Paul Robinson baffled as Leeds United ace Liam Cooper misses out for Scotland
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Leeds United…
Paul Robinson is completely baffled by Steve Clarke’s failure to play Leeds United captain Liam Cooper for Scotland this week.
Scotland crashed out of the European Championships on Tuesday night when they lost 3-1 to Croatia at Hampden Park.
Cooper, 29, sat on the bench for the entire match and Robinson is struggling to understand how the Leeds captain wasn’t substituted in when Clarke was faced with an injury issue.
Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Robinson said: “I find it hard to understand why he didn’t play and then when Grant Hanley got injured and came off, he wasn’t the first off the bench.
“I find it very, very difficult to understand why he played [Scott] McTominay at the back in a back-three.
“Obviously, they did very well against England playing that way but against Croatia, I think McTominay would have been better off utilised higher up the pitch rather than at the back when you’ve got someone of Liam Cooper’s quality sat on the bench.
“The player they brought on (Scott McKenna) plays for Nottingham Forest so I wonder if Cooper has a knock or isn’t fit.
“I don’t know. It was a strange decision to leave him out of the team and not push McTominay higher up the field.”
Cooper made 25 Premier League appearances for Leeds last season as they finished ninth in their first year back in the top-flight.
Unfortunately, the Scotland international’s campaign was disrupted by a number of injury issues but he still managed to play the final two Premier League matches and in Scotland’s pre-Euro friendly versus the Netherlands and their Euro opener versus the Czech Republic.
Cooper didn’t give bad accounts of himself in those matches so maybe Robinson is right about him possibly suffering with a knock.
Or maybe Clarke is biased towards Scottish-born players over the likes of Hull-born Cooper.
In other Leeds United news, this central midfielder is ready to quit his club in favour of joining the Whites.