Ruts are hard to get out of and after an opening six games from hell last season, Leeds United captain Liam Cooper is clear on the lessons the side has taken from that. Fresh from a ninth-place finish in their first top-flight campaign under Marcelo Bielsa, the Whites suffered the rudest of awakenings.
The leaders in the squad had warned through last summer about how much harder the second season would be. A second consecutive Old Trafford hiding did not set too many alarm bells ringing, but draws with Everton, Burnley and Newcastle United were made to look too much like hard work.
Even when the first win came, against a Watford side who then sacked their head coach, it was followed by one of the worst performances seen in the Bielsa era at Southampton. The campaign never got going, as the final-day scrap for 17th proved, and Cooper is clear on the change they have to make for 2022/23.
