Club Confirm Cooper exit

[Dr. Winston]

However I went to the two playoff games at the end of the season, thought I’d enjoy it more in person and ended up just as bored by our performances as I was watching it on TV..

Thing is we were dull to watch under Coooper long before Covid. The boos started at home games by about September of his first season I think. As soon as that initial run subsided and reality bit.

As others have said, he's massively lucky that most of his tenure was spent playing in empty stadiums.

 

[Captain_Sham]

Give it a rest.

You hated Cooper, we get it. I tell you something for nothing, if we’d all watched seasons we enjoyed in person over swanstv with zero atmosphere we may have a different view on quite a lot of it. Including some of Brendan’s games.

Totally get what you’re saying, and I thought the same thing. However I went to the two playoff games at the end of the season, thought I’d enjoy it more in person and ended up just as bored by our performances as I was watching it on TV.

I’m torn because although I expect the squad to be worse this season, and I didn’t expect another playoff push, we’d have been a boring mid table team under Cooper. Replacing him feels a bit like a gamble we don’t need to be making. On the other hand I have absolutely zero enthusiasm to watch another 46 matches like last year so fingers crossed whoever comes in will at least be entertaining.

I suppose it depends on whether you consider watching lots of goals flying into our net entertaining. People loved Potter for some reason and his defence was leakier than the Maginot line. If there are are people on here who would prefer to watch us lose like we did against Ipswich rather than watch us win like we did against Forest(in the league) then they are tapped in the fking head.

 

[monmouth]

Totally get what you’re saying, and I thought the same thing. However I went to the two playoff games at the end of the season, thought I’d enjoy it more in person and ended up just as bored by our performances as I was watching it on TV.

I’m torn because although I expect the squad to be worse this season, and I didn’t expect another playoff push, we’d have been a boring mid table team under Cooper. Replacing him feels a bit like a gamble we don’t need to be making. On the other hand I have absolutely zero enthusiasm to watch another 46 matches like last year so fingers crossed whoever comes in will at least be entertaining.

I suppose it depends on whether you consider watching lots of goals flying into our net entertaining. People loved Potter for some reason and his defence was leakier than the Maginot line. If there are are people on here who would prefer to watch us lose like we did against Ipswich rather than watch us win like we did against Forest(in the league) then they are tapped in the fking head.

I’d rather see us win like we did against Forest in the cup.

We’d have lost that game against Forest in the league eight times out of ten and been bored shitless watching it.

You’re right though winning 1-0 in a dour game is better than losing 3-2 in an entertaining one. I just don’t see why that should be the choice.

If we end up worse off then that’s the risk. We were heading nowhere with Shapemusic. We could do a Derby, we could do a Brentford. At least we won’t just be another Cardiff, which is exactly what we have been for two years. Everything we supposedly derided and despised.

 

[bakajack]

I suppose it depends on whether you consider watching lots of goals flying into our net entertaining. People loved Potter for some reason and his defence was leakier than the Maginot line. If there are are people on here who would prefer to watch us lose like we did against Ipswich rather than watch us win like we did against Forest(in the league) then they are tapped in the fking head.

I’d rather see us win like we did against Forest in the cup.

We’d have lost that game against Forest in the league eight times out of ten and been bored shitless watching it.

You’re right though winning 1-0 in a dour game is better than losing 3-2 in an entertaining one. I just don’t see why that should be the choice.

If we end up worse off then that’s the risk. We were heading nowhere with Shapemusic. We could do a Derby, we could do a Brentford. At least we won’t just be another Cardiff, which is exactly what we have been for two years. Everything we supposedly derided and despised.

Agreed, why does the choice have to be entertaining attack and leaky defence vs solid defence and boring attack?

The successful clubs (including Rodgers when we were in the championship and to a lesser extent Martinez) are the ones who find a way to combine the best of both. I have always believed that a part of Rodger's success was built off the foundations of the defensive mindset that Paulo had brought in to the team, when a team knows how to defend and keep clean sheets its easier to focus on developing an attacking side of the game without leaking goals at the back.

 

[Risc]

https://the72.co.uk/242812/steve-cooper-put-himself-forward-for-west-brom-job-before-ismael-appointment-report-claims/

Cooper asking everything and everyone for a job but with no bites. Didn't fancy it at all here without Ayew that much is clear. I don't blame him either, didn't have the minerals.

