Latest Nottingham Forest new Steve Coopers as’s Reds reflect on 2-2 draw with Luton Town at the City Ground
In his pre-match press conference, Steve Cooper was asked about the stat which showed substitutes had been involved in half of Nottingham Forest’s league goals this season.
Come full-time on Saturday he was facing very different questions about changes he had made. Therein lies the fine lines managers tread.
More often than not, Cooper got his in-game tweaks right amid what had been – prior to the late collapse against Luton Town at least – an encouraging start to the campaign. But the 2-2 draw at the City Ground was met with some boos at the final whistle, with
Cooper felt his substitutions against the Hatters didn’t affect the momentum of the game, pointing instead to the poorly-defended free-kick which made it 2-1. Plenty disagreed.
The changes were described as everything from “ridiculous” to “unacceptable”. The general feeling seemed to be that was what “cost” Forest the victory.
The hosts had been cruising up until Luton pulled one back. They had been in control, both with the scoreline and their performance.
The goal came a matter of minutes after Cooper had made a triple change. Two further subs followed soon after it had become 2-1.
The substitutions were not the only reason the Reds let slip their lead but they did play a part. On this occasion – even if there was some mitigation – the Welshman got it wrong; albeit it is still too simplistic to pin the final outcome on one thing.
Moreover, at the time, there was reasoning behind at least some of the swaps. It was the number of substitutions made in one swoop and the timing of them which really didn’t seem to help Forest’s cause.
Willy Boly had indicated he was feeling fatigued. Ibrahim Sangare was in a similar boat, with both having not long since returned to the UK from being on international duty. Sangare was also on a booking.
Joe Worrall came on for Boly and endured a tough afternoon. The academy graduate should have done better with the equaliser, but centre-back can be a difficult position to come into so late in a game – Cooper admitted it is not an area he would normally look to make in-play changes but he felt he had little choice. There was sense, too, in hooking Sangare. But what about bringing Nicolas Dominguez off at the same time?
“No issues taking Boly off if he’s fatigued,” one fan said. “It’s more about the timing (straight after we’d scored – could have left it 5 minutes for the game to settle) and the fact Sangare AND Dominguez came off at the same time.”
That’s arguably where Cooper slipped up. It is a cliché, but 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline. Even with little more than 10 minutes left and against a team clearly willing to scrap for everything. Hindsight is wonderful, but spread those three substitutions out and perhaps it is a different story.
Pinning the result all on the substitutions is too simplistic, though. Yes, the changes didn’t help – and they certainly didn’t have the kind of positive impact as in previous games. But other factors were also involved.
Forest missed a hatful of chances. They could have put Luton out of sight.
Morgan Gibbs-White gave away a needless free-kick for the visitors’ first goal, Serge Aurier appeared to slip and failed to clear, while Harry Toffolo was also unable to boot the ball away. You would still have expected the Reds to see the game out, though, even if the Hatters’ tails were suddenly up. Worrall made a mistake for the second, but he is not the first and won’t be the last to be at fault for a goal.
“There’s no doubt it’s a squad game more than it has ever been,” Cooper said before the game, when asked about his substitutions. “We talk about the length of games now and it is a real challenge for players to be at Premier League athletic level for 100-plus minutes.
“The role of the players starting on the bench and coming on has always been important, but I think it’s even more important now. It definitely is for us.
“I didn’t know that (the stat about subs’ goal involvements), but it is a positive that we can make changes which can make a difference. Hopefully we can make some good decisions going forward to keep that going.”
He might not have got it completely right on Saturday – few managers get their changes spot on every single week – but there will be plenty of times where Cooper’s calls make a difference again. It was two points dropped at the weekend, but there will be other games further down the line where Forest’s subs ensure they take all three.
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