Liam Cooper

[Deleted User 130]

I have to say that Cooper looked V nervous to me when he came on at ER as sub recently (the games are a blur) and I was always against Wootton being right-back BUT when he returned to the team as RB he did really well. He still is not a full-back imho but he's generally made a good job of it. Wolves aren't anything special EXCEPT up front, imho, and that showed against us I thought.

[Costy]

I haven't necessarily been impressed with cooper. Don't think bellusci is a lot better but we do seem to do better when he plays. Think he puts opponents off their game with his antics and he reads the game well and makes good interceptions. Would have been interesting to see what he did about deeney. Cooper has made more obvious errors than he has to my recollection. Like with any young player though, we should be patient and allow them to gain experience and develop before judging too harshly.

[Sheepy]

Would have been interesting to see what he did about deeney

That's a point I made after the Watford game, I honestly think Bellusci would have been in his face more. I do think a centre half has to play the tough guy, and to be fair to Bellusci, he does attempt to. Unfortunately though there are many floors in his game. He has a tendancy to jump with his knee high or tries a sly elbow. He gets wrong side of the defender far too often and additionally has a habit of trying silly tricks. I even recall him back heeling the ball in his own penalty area.

I just miss Richard Naylor....

[PockWhite]

Cooper strikes me as a bit rabbit in headlights ish, hope he does improve, but he looks League 1 standard at best to me?

[Aces]

It's his first season, his form has been average at best, he needs to improve next year, but he's only 23.

[dlw10]

In defence of this stat a bit, Cooper has actually only played 20 games so that makes the stat, for me, a bit more relevant. I personally thin we have still not got a CB pairing that is good enough for this division, or at least to get out of this division. I think Bamba on his day can be great (altho we all know he has an off day now and again and can be "rash") but for me neither Bellusci or Cooper is the answer which is why I keep including another CB in my new faces wish list. What I don't understand is why we always have the best opposition headers up against our weakest headers and why oh why we are so gullable with heades in our six yard box - a problem that has started to affect us again when I thought it had finally gone away. On Monday Dave Edwards - who is well known as a super sub who is fantastic in the air finds himself pitched against Berardi!!!!!! Madness. Really poor organisation for me.

[1964white]

The answer is.....in the eight games we've lost since early December all have featured Cooper

I dare say, some other players have featured in all 8 games too.

Presumably, your argument is that the Bellusci is better than Cooper. We are all entitled to our opinions, and mine is what I have stated several times, Bellusci is an absolute liability and whilst accepting his goal against Bournemouth was fantastic, and he got the assist against Huddersfield (and that's generous as it came off the bar), then he wouldn't get anywhere near the first team for me.

But like I said, we are all entitled to our opinions .

You could say Cooper is a liability as was Jason Pearce although many of our fans didn't recognised he was a problem because he was a whole hearted player. Clean sheets are a rarity with either of these two at the heart of a defence. Cooper is still young & has time to develope into a decent CB in the future.

[1964white]

For the record I believe Mowatt has played in all the matches you mention, maybe Murphy in most if not all, Cook has only missed the Wolves match, Byram has played the lions share and Taylor has played every game since Warnock went.
Other young players still learning the game like Cooper, all have excellent potential so i find it hard to understand the witch hunt on one players. It is after all a team game and everyone has to take a bit of responsibility.

Also you make it sound like Cooper only played in those matches, like the others he played in a few victories and draws in that time period.

But those players are not at the heart of our defence which looks extremely vunerable when Cooper plays. Seven clean sheets in 2015 with Bamba/Bellusci at the back

[1964white]

A bit harsh on Cooper, he has made some mistakes granted but to be fair, he is better than Bellusci from the point of view he doesn't do stupid things. Lets give the lad a chance, he was playing a division below us last season (or was it two?)

Yes he does as occurred v Wolves where he left his backline getting caught out position which he does with regularity, cost us a goal. The sort of error that goes unnoticed if you are not at the game. Redders wasn't happy with his defending too !

Thing is with Bellusci when he makes a mistake he tends to come up with a real howler which is highlighted much more than say a defender losing his man/getting caught out of position/done for pace

[1964white]

Some Leeds fans just like to point out stats and then try to somehow claim that the stats are the irrefutable truth & fact concerning individual players and teams and performances. And whether or not it's intended, it does often lead to the impression that there's a scapegoat-hunt going on. Forums are about opinions of course, but never will stats be better than forming your own judgement from having actually watched a player rather than read his performance stats. I'll give it a rest here anyway, no point arguing over trivia and I've fallen into the old trap of getting involved when not a good idea

Cooper is not a scapegoat with me. I'm really hope he developes into a top defender given time !

Right now he looks like a League One defender, maybe he has lost his confidence. Redders needs to make a bold decision & take the responsibility of the captaincy off Liam as that burden must put pressure on the lad

Bamba is the leader of the pack continually communicating & organising his defenders around him.

Sol is always the first to consult the ref if there is a incident as was the case v Wolves where he saved Byram from receiving a definite second yellow card for a bookable offence. Wolves fans were not happy & rightly so especially as they were leading 3-2 at that time