After a surging run into the playoffs last season and securing a fairytale return to the Premier League over 20 years in the making, the sky seemed to be the limit for Nottingham Forest. In Steve Cooper, they had a manager who had given long-suffering fans every reason to believe again.
They call the Championship one of the most physically gruelling leagues in the world, but in terms of overall quality the Premier League is on a whole new level. After seeing many teams stumble and fall from afar, Forest thought they had a strategy to overcome the difficult first season. However to this point of time, it has been a decision that has yet to pay dividends of any sort.
But despite sitting dead last with just six points from eleven games, it most certainly is not a lost cause as there is a cluster of teams sitting within three points of them and with just over a quarter of the season gone, there are bound to be plenty of twists and turns in the months ahead.
In the lead up to the FA Cup Quarter Final clash in March, Matt Wilkinson from @ForestFanBase gave TLW readers a fantastic insight into their ups and downs over the years.
On this occasion, Matt talks about the difficult start to Premier League life and why he still has a lot of faith in Steve Cooper.
Steve Cooper looked to be a dead man walking a couple of weeks ago, but after the fine work he has done since arriving at the City Ground, how happy were the fans that he signed a new deal?
Absolutely delighted that he got a new deal, he has proven himself to be one of the best managers that the club has ever had with what he achieved last season and there was zero prospects of getting anyone better or someone that is such a good fit for the club. We are not daft enough to think that he may not get sacked three of four games down the line but it is a step in the right direction.
Fair to say your fairytale return to the top flight hasn’t gone to plan as yet. In your opinion what is the main cause of it?
The main cause in the early season has been the massive turnover in players. There was always going to be a number of new signings required, but rather than stick with the loan players we replaced them and bought a whole new set of players. Obviously that is very difficult to do, it seems like the plan was to gamble and it was never going to pay off instantly but hopefully we get to see the benefits as the season goes on. Undoubtedly, it has been a calamitous start particularly in terms of the points we have gathered. We have done better than it looks on the table because we have dropped a lot of points from winning positions and we’ve conceded lots of goals in short periods, so we have conceded fairly well for 90% of the games but we have often walked away with nothing to show for it.
What did you make of the wholesale signings in the summer and as a supporter has it been difficult to get used to what basically is a brand new squad?
It has been hard for the fans, to me football is all about sentimentality otherwise we would all support Man City at the moment. All the fans have very fond memories from the team of last season and we will never forget it. So it’s sad that so few of them have survived into the Premier League squad. So it has been a massive change and at this point of time we cannot say for sure whether it has been a good thing or a bad thing.
Which Forest player has impressed you most so far this season and conversely who needs to raise their game significantly?
Given the huge turnover in players and the current form, there have been very few who have played very consistently at this stage, it’s kind of unfair to criticise any of them really. If we had Ronaldo playing in his prime and Cloughy managing the team they wouldn’t have done much better.
I would say Orel Mangala and Moussa Niahkate have been very good signings when they have played, but both have been injured for a fair bit. But really, I don’t think any of them would be particularly happy with how they have played and to be fair none have been absolute disasters, they just haven’t been selected.
One player that Liverpool fans would be keen to hear about is Neco Williams. How has he adapted to life at Forest?
He has been a mixed bag to be honest, but a bit like all the other new players it’s a bit hard to criticise him. He had to play left-back in our last game, and I think he will be doing the same tomorrow. He played particularly well against Spurs, made a bright start, and I think he is well liked and fitted in reasonably well. Hopefully he can really grow with us in the seasons ahead and I think there some potential there.
After such a long absence, it’s somewhat appropriate to ask what you make of the overall quality of the Premier League compared to when you were last in the top flight?
To be honest, because of the long absence there has been a bit of naivety from the fans, in not appreciating how difficult it is. Conversely, I think some of the players have been traumatised by the Premier League experience. I hate to use the word luck, but I do think we have been a bit unlucky that we haven’t done a bit better. Things like playing Man City at the wrong time and then the three bad results following one after the other in Fulham, Bournemouth and Leicester were absolute sickeners. So because of that, I think the players have had an issue with it mentally and because of that we play with a kind of caution that has stuck with us throughout the games.
Do you think you have the quality and mentality to recover and put things right this season?
I cannot really tell if we have the quality at the moment, I would like to think so although the jury is definitely out. The mentality I definitely do think so, but again Cooper is having a hard time imposing his way of doing things and getting the team together and finding that spirit that we had last season purely because the large turnover in players.
You gave Liverpool a really searching test in the FA Cup quarterfinal clash last season. The Reds have also had their form issues to start this season. What do you expect to see from them?
A Liverpool and Forest game has an awful lot of history, it’s a marquee fixture, it is one of the classic fixtures in football, so it’s going to be a wonderful event as it was in the Cup last season.
We did give you a good game and it would be quite something if we could repeat that. You’ve got world-class players, and one of the best teams in the world in general.
Because of that, it only takes a second to be absolutely destroyed. I hope that we can do what we did in the cup game and compete, but it is going to take something really special to pull that out of our backsides. We have improved over the last few games, so there is some hope but in reality it is going to be a tough fixture.
Have you got a score prediction for this clash?
I dare not predict anything, it could be quite horrific afternoon for us. Let’s just say we do the same as last season, a tight 1-0 defeat, let’s be somewhat realistic. But more than anything, I just hope we start to show that Forest belong in this league and at least compete with you.
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