Steve Cooper has kept Leicester above the drop zone so far despite the legacy of a turbulent dressing room… beating his predecessor Enzo Maresca would be huge for his long-term future with the Foxes, writes TOM COLLOMOSSE

Steve Cooper and Enzo Maresca will be in opposite dugouts on Saturday, but both understand the toughest challenge facing any Leicester manager: taming a turbulent dressing room.

Even though the characters change, the storyline remains the same. Just ask Claudio Ranieri, Claude Puel or Brendan Rodgers.

Ranieri won the Premier League title at the King Power Stadium. Rodgers won the FA Cup and Community Shield and reached a European semi-final. Yet fractures had appeared long before either man left, while Puel, who lasted 16 months, never convinced the players from the start.

Maresca jumped ship to Chelsea after leading Leicester to promotion last season and will receive a fierce reception on his return. Five months into his reign, Cooper is trying to adapt Maresca’s Pep Guardiola-lite tactics into a plan capable of ensuring the Premier League’s survival and it’s no easy task.

On the one hand, Leicester have 10 points from their first 11 games, leaving them three points above the relegation zone.

They had the best results of the three promoted teams, with Ipswich on eight points and Southampton four. Promoted teams usually struggle in the Premier League – all three returned instantly to the Championship last season – so this is a solid total for Leicester, especially as they lost influential midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury -Hall against Chelsea last summer. Unfortunately for Cooper, things aren’t that simple.

Because he failed to secure promotion, Cooper cannot count on the fan goodwill enjoyed by Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna or Southampton manager Russell Martin, and he has already felt the wrath from a notoriously impatient crowd. His history at East Midlands rivaling Nottingham Forest, where Cooper remains beloved, only increases the unease among fans.

And then there’s the team, some of whom were so attached to Maresca’s methods and are now struggling to adapt to the new ways of working.

Maresca carefully planned his team’s approach, laying out where his men should move and where passes should be played, almost to the blade of grass. His training sessions were enjoyed by most players, who appreciated how certain drills would be applied in game situations. More importantly, they loved winning most of their matches – the minimum expectation for l one of the strongest teams in the history of the second tier.

Although not popular with everyone on the team, Maresca was generally liked and respected and there was widespread disappointment when he accepted Chelsea’s offer. Cooper had to navigate these choppy waters while refining his playing style.

Most footballers would love to play like Leicester did last season – dominate the ball, bamboozle their opponents with neat passing patterns and finish the campaign as champions, with 97 points and 89 goals. Repeating this as a newly promoted team is a bit more complicated.

Burnley won the league title in 2022-23, finishing with 101 points, and manager Vincent Kompany has vowed to maintain the same expansive style in the top division.

Indeed, the Clarets were regularly beaten and even if they became more pragmatic at the end of the season, it was not enough to keep them going.

Leicester players who crave Enzo-ball certainty might complain about their former boss on Saturday, especially if Chelsea win comfortably. Yet Chelsea have the fourth highest wage bill in the country and some of the highest paid players.

Leicester had these privileges in the league and now they no longer do. Cooper believes that approaching every game the same way, regardless of the opponent, is not the best way to maintain elite status.

Cooper has already achieved this. He managed to keep a Forest team that had signed 30 players over two windows over the line in 2023. Forest have picked up under Nuno Espirito Santo, but Cooper’s work in that first campaign should never be overlooked.

Can he repeat it? There are reasons to be optimistic. Facundo Buonanotte, on loan from Brighton, looks one of the best young players in the country and has three goals and two assists this season. Although Buonanotte misses the Chelsea game due to suspension, he can have the same impact as Brennan Johnson did in Cooper’s only full season at Forest, when the Welshman registered eight goals and three assists. Every underdog needs a top goalkeeper and Mads Hermansen has been one of the best in the division this season.

It’s not enough, as Cooper, his coaches and the players know all too well. Opponents have successfully targeted Leicester’s right flank and collectively they have faced 194 shots in 11 games this season. Only Brentford, out of 203, has allowed more.

With Harry Winks, Jannik Vestergaard, Jordan Ayew and James Justin, Cooper has experienced players who know what it takes to thrive in the Premier League and it is crucial that they all sing to the same anthem.

At least they still have the remarkable Jamie Vardy in their ranks. He will be 38 in January but is still at the training ground at 8:30am. He’s ultra-dedicated to his recovery and swears by his pre-match routine of cheese omelettes, espresso and Red Bull.

If, in footballing terms, Vardy ‘has’ a Leicester manager, the man’s life in the dugout is considerably easier than when he doesn’t. During his 12-year career at the Foxes, Vardy has seen eight permanent managers come and go and his legacy is unrivaled. Vardy plans to play beyond his 40th birthday and, with four goals and an assist this season, he shows no signs of slowing down.

Vardy’s ability to forget the past and adapt his game to the demands of the present is one of his greatest tricks. To keep Leicester in the Premier League, some of his colleagues would do well to follow his example.