Liam Cooper

[Sniffer999]

Faultless v Palace. He has been fantastic this season and has convinced me we now have enough CBs. Invest money in other areas as we have 4 excellent players already in that position.
He has proved lots of people wrong this season.
Top man

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

He was also injured and then paired with lots of different people.

That said of the 4 we have I think he is technically the weakest.

[UbiqueLUFC33]

I like Cooper and think he has been a good Captain and advocate for the Club, however .....

You can't really say that Palace offered much of a threat yesterday. If Zaha had been playing it would perhaps have tested him more. If all 4 of our CBs (if we count Struijk as one of them) were fit then I think against the better teams Cooper would be my 4th pick.

[LeedsFTW]

I agree Cooper had a good match against Palace, whilst accepting Palace didn't offer up much.

However, for me, Cooper is a weak link for us at centre back. I have seen him being bullied in the box far too easily, I question his ability to deal with set pieces and I have seen he is not great at marking players.

He does have a number of strengths but I honestly see him as 4th choice cb and someone that is okay at this level, nothing more.

[asturianblanco]

agree hes a weak link when all fit, but saying he should be below Struijk in the pecking order is rediculous.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

agree hes a weak link when all fit, but saying he should be below Struijk in the pecking order is rediculous.

Hmmmn Struijk at CB has been solid and not made any real progress - he has real potential to improve and has many qualities Cooper doesn’t.

Think if fully fit Llorente and Koch would be first choices and that Struijk then follows in the pecking order of ranking.

Won’t happen this season but next season for all his stellar qualities if the club has true Top 6 ambitions then it needs to make hard decisions.

I also think technically he is the weakest of the 4 but he also brings lots of other qualities such as leadership and seems to be popular and a great trainer/role model.

[spaldy]

Have to disgree on Strujik.

think he's settled in nicely and looks solid. He's also much more physical than our other 3 CB's. it he starts hitting headers on restarts he will be a real force. he's in the right spot usually.

He's 21 and was thrown into the prem against Lpool at Anfield in our first game back in the prem.

[klix]

Struijk seems to be improving, but we are in a great position where himself and cooper are getting a run of games, experience at this level is immense.
We are also in a position to blood a couple of youngsters
Use the next 3 months in prep for next season

[bathlad61]

Think Struijk playing in his real position ( CB ) starting to look good, ***** he is kept there.
We also looked a touch more threatening at corners, both Struijk & Cooper had attempts, not great, but at least we were getting heads on ball.
Hopefully another 5-6 points should seal safety, everything then is a bonus / place prize money - we then should start giving some of the U23s some game time, Cresswell,Jenkins, Huggins,Gelhardt, Summerville.

[joellufcprice]

Come a long way from league one Liam to be fair to him. Think he really stands out against slow immobile strikers but gets quickly found out against ones with a bit of intelligence, pace and quick feet.

That said, if we can get Llorente (hahahahahaha) and Koch fit, I'd be happy for our centre back options next season to be as they are now. Two youngsters in Koch and Struijk, Llorente a bit more experienced and then Cooper the same with experience to help Struijk but also as a leader and understanding of what Leeds United means.

Whatever happens and whenever he leaves he will have to go down as a club hero for me.