Steve Cooper is confident Nottingham Forest have a "strong plan" in place to make the most of the upcoming World Cup break.
A tough start to life back in the Premier League has left the Reds bottom of the table ahead of Saturday's clash with Brentford. For head coach Cooper, in addition to the challenge which comes with the step up in division, he has also been faced with trying to get a new-look group to gel.
After a summer overhaul which saw 22 signings made, Forest have struggled for cohesion on the pitch. Up until last Sunday's thumping at Arsenal, they had been making progress, but the break will nevertheless provide valuable time on the training ground for the manager and his players.
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It is something the club have been preparing for since last season. But Cooper's priority is to ensure his team have some positive results and performances to reflect on from their final three games before the campaign pauses.
“At the moment, we’re trying to think about going into that break with more points than what we’ve got now. If I’m being honest, I’m really focused on that," he said.
“But we do have a plan for the break, in terms of scheduling, training content and games, which we will announce soon. It’s taken a little bit of finalising.
“But 90 percent of it was done a while ago, because we knew the break was coming. A lot of it was planned last year when we were in the Championship.
“It’s hard to talk about it too much right now, because all we are focused on is Brentford, and then the two games after that. But what I do know is we have a strong plan. It is one that has been thought out at all levels, from the point of view of coaching, physical, strategic - with Filippo (Giraldi, sporting director) involved now, which has been great.
“We have also got to plan a little bit for when players may or may not come back from the World Cup. Hopefully we’ve got quite a few players going away, although maybe not quite as many as some of the other clubs. We’ve got a plan."
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