Nottingham Forest legend issues warning to Steve Cooper’s side ahead of Fulham test | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest have been in scintillating form as of late and Steve Cooper has certainly got his new charges playing at the peak of their powers right now, but former Forest man Garry Birtles has spoken out on the Garibaldi Red Podcast and had warned them not to show Fulham ‘too much respect’

The club have been flying recently and after another win over Bristol City in midweek thanks to two late goals, the club are rising further and further up the table. It’s also meant that the side have won four out of their last four games – and show no signs of slowing down either.

This week though they’ll face a stern test against Fulham, who themselves harbour promotion ambitions. Led by Marco Silva, the Cottagers are already in the automatic promotion spots in the league and will fancy their chances of putting a dampener on the spirits of Forest and their fans.

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However, club legend Garry Birtles has told them not to ease off the gas against the high-flying Fulham side and to not show them ‘too much respect.’ Speaking on the Garibaldi Red Podcast he said: “Don’t look too much forward just concentrate on Fulham, assess Fulham.

“You can guarantee that Forest will be so positive against them, it won’t be a sit back performance, don’t show them too much respect. They thought Bristol showed Bournemouth too much respect at the weekend, you can’t do that. Respect your opposition but don’t be scared of that, don’t over respect them.”

Forest themselves have pulled off a string of top performances and positive results since being taken over by their new boss and they’ll be determined to show it isn’t just a flash in the pan or ‘new manager bounce.’ If they can pull off a victory over Fulham, then they’ll go a long way towards doing that.

The Verdict

The more that Nottingham Forest play and perform so well and win games, it’s hard to argue that Steve Cooper isn’t doing a wonderful job as boss at the City Ground. He’s got them playing some excellent football and is really doing his credentials as a manager no harm there.

If he can get a win against Fulham – and take them another step towards the play-offs – then they could actually be real promotion challengers this season. After the start to the campaign that Forest had, their fans will certainly take that.