Latest news from Nottingham Forest as Steve Cooper’s Red Devils draw 1-1 with Burnley in Premier League clash
Head coach Steve Cooper admits it will take time for his new team Nottingham Forest to really find their footing after a series of late-summer signings.
It was somewhat of a mixed bag for the Red Devils as they drew 1-1 at Burnley in their first match after the international break.
Unable to take advantage of the positive position in the first half, they were forced to come back after Zeki Amdouni opened the scoring for the away team just before the break.
A superb strike from debutant Callum Hudson-Odoi earned Forest a point.
But Ibrahim Sangaré, who arrived on deadline day, did not have the same impact, and it was a difficult evening for Gonzalo Montiel in his first match at the Garibaldi.
The trio formed three of the four changes Cooper made to his XI in the move to a 4-2-3-1 system.
Developing the team’s style of play and being flexible within the squad is the Welshman’s main aim, but he knows that the players will need some patience to adapt.
“We have to be careful about the balance between the transition of all these new players and how we want to play,” he said.
“When we played the League Cup game here (against Burnley) and we didn’t hit any form, part of that could be attributed to putting together a relatively new team.
That was a good lesson for me to say, “Okay, we need to take it one step at a time.
” “Some changes were forced – Serge (Aurier) and Willy (Boly) were unavailable, Danilo started the last match and was on the field.
One or two changes we made.
“We have a lot of context about the situation of the team and the group.
That’s why, although we want to win games here, of course we have to build on the positives of this match.
“We were 1-0 down, we came back and learned something from the match.
Lineup changes, new players; There were a lot of things that meant that in a difficult context we didn’t play well.
So the fact that we play good things and show good intentions is something we have to promote.
“Obviously we want to win games here.
But this is a Premier League match, it’s not that simple.
Every team has players who can make a difference and phases of play that can make a difference.
Sometimes you have to accept it.
“It’s a game that if you don’t win, don’t lose.
This becomes very important as the game progresses.
“We changed the formation.
We have a lot of new players in the team and in the group.
It doesn’t happen like that; It will take time to find the rhythm in our game.
We will look at the positives.