Sam Allardyce has praised the work being done by Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper on the latest edition of the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast. The man who has managed Everton, West Ham, West Brom and Bolton in the Premier League has been blown away by the Reds incumbent.
Allardyce often gets a bad rep among supporters. His controversial England sacked aside, however, he’s always been one of the game’s characters and football is arguably worse without him on the side of a pitch somewhere.
These days, he’s fully focused on his media duties. His podcast is a great listen and talk this week turned towards the job that Cooper has done since he arrived at Forest.
Allardyce believes that if Forest can avoid relegation, Cooper deserves all the plaudits that come his way. He’s hailed the work he’s done and is clearly a big fan of the Welshman.
Allardyce told the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast: “If Nottingham Forest survive relegation, Steve Cooper has definitely done the best job of all the managers in the Premier League this season. What becomes difficult in terms of building team spirit is having too many players. Most managers don’t have enough. What they don’t have enough of is quality, and what they don’t want is quantity.
“Steve is one of the only managers to say he has too many players. Dealing with that can distract your focus. You want to keep them all involved and use them if you can and see what they’ve got, but ultimately, it’s a very tough decision. Steve has done an incredible job dealing with these issues as well as getting good results.”
Cooper praised by Allardyce and Forest fans must stick with the boss
The 43-year-old is facing his first real fight as the Reds boss. It’s now five games without a win in the Premier League and Cooper must now show his mettle to convince the Forest fans of his quality all over again.
Having 30 new players to work with was never going to be easy. But, Cooper has done a wonderful job in blending them all together and for that he deserves praise.
Forest could seriously do without being relegated. Evangelos Marinakis is ambitious and he will spend money once again if the Reds can avoid relegation.
Allardyce is something of a survival specialist in the Premier League. Now, Cooper will be hoping to write his own survival story as he plots a path for Forest to retain their top flight status.