Nottingham Forest

nottingham forest New ways to avoid FA Cup mistake

Published

9 months ago

January 7, 2024

Nottingham Forest begin their FA Cup campaign on Sunday with a clash against Blackpool at the City Ground.

It will be the Reds’ second successive meeting with their League One opponents in the third round after last season’s dismal 4-1 thumping at Bloomfield Road. That game saw a much-changed Forest side travel to the West Coast before a Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Wolves four days later, which the Reds won on penalties.

But then Forest boss Cooper was hugely critical of the Reds team which was well beaten almost a year to the day on January 8 2023. The Welshman believed there was “too much entitlement” in Forest’s game against their lower league opponents.

“There was a more than strong enough team to win the game comfortably,” Cooper said at the time. “A team with Premier League experience and players who have excelled in the Championship in recent years. That team was more than strong enough to do well.

“I’ve been very clear with the players that we can’t just turn things on and off. We can’t.

“There was too much entitlement in our game, and I hate that. We need to sort it out.”

He added: “There’s some things where players certainly fell short. That can happen. I’m not narrow-minded enough to say one game gives a full opinion on what I or we think of a player.

“If you look at the game for what it was, in isolation, some guys fell really, really short. That’s the crux of it, really.