 

[MrSwerve]

His legacy will certainly be that it was a strange time for him at the club. On paper a pretty successful tenure, but roundly disliked by fans. I think it just goes to show how sick of the football people were. It’s made me realise why clubs sometimes sack managers when they are in the playoffs.

Personally, I backed him for over a season...always saying that it’s only the results that matter. This season though, despite being even more successful than last, I got utterly jaded by the kind of football we were playing. It felt like a chore watching the Swans week after week and I’ve never really felt like that before, even in our darker days. I’d gotten over the ‘empty stadiums’ thing so I don’t think that had much of an effect.

It does feel like he has been the luckiest manager in my memory in terms of results. You could say that you make your own luck, but the number of times we played out games passing back to the keeper, hoofing it upfield to hope for the best and then inviting pressure (repeat as nauseam) got so tiring to watch. One of those hoofs would inevitably find Ayew who would work a bit of magic or score a screamer, meaning we’d just about squeeze a victory. This year of course, Ayew is gone and I think Cooper knew deep down that he’d reached his peak with us. There’s no way he could better last season without Ayew.

I don’t think anyone coming in will better last season either. It’ll just be a measure of what people deem ‘success’. For sure there will be people coming on here saying ‘ahh it’s your own fault, you wanted rid of Cooper, suck up the 10th place this season’ There will be some that will be happy if we have some shoots of fruition in terms of passing football, pacey wing play and not sitting back against teams in the relegation zone as if we are playing Man City away.

Too early to tell of course, but I’m feeling excited at the prospect of it. I also realise that it could be a balls-up and maybe Cooper should have stayed to keep some consistency, but we would undoubtedly have been bored sh*tless for another season.

Cooper wanted out, most fans wanted him out, whether it was good or bad - he just had to go.

 

[Baron Goblet]

There's many a fine tune played on an old fiddle.

Steve Cooper is a good manager and will move on with hope in his heart.

Meanwhile I hope that the new manager gets the promotion the rest of the division covets.

 

[J_B]

Not many managers want out when they haven’t got another job lined up but these are special circumstances. Cooper knows his stock is high because of his results here and he knows it’s almost impossible to enhance his reputation further with a much weaker squad this season. Keeping him wasn’t an option, he was determined to leave so let no one say we should have kept him because we couldn’t. I already feel sorry for whoever the new manager is because going one better than last season will be a miracle. My advice to the new manager is to reintroduce pass and move football and he will be cut plenty of slack over results if he does that and if the fans can see that we are at least trying to move back to possession based triangles.

 

[JackSomething]

I’d rather see us win like we did against Forest in the cup.

We’d have lost that game against Forest in the league eight times out of ten and been bored shitless watching it.

You’re right though winning 1-0 in a dour game is better than losing 3-2 in an entertaining one. I just don’t see why that should be the choice.

If we end up worse off then that’s the risk. We were heading nowhere with Shapemusic. We could do a Derby, we could do a Brentford. At least we won’t just be another Cardiff, which is exactly what we have been for two years. Everything we supposedly derided and despised.

Agreed, why does the choice have to be entertaining attack and leaky defence vs solid defence and boring attack?

The successful clubs (including Rodgers when we were in the championship and to a lesser extent Martinez) are the ones who find a way to combine the best of both. I have always believed that a part of Rodger's success was built off the foundations of the defensive mindset that Paulo had brought in to the team, when a team knows how to defend and keep clean sheets its easier to focus on developing an attacking side of the game without leaking goals at the back.

Agreed. What would we have been in the promotion season if Rodgers hadn't brought in Sinclair (and later Borini)? Would we have been much more entertaining or successful than Paulo's team?

