Pundit Watch

Mark Lawrenson offers intriguing verdict on senior Leeds United player’s top-flight capabilities

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Image for Mark Lawrenson offers intriguing verdict on senior Leeds United player’s top-flight capabilities

Leeds United captain Liam Cooper is not good enough to play in the Premier League.

That’s according to former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson, who does however, admit that the centre back is an excellent player at Championship level.

Having captained Leeds to their long-awaited promotion from the Championship back in 2020, Cooper has been a regular for the Whites in the Premier League when fit.

The Scotland international has featured in 40 Premier League games for Marcelo Bielsa’s side since the start of last season.

Cooper helped Leeds to an excellent ninth placed finish last season, and even with things not going as well this time around, his importance was perhaps highlighted by the recent thrashings by Manchester City and Arsenal that Leeds suffered in his absence.

But despite that, it seems Lawrenson is still unconvinced about Cooper’s credentials as a top-flight player.

Speaking about whether Boxing Day would have been a good time for Liverpool to play Leeds – prior to the game being postponed – Lawrenson told Off The Ball: “That is a good time because Leeds, as good as they were last year, they were not great defensively.

“And you look at people like Cooper, who I think it is too much for him at this level. He is an outstanding centre-back in the Championship but not at this level.”

This feels like a bit of a harsh assessment of Cooper from Lawrenson.

Admittedly, he has made some errors in the Premier League, but there have also been plenty of times when he is shown he is more than capable of dealing with some of the best strikers in this division.

Indeed, you only need to look at those two defeats suffered to City and Arsenal without him, to see how important he is to this side’s backline.

As a result, you do feel as though Cooper is still more than capable of playing a part for Leeds in the top-flight this season, in spite of Lawrenson’s judgement here.

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UCLan Sports Journalism graduate. Have been working for Leeds All Over since summer 2020, and can only be found writing on Football League World.