Earlier in the week we could read about Man Utd being eager to add Harry Winks to their squad, that has later been dismissed and looked a bit off the radar. The midfielder who have played every single minute of Leicester’s league games this season was dropped for the Bournemouth game, being left on the bench as Cooper decides to use other alternatives when making substitutions second half.
We have seen how Steve Cooper just decides on changes and drops whoever is not needed at the time, and overlooks the fact that experienced players are unsatisfied, giving no favours to anyone, seeing Jannik Vestergaard, Conor Coady, Harry Winks, Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid, not being played regularly from start.
We have seen Harry Winks being dropped, Bouba Soumare not getting much of a look in, Jamie Vardy getting special trust and not yet being dropped. Jordan Ayew and Stephy Mavididi being dropped and back in. Ricardo Pereira looks non priority and Abdul Fatawu is on the subs bench, being a starter early on. Very difficult to understand anything of this change rotation policy, as the team is a random selection from game to game.
Since the days of Brendan Rodgers, we have seen the difference of the managers choices, Dean Smith playing Bouba Soumare, Enzo Maresca bringing Jannik Vestergaard back to life, and this season a surprise to see Steve Cooper keeping the oldest player, Jamie Vardy, as a priority, but leaving out players that few would believe should be struggling to get a place in the team.
The formation used for the Bournemouth game was one to understand. We all know that, Ndidi, Skipp and Winks, are not at all a perfect trio. This is not a dynamic three. The player missing is of course Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, as his type is no longer part of the Leicester squad.
Oliver Skipp and Wilfred Ndidi were both solid in the game vs. Bournemouth, but still had major difficulties second half to keep the team in balance.
This is of course a major problem for a squad of a certain hierarchy, with players not really interested in being either subs or on gardening leave. A number of managers of today seems to look at players as tools in a massive tool box, taking out what is needed and not being much bothered about the risk of unsettling people.
We have often talked about the hierarchies within a group of players, the wages paid to each player and how that can affect your selection challenges, and of course having players dropped that do not see themselves as droppable.
Again watching the game vs. Bournemouth shows that the Leicester team is easy to upset as they were this Saturday, losing all momentum second half and that should not be of any surprise for Steve Cooper as his master plan looks to be “change” to the best fit against the opponent in play, not really trusting own ideas and a tactical plan of play.
We do believe that Harry Winks, Jannik Vestergaard, Bouba Soumare, Conor Coady and Ricardo Pereira all are concerned about their future at this point, still very much in their prime as footballers. Will be interesting to see how Steve Cooper plans the future, as his formula fell to ground second half, having Mads Hermansen and Wout Faes coming to rescue, as this win became possible.
The selection looks random, and it could be changes again for Southampton, but as we see it, the hierarchy is heavily disturbed and Steve Cooper might come to a situation when he will be at war with a certain group of players.
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