Liam Cooper shares what he told Leeds squad after Everton loss

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Liam Cooper has shared what he told his Leeds United teammates following the Whites’ agonising 2-1 defeat to Everton at Elland Road on Wednesday, in comments reported by Leeds Live.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side endured a frustrating evening against the Toffees. They made two defensive mistakes in the first-half and were punished, leaving them 2-0 down going into the break.

In the second-half however, Leeds found several other gears. They got one back within minutes of the restart thanks to Raphinha. And they came desperately close to finding an equaliser on a few occasions.

Robin Olsen needed to make a masterful triple save. And Everton produced a superb defensive display to keep the home side at bay.

Obviously, Leeds will have wished for a different result. But Cooper explained why the team can afford to be as positive as possible after a defeat.

“The boys are disappointed in there,” he said, as reported by Leeds Live. “I thought we’d done enough second half to draw the game.

“We just didn’t take our chances when they came and we gave the ball away sloppily in the first half and against a team who are set up to counter you make it hard for yourselves if you do go behind.

“We did that, we dust ourselves down and we have to go again. I just said to the lads there if we’re going to lose, that’s the way we’ve got to lose throwing everything at it and give everything you’ve got and the boys definitely did that tonight.”

After losing against Brighton last month, Leeds fans would have likely taken six points from the following three games without hesitation.

And against Leicester at the weekend, the Whites produced arguably their best performance of the season.

The first-half on Wednesday was disappointing. But as Cooper notes, Leeds responded superbly after the break.

And they should be able to take a number of positives into Monday’s game against Crystal Palace.