Nottingham Forest shipped their fourth consecutive defeat within the Premier League after internet hosting Fulham on the City Ground on Friday evening, and there’s no doubt that Steve Cooper will really feel massively pissed off together with his group as one other lead was thrown away.
The Forest supervisor would have been hopeful that classes have been learnt from the horror present in opposition to Bournemouth, when the Reds went from being 2-0 up at half-time to 3-2 down when the ultimate whistle was blown, however they once more got here out on the improper finish of the identical scoreline final evening.
The Tricky Trees did not dominate any space of the sport regardless of being on dwelling turf, with solely 41% possession, fewer photographs on objective (11 v 15), a decrease passing completion price (74% v 83%) and fewer duels received (39 v 42).
Cooper might be disenchanted together with his group on all fronts because the group didn’t do sufficient to see out the match after going 1-0 up within the eleventh minute, when Taiwo Awoniyi discovered the online, and holding onto that lead till after the interval.
Another second-half battering ensued, with Fulham scoring three objectives within the house of six minutes simply earlier than the hour mark, Harrison Reed discovering the killer third objective for the guests within the sixtieth minute. Lewis O’Brien did salvage some stage of respectability with a 77th-minute strike but it surely was too little, too late.
One participant who let Cooper down below the lights on the City Ground final evening was Morgan Gibbs-White, who regardless of providing respectable set-pieces – with two resulting in objectives within the final two video games – was discovered wanting for work price. That is one thing Cooper should handle if Forest are to have any probability of retaining their top-flight standing.
The 22-year-old attacker – who was hailed a “free spirit” by former Sheffield United team-mate David McGoldrick – misplaced possession of the ball with each 1.9 touches, failed in 100% of his dribble makes an attempt, misplaced 75% of his duels and solely accomplished 14 correct passes (out of 29) over his complete 90-minute efficiency.
Luckily, Cooper has many choices to fill the place that Gibbs-White occupies, so giving the participant some competitors for his place ought to put him on the suitable path to enhancing the standard of his recreation. Hopefully it’ll encourage him to take care of the ball higher, as a result of his reckless misplaced passes and fixed lack of possession is a hindrance to the group.
Should Cooper drop Morgan Gibbs-White?
Yes
No
Nottingham Forest now have a fortnight earlier than they head to the King Power Stadium for his or her subsequent Premier League conflict in opposition to Midlands rivals Leicester, and Cooper should spend the worldwide break figuring out the answer to getting the group in a very good place to compete over the rest of the season.