‘I didn’t like it’: Cooper hated something about Nottingham Forest in opening 45 of victory

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Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has told Nottinghamshire Live that he didn’t like something that the Reds did in the first half of last night’s win. Cooper saw his team defeat Blackburn 4-1 to progress to the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.

The Reds won courtesy of three goals in the second half from Jesse Lingard, Taiwo Awoniyi and Brennan Johnson. It was Johnson who fired Forest ahead in the first half but Scott Wharton equalised for Rovers just prior to the half-time interval.

Despite a routine victory, something happened in the first half that Cooper wasn’t exactly enthused with; claiming that Wharton’s equalising header shouldn’t have been in the script for the opening 45 minutes.

He told Nottinghamshire Live: “We should have been out of sight after 15 or 20 minutes. Once we got one, I really wanted the team to step on and take the game away from Blackburn. I just felt we did a little bit of the opposite.

“After the goal, I didn’t like some of our decision-making. I thought we could have been more ruthless and aggressive with our play, both with and without the ball.”

Forest will now head into the draw for the quarter-final. That takes place tonight on Sky Sports immediately after Manchester City have faced Liverpool.

Cooper didn’t like something that Forest did and he’s got a point

The head coach is spot on. This was a second-string Blackburn and had Forest been playing a better outfit they might have rued some of their prolificacy in the first 45 minutes.

Johnson scored twice on the night but he was guilty. There were two moments in the first half where he could have squared the ball for a teammate to tap into an open goal.

But, the Reds did get away with it and romped home in the second half. Lingard scored first after the break with Awoniyi and Johnson putting a seal on the victory.

It’s good that Cooper is still demanding high standards. The Carabao Cup is a competition that he clearly wants to do well in and there is no harm in that.

Forest now face an anxious wait as to who they could face. Whoever it is, Cooper will hope his team can show a more ruthless streak in the last eight.