Dirty dressing room laundry has been aired within those four walls among Leeds United’s squad as they got stuck into what’s going wrong this season. Captain Liam Cooper, who is slowly but surely working his way back to action, has addressed the elephant in the room in today’s Norwich City programme.
While the Scotland international has not been in the matchday squad for more than three months, he remains an important voice in the dressing room. Cooper admits it has been a tough few days since Thursday’s nadir against Aston Villa, but home truths have been exchanged by a group which has worked too hard to reach the promised land.
“We know the performance against Aston Villa on Thursday wasn’t good enough,” he said. “As I’ve said previously, over the past few years we’ve set ourselves some very high standards and we didn’t get anywhere near those levels.
“We’ve all got to look ourselves in the mirror. It wasn’t good enough and we know that and we have to put things right today. In the last few days, as a group we’ve had some frank conversations and heart-to-hearts, which is really important.
“We have a lot of experience and characters in this group and we will never give in. Nobody wants to be in the position we find ourselves in at this present time, but we are here and we have to accept that.
“I can assure you, though, we will fight tooth and nail to stay in this division. We worked too hard to get here in the first place to throw it all away and I have every faith we will remain in the Premier League.”