Sue Smith has lauded the job done by Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports News. The pundit was quizzed on the Reds following their brilliant 1-1 draw against Manchester City.
The Reds boss is worshipped on Trentside. Just when it appears that his stock can’t possibly go any higher, he has a knack for pulling out a result of this nature against the champions.
Forest managed to rescue a point after Chris Wood scored four minutes from time. The Reds fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Bernardo Silva fired an unstoppable effort into Keylor Navas’ net.
The result means that Forest remain five points off the bottom three. Cooper’s team have also climbed back to 13th place in the Premier League ahead of huge games against West Ham and Everton.
Smith felt the need to praise Cooper for his efforts. The Reds’ head coach has done a wonderful job at the City Ground and his substitutes on Saturday came up trumps.
Smith said live on Sky Sports News: “What an incredible job Steve Cooper has done to turn this huge group of players into a team. They defended, they made saves and Cooper deserves credit for setting his team up in that way and then they had the quality to take that one chance at the other end.
Cooper lauded by Smith and Forest are so lucky
The form of the Reds under Cooper has been remarkable. In 18 months the club has gone from the bottom of the Championship to 13th in the Premier League and there is a real sense that the Reds could now stay up.
Smith is right to laud Cooper. Once again on Saturday, he earned his money. With Forest trailing 1-0 and defending for their lives, the Reds made several substitutions and they worked.
Cooper is a modern-day coach. As a result, he’s always looking to improve the players at his disposal and the club’s ever-growing injury list won’t be used as an excuse.
Forest are at the start of something special here. The challenge for Cooper now is to finish the job and make a mockery of those who said Forest would be the whipping boys this season.
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