Nottingham Forest must use the carrot of potentially facing Premier League heavyweights Liverpool as an “incentive” in Monday night’s FA Cup tie (7.30pm kick-off).
But boss Steve Cooper has stressed his team must not become “distracted” by the possibility of a glamour quarter-final and lose focus on the task in hand.
To earn the right to take on Jurgen Klopp’s men, the Reds need to get past a Huddersfield Town side which is on an 18-match unbeaten run, having not lost in any competition since November.
Forest, though, will be hoping for another special atmosphere at the City Ground and to put on the kind of performances they showed in the previous rounds of the cup, against Arsenal and Leicester City.
“The motivation of a cup game is to get through to the next round, of course. But knowing Liverpool is next has to be a motivation, especially with the chance of being at home,” Cooper said.
“But you’ve got to focus on what it takes to get there - and that’s playing well and winning the next game. That’s where our focus will lie.
“We look forward to playing at home and are focused on what it takes to do well against a strong team.
“There’s context around every game you play, and with a cup game it’s who could be next - and it would be Liverpool at home.
“But you can’t get distracted by that. You have to focus on Huddersfield, focus on the game plan and focus on the preparation, be ready to play well.
“It’s a good incentive, but don’t be distracted by it.
“Huddersfield are in great form at the moment. They are really well-coached and can play a number of different systems and employ different tactics.
“We have to be ready for that, but focus on ourselves and what we bring to the table.”
Cooper spent five years working at Liverpool’s academy earlier in his career, but says that connection doesn’t come into his thinking as he plots a way to try to beat the Terriers.
“I was watching our youth team play at Blackburn (in the FA Youth Cup) at the time the draw was made and my phone was pinging away in my pocket,” he said.
“At that time, I was just thinking about the Sheffield United game.
“We’re not going to get too distracted by it. It won’t even get a mention between myself and the players, it will be about the Huddersfield game.
“If you want to build a real winning mentality, you have to approach every game the same, whether it’s cup or league.
“You want a cup run to be helpful, because it adds to confidence and momentum, and it’s a building block.
“A game is a game, to me. You’re playing for Nottingham Forest, you want to play well, so it doesn’t matter who you are playing.
“You have to understand the context, but go out there and try to win.”
