Former Premier League manager Alex McLeish has told Football Insider that he believes Manchester City were ‘scared’ of Liam Cooper in the 1-1 draw with Leeds United earlier this month.
The Whites claimed a point against Pep Guardiola’s men the weekend before last, leaving them with seven points from their first four Premier League games this season.
Sitting eighth in the table, the Yorkshire side will now prepare for the fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers next Monday looking to maintain their unbeaten run.
McLeish raves about Liam Cooper’s performances
Looking back at the 1-1 draw with Man City, McLeish thinks Guardiola’s side were ‘scared’ of Cooper and his Leeds teammates in an interview with Football Insider.
Cooper played the full 120 minutes in Scotland’s 5-3 penalty shootout victory over Israel last week in their Euro 2020 qualifying play-off semi-final and McLeish has discussed his recent performances for both club and country. He said:
“The Premier League players have been playing to really good performance levels at the moment like Cooper with Leeds.
“They’ve made a fantastic start to their campaign and I’d never seen Man City not doing their high press in a game for a long time.
“Such was Leeds’ possession that you could tell City were a little bit scared of them. That’s credit to Bielsa and also to players like Cooper.”
How good has Liam Cooper been?
Playing a large part in Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League, Cooper has started the season in fine form, gaining himself an average WhoScored rating of 7.17 out of 10 for his performances this term. That makes him Leeds fourth-best performer in 2020/21 so far, with only Patrick Bamford, Jack Harrison and Luke Ayling ahead of him in WhoScored‘s ratings.
For the foreseeable, Leeds fans and Bielsa can feel comfortable with Cooper at the heart of their defence, and he will likely remain a key figure in their defence as the top-flight season progresses.
How do you rate Liam Cooper’s start to the Premier League season? Let us know your views in the comments section below…
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