Liam Cooper

[mentalcase]

I would imagine the tiredness is due to the lack of rotation caused by us not having a large enough squad and players being played out of position instead of being able to be rested.

Bielsa wants a small squad, he's the one to blame.

[The Subhuman]

I would imagine the tiredness is due to the lack of rotation caused by us not having a large enough squad and players being played out of position instead of being able to be rested.

I don't think it is.. We were the ones playing through 90 v Brentford, and I deny we have a small squad.

[Cjay]

Jesse Marsch Cooper update.

Liam Cooper is still nursing his Achilles issue which, of all things, he picked up training in the offseason on a treadmill.

"So it's been about a month now and we haven't really been able to get him going. But we're hopeful that here in the next days, we can get him more and more on the pitch."

Just a few things.

1) If he picked this up a month ago why not leave him in Yorkshire to work on it instead of getting him to spend literally days on a plane?

2) Why let Cresswell go whilst Cooper is struggling?

[whiteswan]

Jesse Marsch Cooper update.

Liam Cooper is still nursing his Achilles issue which, of all things, he picked up training in the offseason on a treadmill.

"So it's been about a month now and we haven't really been able to get him going. But we're hopeful that here in the next days, we can get him more and more on the pitch."

Just a few things.

1) If he picked this up a month ago why not leave him in Yorkshire to work on it instead of getting him to spend literally days on a plane?

2) Why let Cresswell go whilst Cooper is struggling?

I have to agree with the two valid points you make Cjay - seems like two ridiculous decisions

[andrewjohnsmith]

Jesse Marsch Cooper update.

Liam Cooper is still nursing his Achilles issue which, of all things, he picked up training in the offseason on a treadmill.

"So it's been about a month now and we haven't really been able to get him going. But we're hopeful that here in the next days, we can get him more and more on the pitch."

Just a few things.

1) If he picked this up a month ago why not leave him in Yorkshire to work on it instead of getting him to spend literally days on a plane?

2) Why let Cresswell go whilst Cooper is struggling?

As captain of the team, I can see the sense in taking him. he's pivotal to the squad bonding. He was central to so much of what was going on with the players during the covid shutdown. So I see great value in taking him on the tour.

Let Cresswell go because we have 4 center backs that are ahead of him and his playing time is always going to be limited. The loan is the best move for Charlie and for us in the long term. He'll come back a much more experienced player.

Question for me is who are our opening day center backs. Llorente and Koch are the senior players. But do you think Strujik will be on the left side with one of the other two on the right? It brings up the LB question again. Does our left sided center back play at left back? Personally I think our back line on opening day will be Rasmus-Koch-Strujik-Hjelds

[The Subhuman]

As captain of the team, I can see the sense in taking him. he's pivotal to the squad bonding. He was central to so much of what was going on with the players during the covid shutdown. So I see great value in taking him on the tour.

Let Cresswell go because we have 4 center backs that are ahead of him and his playing time is always going to be limited. The loan is the best move for Charlie and for us in the long term. He'll come back a much more experienced player.

Question for me is who are our opening day center backs. Llorente and Koch are the senior players. But do you think Strujik will be on the left side with one of the other two on the right? It brings up the LB question again. Does our left sided center back play at left back? Personally I think our back line on opening day will be Rasmus-Koch-Strujik-Hjelds

I think we'll try to shoehorn in both right footed CB's so

Kristensen - Llorente - Koch - Struijk would be my guess, Hjelde is the superior player but less experienced

[The Subhuman]

v Brentford

Meslier
Koch
Llorente
Cooper
Firpo
Phillips
Greenwood
Rodrigo
Raphinha
Harrison
Gelhardt


Those in red won't be starting or starting in those positions v Wolves, Harrison subject to transfer talk plus Sinisterra may nick his place, Paddy might start over Joffy .... I doubt Rodrigo starts.... Llorente is hanging on a bit and Koch could nick his place

So entirely possible we see 10 changes to outfield players for Wolves from the last competitive game v Brentford .. That's huge imo

[weasel]

Bielsa wants a small squad, he's the one to blame.

