Danny Mills applauds Leeds star Liam Cooper, when discussing Chelsea incident

Add as preferred source on Google

Danny Mills has applauded Leeds United captain Liam Cooper on Sky Sports News (10.25am, Wednesday), when discussing Ross Barkley’s missed penalty for Chelsea against Valencia in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Players arguing over taking a penalty has come to the fore this season since Paul Pogba missed a spot-kick for Manchester United. On Tuesday night, Willian and Jorginho wanted to take the penalty – despite Barkley being the assigned taker.

Frank Lampard stated after the match that Barkley is the penalty taker, and fans have criticised both Willian and Jorginho on social media for asking to take it – as it applied more pressure on Barkley, and may have contributed to him missing.

On Sunday, Leeds captain Cooper wrestled the ball from Eddie Nketiah and Pablo Hernandez to give the ball to Leeds’ deisgnated penalty taker Matuesz Klich. The Pole rolled the ball home to beat Barnsley 2-0, and Mills compared the incidents.

“Eddie Nketiah went down, and he wanted to take the penalty,” Mills said. “Pablo Hernandez took the ball off him. But neither of those were the designated penalty takers. Mateusz Klich is the penalty taker.

“Liam Cooper ran from the halfway line, ripped the ball from Hernandez and Nketiah and firmly gave it to Klich. He took it and scored. That’s proper captaincy.”

TBR’s view – Cooper’s respect is plain to see, and Chelsea lack that

At Elland Road, Cooper is the leader. He is head and shoulders above the rest and you can tell from his body language – his head held high and his chest puffed out – that he is the leader of the pack.

At Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s side are lacking a player like that. Long gone are the times of John Terry, Lampard and even Gary Cahill. Now, Cesar Azpilicueta is the captain, but he did not help the incident on Tuesday.