Liam Cooper admits Leeds United are still 'learning on the job' after difficult Chelsea defeat
Marcelo Bielsa's side were beaten 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.
Liam Cooper believes Leeds United are still ‘learning on the job’ in the Premier League after what he described as a ‘disappointing’ showing at Chelsea.
It has been a start of mixed emotions for the Whites, who have amassed 14 points from their opening 11 top-flight games after 16 years in the Football League wilderness.
Leeds have delighted onlookers with their commitment to attacking play, and with so few changes to the first-team squad have taken the challenge amongst England’s elite in their stride.
United’s quick adjustment to the Premier League has been swift but after a 3-1 humbling at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night, Leeds’ club captain knows they’re still very much the new boys on the block, even if they’re left ruing defeat against a star-studded Chelsea line-up.
“We’re learning every single week. We’ll do that again,” Cooper admitted post-match in the capital.
“We’ll go away for a couple of days and analyse it, look to improve and be better in the next game.
“They’re world class players, I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again, we’re learning on the job.
“We’re an honest team who will run and run, go to the last second but sometimes these teams have that extra bit of quality and Chelsea certainly had that.
“We’ve got to improve, we’ve got to be better and we know that. We’re gutted to concede three goals and as a team it is disappointing. We’ll improve that and all we can do is work hard on the training ground.”
United boss Marcelo Bielsa believed that the key to defeat was his side’s failure to apply a high and consistent press to Frank Lampard’s hosts.
“That’s something we will work on,” Cooper said.
“Chelsea have got very good players on the ball and sometimes it’s hard, they wait for you to come and drag you out then pop it off to the free man.
“We struggled with that and when we’re not getting there to anticipate the ball it’s always going to be difficult, because we put a lot into that, that’s a massive part of our game."
He added: "It was a difficult and fair result in the end I would say.
"In the second half we weren’t at our best, we will go away and analyse that and improve in the next game.
“Chelsea are a good team, they will be up there at the end of the season.
“We are disappointed, I don’t think we got into the game as much as we should have and as much as we have.
"As a group we’ll stick together and look to improve in the next game.”