Let’s get going: Can Steve Cooper’s Leicester City start on the front foot?
A famous manager was asked: ‘At what point do you hope to have control of a match?’
He replied: ‘At the kick off’.
This revealed all you needed to know about him and, crucially, his team. And highlights, after five games, a shortcoming which seems to be becoming a feature of Leicester City play.
We seem to be always chasing the game. We are reactive. It’s the opposition which ask the early questions. First halves seem to be some sort of preparation for the second half.
It’s a brave boxer who cedes the first five rounds in the expectation of outpointing or stopping his opponent. Or the race driver who takes twenty laps to assess the conditions. This week Everton should have been a goal up in two minutes; Spurs let us off the hook before half time. Is this some sort of tactical policy or a worrying weakness?
There are possible explanations. Most fans will allow time for a new manager with sparse experience of elite level needing to mould a team from a larger than usual recruitment drive.
It is not unusual for promoted clubs. But it is an adjustment policy which often fails. As we strive to discern some sort of progress in our side, the tendency is to grasp positives, the wish being father to the thought. Yes, we fight back with spirit and energy but the thought nags, why do we have to?
It’s because the other team has established control and we have to loosen their grip.
The man overseeing this trend, Steve Cooper, is the man who will have to find a way to reverse it. The team plays in a way that reflects his approach. And it is an approach which will need to change. His CV which landed him the job is that of an appointee who has worked with the best. At coaching level. His role now is different.
It is that of establishing relationships, the essential route to effective leadership. It involves those with fans, his executive, the coaching staff he is responsible for, his players and the media.
So he has his hands full. Not everyone will be new to him, top level football is a tight community and those in coaching will have built links. Those who come in will need clear, achievable and demanding standards. They will look for leadership which inspires and builds an effective whole. This demands time, the very element in short supply.
Hopefully our executive will heed the words of Cooper’s predecessor about being ‘more demanding’ as a club. It really is a top/down process. We have all formed an opinion about those on the bridge but the pressing question is – does Cooper have the leadership qualities necessary to make that leap from talented coach to effective and successful elite manager?
He will have studied the greats, the Fergusons, Shanklys and Guardiolas, groundbreakers espousing personality and confidence. Big examples? Why not? They are at the top only because they stood out at the start of their careers. That is where our man is now.
The rest of us can only cross our fingers.
