Steve Cooper thanked Nottingham Forest fans for continuing to show their support during Friday night’s 3-2 defeat to Fulham.
When the Reds were under the cosh, as well as when the scoreline was going against them, the City Ground crowd did their best to rally the team. And they particularly urged the players on in the final minutes as they tried to rescue a point.
Taiwo Awoniyi had given the hosts the perfect start with 11 minutes gone, bagging his second of the season. But, just as against Bournemouth in their previous game, Cooper’s side capitulated after the break.
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Tosin Adarabioyo, Joao Palhinha and Harrison Reed netted in the space of six minutes to leave Forest shell-shocked. Substitute Lewis O’Brien pulled one back with little more than 10 minutes to go, setting up a late push, but it was a fourth straight defeat for the Reds.
The final whistle against the Cherries had been met by some boos from the stands. That wasn’t the case on this occasion, and Cooper admitted it would not have been an easy watch for those looking on.
“I thought the supporters were great. It’s not easy when you see your team take the lead and then concede goals like that. It’s not easy for anybody, I accept that,” he said.
“But I thought they did stay with us. They were really good with us and did try to push us to get that third goal.
Forest told to stop losing their heads
Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole has urged Nottingham Forest to "learn quick and fast" in the Premier League after going on to lose from winning positions twice.
The Reds fell to a 3-2 defeat against Fulham at the City Ground on Friday night, after scoring the opening goal through Taiwo Awoniyi. Prior to Friday's clash however, Forest experienced a similar scenario in their defeat against Bournemouth.
Against the Cherries, Steve Cooper's men were leading 2-0 at the break and went on to lose 3-2 - conceding two goals in 12 minutes. Against Fulham it was three in five. .
"Once one goal goes in, it's just like a tap, how do they turn that tap off - it's like their heads totally comes off their shoulders. It's unbelievable but listen, they're going to have to learn quick and fast because the Premier League is unforgiving."
Yates slams manner of defeat
Ryan Yates has branded the manner of their 3-2 defeat against Fulham on Friday "unacceptable" after conceding all three goals in six second-half minutes.
Surprise Fulham scorers Tosin Adarabioyo, João Palhinha and Harrison Reed completely cancelled out Taiwo Awoniyi's header from a Yates flick on before the hour-mark. A strike from Lewis O'Brien then cut the deficit but could not prevent a second straight 3-2 defeat from being inflicted on the Reds at the City Ground by newly promoted opposition.
Steve Cooper 's side have now lost four straight Premier League matches, conceding 14 goals across those fixtures and scoring just four times themselves. Vice-captain Yates knows that there is plenty that needs to be put right over the international break before an East Midlands derby against Leicester City to start October off.
"Absolutely gutted," Yates said via the BBC live blog, "only got ourselves to blame. Goals change games, and then we couldn't stop their momentum, and before you know it, the game has gone.
"It's unacceptable. We know that. We need to put it right. We wanted more of the ball, but you can control games without the ball, and I felt we did that [in the first half].
"We have to show our character and what we're about. We've got a break now where we can assess things, and then we'll have to put it right."
Cooper explains Worrall decision
Steve Cooper has explained his decision to leave skipper Joe Worrall out of the Nottingham Forest starting XI against Fulham.
The defender dropped to the bench as one of three changes made by the Reds head coach, who brought summer signing Willy Boly into the back line for his debut. Remo Freuler replaced Cheikhou Kouyate and Taiwo Awoniyi came in for Jesse Lingard as the other alterations to the team.
Awoniyi got the hosts off to the perfect start, opening the scoring with a header after 11 minutes. But Forest were then left reeling from three goals in six second half minutes which put the Cottagers 3-1 up.
The new-look defence of Boly, Steve Cook and Scott McKenna was quickly disbanded after that, as Cooper tried to find a way back into the game. Worrall got the nod as the head coach turned to his substitutes to make a difference.
Asked about Worrall being left out of the starting line-up, Cooper said: “They are all difficult decisions. Everyone wants to play and have an impact.
“I know we’ve conceded three again, but I just felt there needed to be some changes, in terms of trying to get a better rhythm in the team and not conceding goals. I’m not saying that was down to Joe in any way, shape or form, but we just tried to make a few changes to help.
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