Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Sam Allardyce has been discussing Liam Cooper’s injury situation after he arrived at Leeds.
The Scottish defender has been struggling with injuries for a number of weeks now, and he’s suffered yet another setback recently.
Match fitness has eluded Cooper for quite some time now, and, as you can imagine, Allardyce is hesitant to throw a player who has barely featured lately straight into his team.
With just four games to go, the clock is ticking for Cooper to get back into action, and Allardyce has actually admitted that he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to pick Cooper in one of his teams.
Cooper may not play.
Allardyce responded when asked if we’ll see Cooper before the end of this season.
“I have no idea. There’s no disrespect but injuries, I haven’t really focused on that. I was told he wouldn’t be fit for this game,” Allardyce said.
Blow
When Sam Allardyce arrived at Leeds there were a few players you could look at and say that Big Sam would fancy them.
Pascal Struijk looks like he could do a job for Allardyce, Tyler Adams looks like a perfect player for Big Sam, and Liam Cooper would be his leader at the back.
Sadly, the ‘brilliant’ defender may be robbed of the opportunity to ever play under Allardyce, and that is a big blow for Leeds.
Allardyce’s teams are all about defensive organisation and solidity, and having a vocal organiser like Cooper on the pitch is exactly what Allardyce would have wanted.
Unfortunately, it looks as though he may not be fit enough to play in any of these games, and Leeds will have to find another defensive leader from somewhere.
