Boss Steve Cooper was pleased with the response from his Nottingham Forest players, as he laid bare just how much the performance a week earlier had “hurt”.
The Reds ended a five-match losing streak with a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at the City Ground. And it came amid a much improved performance from the one they had put in during their 4-0 thumping at Leicester City.
Cooper admitted trying to get a new-look squad to gel is still proving to be a challenge. But he takes heart from a step in the right direction against Villa, as well as the fact his players’ heads have never dropped during a poor run of results.
READ MORE: How the Reds rated against Villa
READ MORE: Key decision shows way forward as Cooper proves he's right for job
“I said to the players, the Leicester performance was as far away from what I believe in and what I want the team to be as I’ve probably had in first-team management,” he said. “That, in some ways, hurt equally as much to me, as a professional, as the result - and the result was bad, because of it being a local game and the scoreline.
“We needed a reaction. I needed the players to react in the way that I want, in terms of what I expect of how we play both with, but especially without, the ball.
“And they did. They took the plan on board and they stuck to it.
“It’s not exactly how we want it to be here. But I still think we can be fairly happy with ourselves that we got something out of the game and we did it in the committed way we did.
“This is an unbelievable coaching challenge, with this new set of players; trying to find a way of playing, trying to find what might be the strongest team, an identity, a formation, and all those sorts of things. But I see a group of lads who are really engaged on a day to day basis.
“When you lose five games on the bounce, you can sometimes start seeing players pick up injuries or start seeing players hide, or you start seeing indifferent training performances. I’ve seen the complete opposite.
“That gives me a lot of heart. It makes me want to deliver the best programme possible on a day to day basis, because I really am seeing a team that cares.
“You saw that against Villa. It’s a forward step, and we really need to harness it now and do everything we can to build on it for the next game.
“If we’re going to talk about commitment and talk about what it means, we should talk about it as a team - because everybody showed equal commitment. Some of our attacking players - who, of course, want to be at the other end of the pitch and making a difference up there - had to do the other side of the game, and they didn’t half do it really well.
“Not perfect, not exactly where we want to be. But from where we were, it’s a forward step, and I think we should do our best to build on that now.”
What did you make of Forest's performance against Villa? Have your say in the comments below
READ NEXT:
