Steve Cooper and Enzo Maresca will be in opposite dugouts on Saturday but both understand the toughest challenge facing any Leicester manager – to tame a restless dressing room.
Though the characters may change, the storyline remains the same. Just ask Claudio Ranieri, Claude Puel or Brendan Rodgers.
Ranieri won the Premier League title at King Power Stadium. Rodgers lifted the FA Cup and Community Shield and reached a European semi-final. Yet fractures had appeared long before either man departed while Puel, who lasted 16 months, never convinced the players from the start.
Maresca jumped ship to Chelsea after leading Leicester to promotion last season and will receive a fierce reception on his return. Five months into his reign, Cooper is trying to adapt Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-lite tactics into plan that can deliver Premier League survival and it is no easy task.
On the one hand, Leicester have 10 points from their opening 11 games, which leaves them three points above the relegation zone.
They have had the best results of the three promoted sides, with Ipswich on eight points and Southampton four. Promoted teams typically struggle in the Premier League – all three returned instantly to the Championship last term – so this is a solid total for Leicester, especially as they lost influential midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea last summer. Unfortunately for Cooper, things are not quite so simple.
Former Leicester boss Enzo Maresca returns to the King Power with Chelsea this weekend
Steve Cooper has so far kept Leicester above the relegation zone, with the Foxes in 15th place
But taming a restless dressing room is a tough challenge any Leicester manager must face
Because he did not deliver promotion, Cooper cannot count on the supporter goodwill that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna or Southampton manager Russell Martin enjoy, and he has already felt the anger of a notoriously impatient crowd. His history at East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest, where Cooper remains loved, only increases the unease among fans.
And then there is the squad, some of whom had become so committed to Maresca’s methods and are now finding it difficult to adjust to new ways of working.
Maresca planned his side’s approach in painstaking detail, directing where his men should move and where passes should be played, almost to the blade of grass. His training sessions were enjoyed by most of the players, who appreciated how certain drills would be applied in game situations. Most importantly, they loved winning most of their games – the minimum expectation for one of the strongest squads in the history of the second tier.
Though not popular with every member of the squad, Maresca was generally liked and respected and there was widespread disappointment when he accepted Chelsea’s offer. Cooper has had to navigate those choppy waters while also tweaking the style of play.
Most footballers would like to play how Leicester did last season – dominating the ball, bamboozling their opponents with pretty passing patterns and finishing the campaign as champions, with 97 points and 89 goals. Repeating that as a newly-promoted team is a little more complicated.
Burnley swept to the Championship title in 2022-23, finishing with 101 points, and manager Vincent Kompany vowed to maintain the same expansive style in the division above.
Sure enough, the Clarets were routinely beaten and though they became more pragmatic late in the season, it was not enough to keep them up.
Those Leicester players who crave the certainty of Enzo-ball may pine for their former boss on Saturday, especially if Chelsea win comfortably. Yet Chelsea have the fourth-highest wage bill in the country and some of the best-paid players.
Leicester had these privileges in the Championship and now they do not. Cooper believes that approaching every game in the same way, regardless of the opponent, is not the best way to retain top-flight status.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall also returns to the King Power after his summer move to Chelsea
Foxes fans became accustomed to Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-esque style in the Championship but must now be more realistic under Cooper given the challenge of the Premier League
Cooper is still blessed to have the remarkable 38-year-old Jamie Vardy in Leicester’s ranks
Cooper has pulled this off before. He managed to keep a Forest side who had signed 30 players across two windows above the line in 2023. Forest have kicked on again under Nuno Espirito Santo yet Cooper’s work in that first campaign should never be overlooked.
Can he repeat it? There are reasons for optimism. Facundo Buonanotte, on loan from Brighton, looks one of the best young players in the country and has three goals and two assists this term. Though Buonanotte misses the Chelsea game through suspension, he can have the same impact that Brennan Johnson did during Cooper’s only full season at Forest, when the Welshman claimed eight goals and three assists. Every underdog needs a top goalkeeper and Mads Hermansen has been one of the best in the division this season.
This alone is not enough, as Cooper, his coaches and the players know only too well. Opponents have targeted Leicester’s right flank successfully and collectively they have faced 194 shots in 11 games this season. Only Brentford, on 203, have allowed more.
In Harry Winks, Jannik Vestergaard, Jordan Ayew and James Justin, Cooper has experienced players who know what it takes to prosper in the Premier League and it is crucial they are all singing from the same hymn sheet.
At least they still have the remarkable Jamie Vardy in their ranks. He turns 38 in January but is still at the training ground for 8.30am. He is ultra-dedicated to his recovery and swears by his pre-match routine of cheese omelettes, espresso and Red Bull.
If, in football speak, Vardy is ‘having’ a Leicester manager, life for the man in the dugout is considerably easier than when he is not. In his 12-year Foxes career, Vardy has seen eight permanent managers come and go and his legacy is unmatched. Vardy plans to play past his 40th birthday and, with four goals and an assist this term, he shows little sign of slowing down.
Vardy’s ability to forget the past and adapt his game to the demands of the present is one of his greatest tricks. To keep Leicester in the Premier League, some of his colleagues would be wise to follow his example.
