I really think we're stuck with Cooper for the rest of the season. Taking away his behaviour on the sideline he's got a long ways to go. Somehow he's got them to a playoff position in spite of it all.
Players somehow making it work.
We struggle at some of the simpler elements of the game.
If reviving our Swanselona style in some vintage of Martínez, or Sousa, or Rogers, or Laudrup, as they were each variations on a theme, then based on the passing stats alone, Cooper’s attempt gets an F from me. He’s not even close. Or, rather the players are not even close, and players cannot conjure up in a game what they don’t do in practice. I don’t think there’s much of a disparity in basic skills between Britton, Allen, Grimes, Byers, Augustien, Orlandi, Gower, Ki and JdG. For me the beauty of Swanselona is that it made lesser players more by maximizing their basic skills, and better players excel ... Gower being a classic example of a player being functional within the system at a Prem level when in any other club he wouldn’t get on the bench. And, the same applies to Leon, with us he was everything, while at Sheffield United in the Championship he could barely get a game.
Where does this leave us? The best comparison we have is Potter v Cooper. Depending on your leaning, either the players are ok and Potter delivered superior output from the players v Cooper and so was the better coach .... or stating the extreme opposite viewpoint, the players are crap, and Potter persevered and got more out of them, while Cooper is resorting to bringing in known entities than rolling up his sleeves and inspiring what he has.
In going from one season to the next, there is always going to be at least one player, that for anyone of a million reasons is producing less. I think it’s fair to say that we can go through the squad and find a slew of players that are at a deficit compared with last season: Grimes, Roberts, Byers et al, Why the drop off?
Why also the massive difference in return in August v since. Did our luck run out, did Cooper’s luck run out, did all the other teams suss out Cooper’s style and easily countered. Did the players start a work to rule. Something significant happened at that international break.