What Steve Cooper said about Nottingham Forest ‘defensive’ tactics as defeat prompts key question
Latest Nottingham Forest news as Steve Cooper’s Reds beaten 3-0 by Liverpool at Anfield
You could take your pick from moments to sum up Nottingham Forest’s miserable afternoon on Merseyside.
From losing Chris Wood in the build-up to Nicolas Dominguez falling face-first into the turf after failing to connect with a ball into the box. From Steve Cooper being booked (he wouldn’t say what for) to a calamitous third goal.
The Reds were comfortably beaten. Too easily at times.
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They were also masters of their own downfall, with individual mistakes once again proving costly. Positives were in short supply as Liverpool triumphed 3-0 at Anfield. Below, we take a look at some of the main talking points from the match.
Right tactics?
Some have questioned Cooper’s game plan after the visitors struggled to even land a glove on their opponents in the first half. The aim was to try to contain Liverpool for as long as possible, while looking to catch them on the counterattack. It was all in the hope that Forest would still be in the game by the time they were able to make changes from the bench.
Some have accused Cooper of being too negative. But to a large extent, his hands were tied by player availability.
Up until Chris Wood suffered a hamstring injury which is expected to rule him out for the next month, the Reds boss had been planning to go with a four-man defence. Last-minute, those plans had to change in order to accommodate the fact there was no recognised striker fit to start.
Forest had to field a makeshift attack, with Anthony Elanga (who had recovered from illness) playing as a No.9 and being supported by Morgan Gibbs-White. When substitutions were made with 20 minutes to go, with Taiwo Awoniyi coming on, the Reds looked better for it.
Asked if he felt his team had been too defensive in the first 45 minutes, Cooper said: “We were defensive and tried to play on the counterattack. But I came here the other night when Liverpool played Toulouse and it finished 5-1 and was over fairly quickly.
“You can come here and try to be expansive and you can be on the end of a really, really difficult result. We’re not on the end of a good result, of course, but I’ve seen really good teams come here and get punished.
“We were forced into the team we had to pick, certainly at the top end of the pitch. When we got some of the players in more normal positions, you could see a little bit of a better identity. But the third goal has killed it.”
Keeper call?
Ah, yes, that third goal. It was a mess, and one Matt Turner won’t want to watch back in a hurry.
The American goalkeeper raced some way out of his area and was caught in the middle of nowhere when Dominik Szoboszlai pinged the ball forward. A horrible mix-up between Turner and Harry Toffolo presented Mohamed Salah with the opportunity to wrap up the points, which he duly took.
Turner did make some good saves during the game. But for him, the final scoreline could have been worse.
Might he have done better with the first goal, though? He did well to stop Darwin Nunez’s shot but pushed the ball straight to the unmarked Diogo Jota.
It is a big call to change keeper during a season. But Cooper made it clear early on that he felt it wasn’t as simple as having a straight No.1 and No.2.
Turner has generally done OK, but he has also made some errors. He had a poor game against Brentford, for example.
It would have been harsh to drop him straight after that one – and had he done so, Cooper would have been left in an awkward position if Odysseas Vlachodimos came in and had a bad game. But as the Reds look to end a six-match winless streak, the manager must weigh up whether a change between the posts is required.
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