Building confidence and then deciding on a style of play are the first two big tasks for Ruud van Nistelrooy at Leicester City, Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy believes.
Van Nistelrooy watched his new side suffer their joint-heaviest loss of the campaign on Saturday as they went down 4-1 at Brentford. He now has just three days to pick them up before his debut as the club’s manager against West Ham on Tuesday night.
It’s not just the team that need a boost but the fans too. Murphy accepts it’s a tricky balance for Van Nistelrooy though, as he needs to find a way of playing that improves the mood of the “disgruntled” City supporters while still being able to get results.
“He’s got a hell of a job,” former England midfielder Murphy said on Match of the Day. “I think the first thing is about trying to build some confidence and getting the lads enjoying their football again.
“And then he’s got to make a decision on what style, because obviously the fans have been a little bit disgruntled with Steve Cooper’s pragmatism. But they can’t play too open because we saw what happened today.
“They’ve got some half-decent fixtures coming up. Four home games in the next six is not a bad start for him. I’m excited to see what he can do.”
While City did not play well enough for it to be clear if they stuck to or changed from Cooper’s style on Saturday afternoon, there was a new formation. Caretaker boss Ben Dawson opted for a back five.
It felt like a deliberate shake-up of the 11 from Dawson, who not only changed the shape, but brought in four new faces, handing first league starts of the season to Conor Coady and Luke Thomas. However, he just felt it was the best tactic to choose, rather than feeling the need to ruffle feathers.
“It was more just about trying to get three points against a really good team at home,” he said. “We had an early look at Brentford and then when the decision came that we would have the game, we had to confirm what shape we’d play and we had to start thinking about personnel and doing what we thought was best to get three points and put a performance on.”
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