 

[JackBaston]

At the end of the day for me, Id have put up with Coopers style if we had got promotion, but to play like that and not get promoted, id have rathered come 14th and actually shown a glimpse of the Rodgers Laudrup Martinez era because ultimately he didnt achieve anything, he should have got automatic, and if we had replaced him when he had his sulk I feel like we couldve come 2nd, but we limped into the play offs and i had no confidence going in at all. To have a play off final and not even have a shot on target is disgraceful
Yeah Potters team was leaky, but it was a team that had a major overhaul and he needed an extra season to get the right players in to go back to that style of play
You look at Brighton now and they're defensively quite solid

 

[Itchysphincter]

I suppose it depends on whether you consider watching lots of goals flying into our net entertaining. People loved Potter for some reason and his defence was leakier than the Maginot line. If there are are people on here who would prefer to watch us lose like we did against Ipswich rather than watch us win like we did against Forest(in the league) then they are tapped in the fking head.

I’d rather see us win like we did against Forest in the cup.

We’d have lost that game against Forest in the league eight times out of ten and been bored shitless watching it.

You’re right though winning 1-0 in a dour game is better than losing 3-2 in an entertaining one. I just don’t see why that should be the choice.

If we end up worse off then that’s the risk. We were heading nowhere with Shapemusic. We could do a Derby, we could do a Brentford. At least we won’t just be another Cardiff, which is exactly what we have been for two years. Everything we supposedly derided and despised.

We were headed nowhere fast under Cooper. That Sham fella has been banging his drum for months, he needs to give his head a wobble. No idea why he thinks we should accept the turd that Cooper served up. Oddball looking for attention.

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

I'm afraid his legacy here is one of a shit house

 

[Longlostjack]

His legacy will certainly be that it was a strange time for him at the club. On paper a pretty successful tenure, but roundly disliked by fans. I think it just goes to show how sick of the football people were. It’s made me realise why clubs sometimes sack managers when they are in the playoffs.

Personally, I backed him for over a season...always saying that it’s only the results that matter. This season though, despite being even more successful than last, I got utterly jaded by the kind of football we were playing. It felt like a chore watching the Swans week after week and I’ve never really felt like that before, even in our darker days. I’d gotten over the ‘empty stadiums’ thing so I don’t think that had much of an effect.

It does feel like he has been the luckiest manager in my memory in terms of results. You could say that you make your own luck, but the number of times we played out games passing back to the keeper, hoofing it upfield to hope for the best and then inviting pressure (repeat as nauseam) got so tiring to watch. One of those hoofs would inevitably find Ayew who would work a bit of magic or score a screamer, meaning we’d just about squeeze a victory. This year of course, Ayew is gone and I think Cooper knew deep down that he’d reached his peak with us. There’s no way he could better last season without Ayew.

I don’t think anyone coming in will better last season either. It’ll just be a measure of what people deem ‘success’. For sure there will be people coming on here saying ‘ahh it’s your own fault, you wanted rid of Cooper, suck up the 10th place this season’ There will be some that will be happy if we have some shoots of fruition in terms of passing football, pacey wing play and not sitting back against teams in the relegation zone as if we are playing Man City away.

Too early to tell of course, but I’m feeling excited at the prospect of it. I also realise that it could be a balls-up and maybe Cooper should have stayed to keep some consistency, but we would undoubtedly have been bored sh*tless for another season.

Cooper wanted out, most fans wanted him out, whether it was good or bad - he just had to go.

We were superb against Norwich though. I’m not sure whether that was because of or despite Cooper. After that game we became very turgid. Now there’s a wonderful word !

 

[Dr. Winston]

We were superb against Norwich though. I’m not sure whether that was because of or despite Cooper. After that game we became very turgid. Now there’s a wonderful word !

That's perhaps the most frustrating thing about it. There were intermittent flashes of what the team could do, then next game it was back to the usual stuff. It's like he was too wedded to tactical theory to see that sometimes you've just got to take a few risks.

 

[Risc]

We were superb against Norwich though. I’m not sure whether that was because of or despite Cooper. After that game we became very turgid. Now there’s a wonderful word !

That's perhaps the most frustrating thing about it. There were intermittent flashes of what the team could do, then next game it was back to the usual stuff. It's like he was too wedded to tactical theory to see that sometimes you've just got to take a few risks.

Brentford away, Watford home, Norwich home, all outstanding. But for whatever reason when the chips were down we went into our shell and made each game a must not lose rather than having a go.

Brentford probably couldn’t believe their luck when we rocked up to the final like that, it was clear first 2 minutes we were there for penalties.