Another day and another report on the future of Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest. This time, however, it’s a positive one!
Shortly after the game against Brighton speculation mounted that Cooper might be under immediate pressure.
Now, ahead of Saturday’s big game against Everton, John Percy has made some claims in his latest piece for The Telegraph.
Following this latest article, we’ve looked at three takeaways from the reputable East Midlands-based journalist.
Three takeaways from latest report on Cooper’s future at Forest
Marinakis backing Cooper at Forest
This is top-line stuff. The article immediately claims that Marinakis is still backing Cooper to be a success at Forest.
Naturally, there are a need for results to improve and with football things can change very quickly.
The positive, however, is that Marinakis is seemingly willing to go with the majority of supporters and pledge loyalty to his manager.
Forest have won just once in the last nine games and they do still have a gap of eight points between them and the relegation places.
Cooper has been at Forest since September 2021 when the club were sitting rock bottom of the Championship.
In such a short space of time, he’s not only won promotion but he’s also kept the club in the Premier League and that will give him some credit in the bank.
Marinakis wants a top-10 finish
This is perhaps the most shocking piece of information to come out of Percy’s report.
It claims that Marinakis is targeting a top-10 finish, although it doesn’t actually claim when he’d like to achieve that.
Not many clubs come up from the Championship and enjoy such a season within a couple of years.
In recent years, Leeds and Sheffield United are perhaps the exceptions but they were relegated shortly after their impressive campaigns.
The Brighton model has been mentioned before and it took them four years in the top-flight to reach the top 10.
There is nothing wrong with Marinakis showing this level of ambition but to expect it this season would be slightly harsh on Forest boss Cooper.
Talks ongoing with set piece coaches
This is an interesting, yet positive, development. It was claimed earlier in the week that Forest had tried to appoint Gianni Vio but when it fell through, it left Marinakis frustrated.
Now, the club are still working to find a resolution to this.
Forest need to get a set-piece coach in and quickly. They’ve scored just once from set-pieces this season, with seven goals being conceded from those situations.
In modern-day football, it’s a key requisite for a successful team at the elite level and there’s no surprise that Marinakis isn’t happy that it’s not been resolved.
Cooper hasn’t been helped this season by some woeful defending from dead-ball situations.
If a new coach could come in to focus solely on that side of things, it could be a big help for the team going for whard.
