Boss Steve Cooper is confident Nottingham Forest have enough goals in the squad to cope with the absence of top scorer Lewis Grabban.
And he has backed January signings Keinan Davis and Sam Surridge to thrive on the responsibility of finding the back of the net for the Reds.
Grabban faces at least two months out of action with the ankle injury he sustained in last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City.
Forest reacted quickly by bringing in Surridge little more than 24 hours later, on deadline day, from Stoke City, while Davis had joined on loan from Aston Villa on the first day of the transfer window.
“I don’t know if pressure is the word, but these guys want to score goals. They do take it personally if they go on little runs,” said Cooper.
“That’s why Keinan’s goals have been really important in the last two games - from having a couple of games where he didn’t get off the mark to then scoring two in two games, and one of them being when he played 20 minutes or so.
“That will give him confidence. He’ll now be thinking about scoring in the next game he plays.
“These guys put responsibility, and pressure if it is the word, on themselves to want to score.
“With Brennan (Johnson) and Xande (Silva) as well, we’ve got enough attacking players who can score goals.
“They know that’s a responsibility at that end of the pitch. They’ve got to try to be the ones who can now maybe be the top goal scorer from now until the end of the season.”
“Since I’ve been here, Lewis has scored a lot of important goals,” Cooper added. “When we’ve won by a goal margin, it’s tended to be Lewis that has contributed to that.
“For sure, we’ve got to try to fill that void. But we have to really believe in the players to do that. We’ve brought Sam in as well, who will add to that.
“I’m not one for crying too much about the players who are not available. I would rather focus on the ones who are, because they are the ones who can make a difference.
“I’d rather my attention be with them. That’s exactly what the case is in this situation.
“We’ve got players who can play well, in an attacking sense, so we’ve got to really commit to creating chances. Hopefully we can score enough of them.”
Cooper had worked with Surridge during his time in charge at Swansea City. The front man put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract from Stoke City, in a deal believed to be worth about £2.2m.
“Sam was, if I’m being honest, a reaction to Lewis’ injury. But in saying that, if I’d known Sam was available, the club would have been interested in bringing him in, so it worked quite nicely,” Cooper said.
“He’s a player I’ve worked with before, at Swansea. He did a six-month loan and I didn’t want him to leave, but Bournemouth called him back.
“He’s a player who I feel can do really well in the Championship.
“It’s important now that he quickly settles with us, that the club quickly becomes his home. I believe he can do well.
“We were slightly fortunate really that we knew of Sam’s availability, on the back of what happened with Lewis. But even if Lewis hadn’t got injured, once I knew he was available, he was certainly a player that - not just me, but I obviously endorsed it - a lot of the people at the club who work on new signings were sure it was something we should go for.”
Fellow deadline day arrival Jonathan Panzo is also familiar to the Reds head coach, from his time at England youth level.
He made the switch from French side Dijon, with a contract until the summer of 2025.
“It aligned that he had a spell outside of the country and was keen to come back, and the fact that he was available,” Cooper added.
“He’s not that young anymore, but he’s still a young player that I feel has got a lot of potential and can really thrive in this country.
“Let’s hope he can be another one of these young players that once they settle down and get the right program behind them can really excel in this league.
“We’ve got lads in our team now that are doing it week in, week out. There’s even a couple who haven’t featured so much that I feel will do well longer term at Forest. Hopefully Jonathan can be one of them as well.”
