Steve Cooper has said that the way he set his team up to play against Aston Villa was not the vision he has for Nottingham Forest.
The Reds incumbent oversaw a 1-1 draw last night and it stopped the rot of five straight defeats.
Emmanuel Dennis opened the scoring for Forest on 15 minutes, heading home a set piece by Morgan Gibbs-White.
The lead lasted just seven minutes, however, with Ashley Young scoring a stunning goal from long range.
Forest will take a point though and Cooper has suggested as much during his post-match interview.
He told The Athletic: “Is this my big vision of how I want to play? No. Is it exactly what the supporters want to see? No. But was it the right thing for us in this game? I think so.”
Forest lined up with a 4-3-3 system and that appeared to stop Aston Villa from overrunning them in midfield.
The Reds also changed both full-backs and handed Dennis the chance to start for the first time in the Premier League too.
Forest looked pretty comfortable during the game, without really ever having much of the possession.
Still, they threw the emphasis on Villa breaking them down and but for Young’s effort they didn’t really look like doing it.
Forest can take a lot of heart from the performance last night and there will be more to come from Cooper’s team.
Cooper has Forest vision
Nobody has been hurt during the recent poor run more than Cooper.
He cares deeply about Forest winning football matches and he knows that he carries the can for that.
It was important that the Reds offered their fans a response after last week’s abysmal performance against Leicester.
Forest did that and they were richly applauded by the City Ground faithful at the full-time whistle.
Cooper will have a vision and that will probably look similar to the style of play last season.
As a Premier League club, however, and with 22 new players, the Reds will have to keep giving their all and trying to pick up points.
Cooper’s vision may have to wait for now but after signing a new deal, he will have more time to get things right at this level.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
