COOPER  SPEECH ON SECOND-HALF DISPLAY AT CITY

Head Coach Steve Cooper was left encouraged by Forest’s second-half performance against Manchester City despite not being able to show the final quality to find the net at the Etihad Stadium.

                                                                                       COOPER  SPEECH ON SECOND-HALF DISPLAY AT CITY

The Reds found themselves 2-0 down inside the opening 15 minutes of Saturday’s encounter, with goals from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland putting the Premier League champions two goals up.

But after Rodri was dismissed for violent conduct inside the opening minute of the second half, Forest saw plenty of the ball in dangerous territory, albeit not being able to find the back of the net.

Speaking post-match, Cooper said that he saw good signs in Forest’s play, regardless of their one-man advantage for the second 45-minute period.

“The two goals were typical Manchester City goals,” he said. “They’re such repeated tactical exercises and we’d planned for it, so for it to happen as easy as it did was disappointing. That’s a frustration.

“The game can then go one or two ways; players can hide and give up, or they can stand up and be counted for and try and get back into the game, which we certainly tried to do.

“The game settled after 2-0 and we had to match them up in midfield, and although they had all the territory, we stopped the threat on our goal and we showed signs.

“A game doesn’t always change on a red card, especially at a place like the Etihad, so to think that we dare I say dominated the second half like we did, gives me a feeling of maybe we are starting to grow as a team. 

“Hardly anyone will come here and play in City’s half like we did. City are brilliant, so the fact that we played the football we did in the second half is a positive sign, but I’m also frustrated we didn’t make more of it. We had lots of opportunities to make the final pass and in the Premier League you have to do that.

“I’m not going to say it was a missed opportunity, because I don’t think that would be right, but the second half is something we can look at and make more of the opportunity presented to us.

“I feel like I see some good signs, but I also know we lost the game 2-0 and I don’t like that.”