Steve Cooper addresses James Garner’s situation at Nottingham Forest amid Man Utd man’s recent impact | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has urged James Garner to continue his recent improvements and look to produce even better performances over the coming weeks.

It has been a difficult start to Garner’s second loan spell at the City Ground from Manchester United. The midfielder has struggled to reach the same sort of consistently impressive heights that he reached last term during the second half of the campaign. That saw him play an instrumental role for the Reds and four goals in his 20 league appearances.

Garner had been struggling to break into Forest’s midfield with the form of both Ryan Yates and Jack Colback keeping him out of the side. While the Manchester United loanee was unable to deliver his best form when he was handed chances to come into the side by both Chris Hughton and Cooper.

In the last few games though, Garner has taken his chance to come back into the side and re-find his best form. Following the injury, to Max Lowe, Jack Colback has been moved back out to left-back, so that has given the Manchester United loanee the chance to come back into the middle of the park.

The midfielder was deployed in a more advanced role against Peterborough United at the weekend and he managed to deliver his best performance of the campaign firing home a goal and providing an assist in the 2-0 win.

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live following the Reds’ win against Peterborough, Cooper urged Garner to keep on improving and strive to deliver even stronger performances in the coming weeks.

He said: At this moment in time he’s doing really, really well. He’s been a little bit in and out of the team, and we’ve had some good, honest conversations.

“I have a good relationship with Jim and his family anyway, because of our time together with England.

“These loans can be really important for young players from Premier League clubs. We hope this one is.

“They can be up and down – I wouldn’t say he had a down, but he was fighting to get in the team.

“For me, in the last three games he’s been excellent.

“He came on against Reading and was really, really good. He started against Luton and West Brom, and his performances were of a high level.

“Second half on Saturday, particularly, he carried that on, so he’s in a good moment. But he’s got to stay really focused and aim to play even better next week.”

The verdict

Cooper knows all about how to get the best out of talents such as Garner so it was only a matter of time before Forest started to see a lot more from the midfielder this season. The Manchester United loanee just needed to bide his time and make sure that he was ready to come back into the side when he was called upon and he has certainly done that.

A player of Garner’s ability was always going to have a run in the side and make an impact at some stage this season for Forest. It might have been a frustrating start to the campaign for him, but now he needs to make up for that by getting back to the sort of consistent form he was in the second half of last term.

If Forest can get Garner firing again then they will have a major asset on their hands for the second half of the campaign. The midfielder made a major difference in the trajectory of their campaign last time around and he could do so again this season.

Considering that Manchester United have now had a change in managers, Garner needs to be at his best at the City Ground to catch the eye of his parent club ahead of next term. That should keep him fully motivated and be a benefit to the Reds.