Dominic Matteo has told Leeds United’s preview show on the club’s Twitter account that it was really “important” that Liam Cooper came off the bench to “lead by example” on Wednesday night, at Hull.
Cooper, 32, returned from injury on Wednesday night. It comes after picking up an injury on the opening day of the season – when he scored against Cardiff in a 2-2 draw. He came off the bench at his old club.
It came after Joe Rodon was shown a second yellow card. His first, incredibly harsh and wrong – in fact. The second, a certain yellow and a brief moment of naivety from Rodon – to go in like he did on a yellow.
Cooper came on and made a glorious tackle when a Hull player was set to pull the trigger. Leeds did ride their luck, with Adama Traore hitting the post. But, Matteo was very impressed with the Leeds captain.
“Two away games back to back, tough. When Rodon got sent off, it was important Coops came on – he led by example. It’s never easy coming on as a defender. Overall, a decent performance,” Matteo said.
Matteo: Really important Cooper led by example on Wednesday
Leeds did well to get a point but really, the likes of Georginio Rutter or Crysencio Summerville should have put us in the lead before the red. Summerville did his best, while Rutter should have scored early.
But it is three clean sheets in a row, and we sit in a ninth position with momentum growing. We look solid, with players returning from injury, too. Patrick Bamford and Stuart Dallas among those. Exciting.
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