Steve Cooper made a decision involving Gianni Vio shortly before he left Nottingham Forest – and now it’s proving a costly one.
The head coach who led Forest to the Premier League departed the club in December after over two years in charge.
Shortly before his departure, he turned down the chance to work with set-piece guru Vio and now it could prove fatal for Forest.
So what was the situation involving Vio, Forest and Cooper? Let’s take a closer look…
Steve Cooper decision on Gianni Vio proving costly for Forest
Well, it was widely reported that Evangelos Marinakis had identified Antonio Conte’s trusted set piece lieutenant, Vio, to come into Forest.
However, it was reported that Cooper had reservations and instead opted to appoint Simon Rusk to the role.
Well, this decision looks extremely foolish from a Forest perspective.
Although the Reds look much more threatening from their own set-pieces, the team are still woefully bad at keeping them out.
Rusk is ultimately a youth team coach that Cooper seemingly was hell-bent on appointing into the specialist role.
Ultimately, it’s ended badly and Forest have now conceded the most goals from set pieces in the entire Premier League.
Forest could pay price for coach decision
Cooper did a lot of good things for Forest but appointing Simon Rusk instead if Vio doesn’t look like one of his finer moments.
Rusk doesn’t have the experience that Vio has and clearly, he’s done little to improve the Reds from set pieces defensively.
Forest are suffering without having a specialist set piece coach with vast experience and it could prove extremely costly.
The Reds are already facing a points deduction after some financial breaches and the team desperately needs points.
If Forest don’t sort out their frailties from set pieces, they will continue to sink without a trace.
Not appointing Vio looks like a serious oversight from Forest and getting Rusk instead is a serious oversight from Cooper.
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