Leicester City manager Steve Cooper has hinted that the stage is set for club legend Jamie Vardy to score in Ruud van Nistelrooy's farewell match as Manchester United's interim boss. The 37-year-old Foxes' captain famously surpassed the former Red Devils' striker's record of scoring in consecutive Premier League matches when he scored in 11 straight games during Leicester's historic title win in the 2015/16 season.
Today's match at Old Trafford will be Van Nistelrooy's last day in charge before Ruben Amorim officially takes over as Erik Ten Hag's successor tomorrow. Martin Tyler's iconic commentary line, "It’s eleven, it’s heaven" is proudly displayed on the wall at Leicester's Seagrave training base.
Cooper, who was a defender in his short playing career, joked: "I don’t think I should be talking about them two and scoring goals!"
Vardy has silenced critics who doubted his ability to perform in the Premier League following Leicester's promotion, with four league goals this season. Two of those have come in the last three games, with the seasoned striker now nearing 200 goals for the club.
"It would be interesting to ask them both if there’s a mutual respect," Cooper added. "But I know it’s [Vardy’s record] an iconic thing here and in the Premier League. It’s up on the walls, and rightly so, in the training ground. The Martin Tyler line is written on the wall.
"I’m not the best person to give you detail on how their minds work in terms of scoring goals.
"Vards has obviously done the ultimate for years and years and years with the amount of goals that he’s scored. He’s brilliant."
Cooper also expressed confidence in his squad's offensive capabilities: "I’m just glad we’ve got one in our squad that has been and is continuing to be more than capable of getting a good number of goals."
Despite a reasonable opening to their Premier League campaign, Leicester has faced some defensive challenges, frequently conceding the first goal - eight times so far, which is the highest in the league. Cooper urges improvement, particularly in early match performance.
He added: "It’s not just conceding first, but we’re conceding too much.
"There are lots of contributing factors, but the real answer is I can’t tell you why it is because if I could we wouldn’t do it."
However, he assured that working on this was a priority: "What I do know is it’s something we desperately want to improve on."
Facing a formidable opponent like Manchester United next, Cooper remains positive about the future: "It will be tough again at Manchester United, but hopefully in 10 games' time it’s not a question we’re asking."
"It’s something we’ve got to commit to improve definitely."
