Nottingham Forest take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
It is the Reds’ penultimate match before the season pauses for the World Cup, with a home game against Crystal Palace to come on Saturday. And there is expected to be close to a sell-out crowd at the City Ground.
Ahead of the tie, Forest head coach Steve Cooper faced the media in his pre-match press conference. Here is what he had to say.
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Q: Has there been any update regarding the altercation on the pitch before Saturday's match? Have the FA been in touch with the club, do you know?
A: I don't know. And I've also been asked by the club just to stick to football matters, and anything that is deemed to be commented on on that will come from higher up than me.
I'm only focused on the football. I'm aware that something went on and there was an internal investigation. But the ins and outs of that, I'm not too privy to. I'm just focused on the football.
Q: Were you surprised by what Brentford's manager had to say about it after the game?
A: I'm not too aware of that. I will only make comment on what I am asked to make comment on from the club, and at the moment, there is nothing to say - apart from anything about the football.
Q: Morgan Gibbs-White used the word "cheated" after Saturday's game, which is suggested that will draw the eye of the FA. What's your view on what he said?
A: I was very pleased with Morgan's performance at the weekend. I thought he was the best player on the pitch and it was great for him to get his first goal, and play as well as he did.
In terms of the comments after, I haven't really got any comments to make about that. Any conversations I have with players will remain private.
My only feeling with Morgan at the moment is on how well he played in the game. Hopefully that's the start of a few more goals now, because I know how hard he's been working to try to get that. He's got assists, but he wanted to get a goal. That's where my work is with him.
Q: Is there still a sense of frustration at the way the game went at the weekend?
A: On the penalty decisions, the VAR decisions, I can only repeat what I said after the game. It just wasn't consistent through the game, in terms of the one that was given against us and the ones we didn't get. And then you see some of the incidents in some of the other games... That probably adds to the frustration of everybody involved.
But I've also got to focus on the two goals we conceded. I've also got to focus on the fact we should have been two or three up in the first half, with how well we played.
If I just sit here and talk about being hard done by with some decisions, I don't think that's the right message for the players. We're not in a great position in the league; I don't want excuses, I don't want blame, I want us to be looking at ourselves and how we can do better - the things we are in control of.
The stuff out of our control, hopefully, over the course of time, it evens itself out. We had a bit of bad luck at the weekend, but I've still got to look at the process and the performance. Some bits we did really well, and there's other bits where we're disappointed with ourselves - primarily the two goals we conceded.
I just don't want to be that guy, in the position we're in, who moans about decisions going against us, when we've got to make sure we do our bit as well as we can in the first place. That's the only way we're going to improve.
Over the last month or so, I think there's been some positive steps. We're nowhere near where we want to be, of course, but we have definitely made some positive steps.
We have just got to focus on improving even more. If I spend too much time talking about decisions, then I don't think that's the right thing for the club.
Q: How do you view the cup game?
A: It's one we're looking forward to. It's a home game.
And I've said before, we're in the process of trying to become something which can compete at the level we play at and for the size of club we are, so to do that, you can't just turn it on and off whenever you want. You've got to try to have the right mentality and the right spirit, the right attitude, commit to the plan, commit to the style of play and the way we train, and take each game as it comes.
It's a cup game. For me, at the moment, it's the most important one, because it's the next game.
It's one we want to do well in. I see it as a really good opportunity of not just getting through to the next round, but to make a forward step in becoming who we want to become.
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