Interesting to see this posting just a few messages ago on this thread relating to Cooper being injured previously....

[1964white]

v Brentford

Meslier
Koch
Llorente
Cooper
Firpo
Phillips
Greenwood
Rodrigo
Raphinha
Harrison
Gelhardt


Those in red won't be starting or starting in those positions v Wolves, Harrison subject to transfer talk plus Sinisterra may nick his place, Paddy might start over Joffy .... I doubt Rodrigo starts.... Llorente is hanging on a bit and Koch could nick his place

So entirely possible we see 10 changes to outfield players for Wolves from the last competitive game v Brentford .. That's huge imo

Yes huge, but if we put in two good performances/results vs Palace/Cagliari then those amount of changes may not seem so daunting.

I thought we acquitted ourselves very well against Villa, a team that had stuck six goals past us in our previous two encounters, no one can say Villa wasn't trying as they treated that friendly match like a PL game.

Kristensen, Roca, Adams & Aaronson are already an improvement on four of those positions imo! Three of them have acquired 60 international caps between them, don't be surprised if Roca makes the Spanish World Cup squad. All four have played in the Champions League.

Kristensen & Roca are tough as old boots, we'll need their aggression in the PL, particularly our opening game against a big Wolves side. We were far too much of a soft touch last season.

[mentalcase]

Interesting to see this posting just a few messages ago on this thread relating to Cooper being injured previously....

A post from 7 months ago, meaning !!!!
Bielsa knackered him, or he's injury prone ?

[1964white]

[Cjay]

Hadn't realised how poor he was on 2 of the 3 goals till I rewatched on MOTD.

As Captain he should be leading, taking responsibility, he should be the most switched on of anyone.

2nd goal he was looking directly at Kebano and Reid in front of him, unmarked, he could see this situation grow, did he do anything? No, threw his arms up after the event.

It's so bad, he is literally yards away from Kebano and Reid looking at them, he can't miss them because the ball is the other side of them.

Just stands there marking no one, eve if he is meant to be marking Mitrovic (no idea if he was) he wasn't, Mitrovic was further away from him than Kebano and Reid.

On the 3rd goal it was him falling asleep that allowed Mitrovic to receive the ball from the throw which eventually lead to the goal.

As a leader, as a Captain, forget quality, that is just failing to do the basics.

Not good enough

[Kennyb41]

LC has never been good enough at defending, in fact he's crap.

I said yonks back, he's played his best football under Bert, and now he's gone he will return to the old LC, we are fcked, Orta has bought us Koch, Llorente, Firpo, PS, Hjelde, Drameh to go forward with and the only person perhaps in the world to try and get them defending as a unit is Big Sam, and Firpo just needs burning imo coz he's past shite.

[billysboots]

Can we ever sell Firpo, will anyone buy him?

[1964white]

You can tell Coops comes from Hull, bless him.

Another one who looked out of his depth yesterday.

[The Subhuman]

Out of position for the second for sure, but was that because Koch was out of position because Ayling was out of position and everyone got dragged right

Zonal marking can leave free runners in the box as who picks up the run? I prefer man marking

[Cjay]

Defensive deficiencies aside (of which there are many).

He did great here.

Good lad Liam making that young man feel at ease.

[andrewjohnsmith]

Defensive deficiencies aside (of which there are many).

He did great here.

Good lad Liam making that young man feel at ease.

His personality and leadership around the club have never been in doubt. He's an impeccable leader.

That's why I keep saying - if we want to replace him it's not just a matter of signing a better player. We need someone that can be a leader on the pitch and in the dressing room.

[Cjay]

He is clearly a nice guy.

Does a lot for the club off the pitch.

Does good things as Captain (like above).

But I long for the day when he is no longer anything more than a last resort selection.

He is testament to making the most of what you have and being a good company bloke.

Because on talent he should never be a Premier League player.

[mentalcase]

There are too many not good enough for the demands of the PL season still earning a good wage at ER, just another damning fact of where we are financially I'm afraid.