The departure of former manager Enzo Maresca to Chelsea after their Championship winning season was a big loss for their 2024/25 campaign. The Foxes have decided to appoint ex-Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper for their return to the Premier League, which was met with both positive and negative opinions, but is it a good signing for Leicester City?
Steve Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest in December of the 23/24 season after a poor run of form. He was appointed by Nottingham Forest in September 2021 when Forest was at the bottom of the Championship and was able to lead them to Premier League promotion. He was then able to secure Premier League safety in the following season after a closely fought relegation battle, despite a complete overhaul of the squad. There is no disputing the fact that Cooper has had a positive effect in previous jobs, but will that translate to his new job?
The first thing to discuss is the obvious differing styles between Maresca and Cooper. Maresca comes from the Pep Guardiola thought of mind when looking at tactical approach, with Maresca focusing heavily on dominating possession, the idea of inverted full-backs and the idea of possession-based football. Contradictory to the idea of Steve Cooper who focused on building a robust system in which his teams were defensively sound in his time in the Premier League. Focusing on a five at the back system with the wingbacks being the main outlets when looking to break from the back, contradictory to the Maresca idea of using Dewsbury-Hall and Winks as the main outlets when building up from the back.
The system that Steve Cooper implements at Leicester will be a massive shock to the fans and players, however, it could be argued that the style that Steve Cooper plays is more suited for Leicester’s hopes for survival in the new season. He has previous success of keeping newly promoted teams up and it could also be argued that the system he implements is more effective for newly promoted teams into the Premier League. Evidence of this comes from the latest campaign of the way in which Burnley approached promotion by playing the same possession-based system that they used in the Championship, which led to them being relegated. Steve Cooper may not be the high-end, exciting, attacking manager that Leicester fans fell in love with Maresca for, however, he may have the suitable skillset and tactical approach that will be most effective in their hunt for Premier League survival.
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