Leicester City’s quest for Premier League success will be a “rocky road,” according to manager Steve Cooper, but he believes the team will be stronger for overcoming what he hopes will be their only tough spell this season.
The Foxes are set to face Bournemouth on Saturday at 3pm, still searching for their first victory of the campaign.
After a six-match winless run, the pressure is mounting, yet Cooper sees this challenging period as a crucial learning experience that will lay the groundwork for longer-term success.
Reflecting on his time with Nottingham Forest, Cooper recalled similar struggles during his first Premier League season. At Forest, he endured a nine-match winless streak, which was followed by five victories in the next ten games.
Later in the season, despite going 11 matches without a win, Forest managed to bounce back with three wins in five. That ability to recover is something Cooper hopes Leicester can emulate.
“We’re very much trying to become a Premier League team again,” Cooper explained during his Thursday press conference.
“It’s a Premier League club in every way, shape, or form, we know that, and the recent history tells you that. But at this moment, we have to make sure we deliver a Premier League team performance. Some bits have been really good. Other bits we need to get better at. That’s the challenge for the team, and for me and the staff.”
Cooper acknowledged the difficulty of the current run but stressed the importance of perseverance.
“There’s nothing better than coming through a difficult time. When you do, you’re in a much better place because of the lessons that took place. It sometimes doesn’t feel it when results are not going your way, and elements of the performance you’d like to be a bit different. It’s not always easy to take.”
He continued: “But there’s also an awareness that some really important learning takes place, and when you do get through it, it does allow you to have a better mid-to-longer term. That’s what I keep saying to the players: what an opportunity we have now to get through this little spell, and hopefully it is only a little spell, to come through the other side of it and allow us to kick on.”
In a recent team meeting, the players and staff set out their goals for the season. Cooper remains optimistic about the club’s potential, stating that they are still capable of achieving what they set out to do.
“We’ll keep it in-house because it was a goal-setting meeting just for the players and staff, but what we want to achieve is still very much achievable and something we’re still aiming for. For sure, when we achieve it, and however we were going to achieve it, we were always going to look back and say it was a rocky road. That’s how it is.”
Despite their winless start, Leicester sit just outside the relegation zone, with several other teams also struggling to find form. Everton and West Ham, for example, have only secured one win each. Cooper believes that most Premier League teams will go through difficult patches and hopes Leicester’s is coming to an end.
“Unless you’re finishing eighth or higher, everybody goes through a spell of not a lot of points. That’s the nature of the Premier League. If ours is now, I hope it is coming to an end,” Cooper added.
Though he admits nobody enjoys or wants to accept a bad run, Cooper believes it is something many clubs must face. He concluded:
“We’re six games without a win. There’s no point looking back. It’s been and gone. We’ve got to look forward, take our situation for what it is, but look at it positively and with motivation to get through it and get to a really good place. That’s what’s got to drive us every day.”