Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper makes ‘annoyed’ claim following draw with West Brom | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest drew 0-0 against 10-man West Brom at the Hawthorns on Friday night.

It left Steve Cooper feeling ‘slightly annoyed’ at his side’s performance in what was their third success draw.

It was a game that didn’t get going until 70 minutes when Jayson Molumby was sent off after a second yellow card following his tackle on Joe Lolley.

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Both sides made changes and the game seemingly opened up for both teams. However, Forest were unable to make the break with several missed chances from set-pieces and an inability to carve West Brom open.

Cooper told BBC Radio Nottingham: “I thought we were average. Our standards need to be high all of the time.

“I didn’t think we played with enough intensity. I didn’t think we made enough passes. We maybe slightly lacked a bit of belief.

“It’s been three games in a week, that can be tough physically – but it’s the same for them. I just felt the game was there to play a bit better than what we did. I’m slightly annoyed at it, really.”

Forest have lost just once under Steve Cooper but have now just won once in their last six games.

This led to Cooper acknowledging that the progress they’ve made under him wasn’t on show against West Brom: “I’m just disappointed with the performance, really. I just think we are a better team than that; we can be a better version than that.”

The Verdict

The high standards Steve Cooper is setting is incredibly refreshing to hear for Forest.

You can argue that standards seemed to slip for Forest under Chris Hughton and players were consistently under delivering. What Cooper is showing now is that those below-par performances will not be acceptable.

Any manager will be pleased taking a point away from home against West Brom, but Steve Cooper is showing that he expects his players to deliver more which will only serve them well under Cooper’s tenure as manager.