Liam Cooper has opened up on the moment Jesse Marsch ripped into his Leeds United squad during their tour of Australia this summer. The Whites spent two weeks Down Under during pre-season, taking on the likes of Brisbane Roar, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace as they prepared themselves for the start of the Premier League campaign.
However, a moment came after meeting Brisbane at Gold Coast’s Cbus Super Stadium that gave the Whites side a glimpse of Marsch’s mean streak. Leeds won the game 2-1 and the head coach had little to be upset about regarding the match action against the A-League side.
He did have a point to make, though, and he took the opportunity to do so in the hotel the morning after the game in Queensland.
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“That was after the Brisbane game and he was right in doing it,” Cooper told the Leeds United Podcast after being asked by Michael Bridges about Marsch ‘kicking off’ in pre-season.
“We had a few new players as well and after the game we’ve come in and the boys have had their showers and grub after the game and they’ve obviously not tidied the water bottles away and cleaned the dressing room. Straight away the next morning Jesse got stuck into the group on a whole, all of us, and said this can’t happen again.
“Since that day, to be fair, it’s never happened again and he was right to do that.”
The Whites skipper didn’t see a minute of action on that pre-season tour due to a troublesome Achilles injury, but he picked up some valuable game time last Friday whilst representing the club’s under-21s against Southampton and he should be fit enough to start Leeds’ next Premier League game against Aston Villa. On the podcast Cooper also spoke about clashes he’s had in the dressing room over the years and pointed to his days as a trainee coming through at Hull City.
He also spoke about an incident at Elland Road, though, with Hadi Sacko, who spent two seasons in the Championship with the Whites.
“Hadi Sacko got it a little bit off me when he was here,” he admitted. “We had a little scuffle in the boot room one day.
“I probably told him to do one, or those kind of words, he disagreed and we had a little scuffle in the boot room and the boys had to pull us apart.
“I like all that, I think all that’s good. It means something.”
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