Stadium. Rodgers lifted the FA Cup and Neighborhood Defend and reached a European semi-final. But fractures had appeared lengthy earlier than both man departed whereas Puel, who lasted 16 months, by no means satisfied the gamers from the beginning.
Maresca jumped ship to Chelsea after main Leicester to promotion final season and can obtain a fierce reception on his return. 5 months into his reign, Cooper is making an attempt to adapt Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-lite ways into plan that may ship Premier League survival and it’s no straightforward process.
On the one hand, Leicester have 10 factors from their opening 11 video games, which leaves them three factors above the relegation zone.
They’ve had the most effective outcomes of the three promoted sides, with Ipswich on eight factors and Southampton 4. Promoted groups sometimes wrestle within the Premier League – all three returned immediately to the Championship final time period – so this can be a stable complete for Leicester, particularly as they misplaced influential midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Corridor to Chelsea final summer time. Sadly for Cooper, issues will not be fairly so easy.
Former Leicester boss Enzo Maresca returns to the King Energy with Chelsea this weekend
Steve Cooper has to this point saved Leicester above the relegation zone, with the Foxes in fifteenth place
However taming a stressed dressing room is a tricky problem any Leicester supervisor should face
As a result of he didn’t ship promotion, Cooper can not depend on the supporter goodwill that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna or Southampton supervisor Russell Martin get pleasure from, and he has already felt the anger of a notoriously impatient crowd. His historical past at East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest, the place Cooper stays liked, solely will increase the unease amongst followers.
After which there’s the squad, a few of whom had turn out to be so dedicated to Maresca’s strategies and are actually discovering it tough to regulate to new methods of working.
Maresca deliberate his aspect’s strategy in painstaking element, directing the place his males ought to transfer and the place passes ought to be performed, nearly to the blade of grass. His coaching classes had been loved by many of the gamers, who appreciated how sure drills can be utilized in recreation conditions. Most significantly, they liked profitable most of their video games – the minimal expectation for one of many strongest squads within the historical past of the second tier.
Although not standard with each member of the squad, Maresca was usually appreciated and revered and there was widespread disappointment when he accepted Chelsea’s supply. Cooper has needed to navigate these uneven waters whereas additionally tweaking the model of play.
Most footballers want to play how Leicester did final season – dominating the ball, bamboozling their opponents with fairly passing patterns and ending the marketing campaign as champions, with 97 factors and 89 objectives. Repeating that as a newly-promoted staff is a bit more difficult.
Burnley swept to the Championship title in 2022-23, ending with 101 factors, and supervisor Vincent Kompany vowed to take care of the identical expansive model within the division above.
Certain sufficient, the Clarets had been routinely overwhelmed and although they grew to become extra pragmatic late within the season, it was not sufficient to maintain them up.
These Leicester gamers who crave the knowledge of Enzo-ball might pine for his or her former boss on Saturday, particularly if Chelsea win comfortably. But Chelsea have the fourth-highest wage invoice within the nation and among the best-paid gamers.
Leicester had these privileges within the Championship and now they don’t. Cooper believes that approaching each recreation in the identical means, whatever the opponent, shouldn’t be the easiest way to retain top-flight standing.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Corridor additionally returns to the King Energy after his summer time transfer to Chelsea
Foxes followers grew to become accustomed to Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-esque model within the Championship however should now be extra lifelike beneath Cooper given the problem of the Premier League
Cooper remains to be blessed to have the exceptional 38-year-old Jamie Vardy in Leicester’s ranks
Cooper has pulled this off earlier than. He managed to maintain a Forest aspect who had signed 30 gamers throughout two home windows above the road in 2023. Forest have kicked on once more beneath Nuno Espirito Santo but Cooper’s work in that first marketing campaign ought to by no means be neglected.
Can he repeat it? There are causes for optimism. Facundo Buonanotte, on mortgage from Brighton, appears to be like the most effective younger gamers within the nation and has three objectives and two assists this time period. Although Buonanotte misses the Chelsea recreation by suspension, he can have the identical impression that Brennan Johnson did throughout Cooper’s solely full season at Forest, when the Welshman claimed eight objectives and three assists. Each underdog wants a prime goalkeeper and Mads Hermansen has been the most effective within the division this season.
This alone shouldn’t be sufficient, as Cooper, his coaches and the gamers know solely too nicely. Opponents have focused Leicester’s proper flank efficiently and collectively they’ve confronted 194 photographs in 11 video games this season. Solely Brentford, on 203, have allowed extra.
In Harry Winks, Jannik Vestergaard, Jordan Ayew and James Justin, Cooper has skilled gamers who know what it takes to prosper within the Premier League and it’s essential they’re all singing from the identical hymn sheet.
No less than they nonetheless have the exceptional Jamie Vardy of their ranks. He turns 38 in January however remains to be on the coaching floor for 8.30am. He’s ultra-dedicated to his restoration and swears by his pre-match routine of cheese omelettes, espresso and Purple Bull.
If, in soccer converse, Vardy is ‘having’ a Leicester supervisor, life for the person within the dugout is significantly simpler than when he’s not. In his 12-year Foxes profession, Vardy has seen eight everlasting managers come and go and his legacy is unmatched. Vardy plans to play previous his fortieth birthday and, with 4 objectives and an help this time period, he reveals little signal of slowing down.
Vardy’s capability to neglect the previous and adapt his recreation to the calls for of the current is one in all his biggest tips. To maintain Leicester within the Premier League, a few of his colleagues can be sensible to observe his instance.
