Jamie Carragher has delivered some advice to Nottingham Forest ahead of the new season. The Reds get their Premier League campaign underway on Saturday when they face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
What’s the story?
Carragher spoke fondly of Forest last season. There were times when he praised the Reds for their efforts, particularly at the City Ground.
Now, he’s seemingly delivered some advice to the Reds ahead of their new season. Cooper will have it all to do in the opening exchanges of the campaign, with a tough set of fixtures to come.
Carragher enjoyed watching Forest last year. He’s claimed that Cooper should be wise to stick with the system that served him so well during the 2022/23 campaign.
He told The Overlap: “I think watching them last season they came into the Premier League – and I know Steve Cooper well from his time at Liverpool and he wants to play a certain style of football – but they ended up finding a way to play, five at the back, playing counter-attack, which kept them up.
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“The lad up-front Awoniyi. It was a way of playing and it felt like it was a big powerful team. I thought if they stick with that and become that type of team where you think I’m not sure I want to play against them whereas when they first came into the Premier League it was a team you felt like you could get after and maybe bully them.
“It felt like he fell on a system and way of playing that they were a tough nut to crack, especially at home, I think they should stick with how they are playing at the end of the season.”
Carragher thinks Forest should stick to their guns
The Sky Sports pundit probably has a point in fairness. Forest will be keen to go and play with three at the back again but with a more attack strategy.
Cooper won promotion from the Championship playing with three central defenders and wing-backs. Right now, he probably doesn’t have the player for that but the club will work on it.
Forest must stick to what they’re good at. Certainly on home soil, there was an argument that they were a match for every team in the division and that must be consistent again this season.
Away, the Reds simply have to improve. They claimed just eight points on their travels last season and that simply won’t do this time around
Forest are about to embark on another campaign in the Premier League and perhaps Cooper would be wise to take this advice on board from Carragher.