Cooper sack looms as Nottingham Forest sent into relegation zone: ‘We can only blame ourselves’

Under pressure Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has given his reaction after his team were beaten 2-0 by Aston Villa at Villa Park, leaving them in the relegation zone.

Clarets striker Ollie Watkins could well have put the final nail in the coffin of the English coach after netting the final goal in a disappointing defeat.

Bertrand Traore opened the scoring for Villa shortly after the break after he saw an initial cross palmed away by Keylor Navas, before Jonjoe Shelvey inexplicably gifted the ball straight back to the winger who finished confidently from close range.

Forest immediately probed for a response as Gibbs-White’s shot from the edge of the area was deflected over. while Danilo forced Emiliano Martinez into a low save with a shot from distance.

But they could not create anything clear-cut and Villa killed the game through Watkins in the fifth minute of injury time.

Cooper, who has been under pressure for some time, is now facing uncertainty over his future despite Forest saying they wouldn’t sack him on Wednesday.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, he said: “The first goal is more than costly. Villa had the ball and territory but really Keylor [Navas] hasn’t had to make a save in the whole game.

“The second goal is what it is because we’re down to ten men with injuries today. Although we had to control the game without the ball we were comfortable.

“Villa didn’t look a threat at all, but they’re a good team. We’ve given the goal away and the game has changed.

“We recovered well, had quite a few attacks and a lot of set-pieces and corners we won.

“We tried to make changes to keep the impetus. After that had to go down to ten men because we picked up an injury after it. Just another disappointing day.”

A dejected Cooper was then questioned on whether he could take any positives from Forest’s performance, to which he responded: “We were fine in the game.

“We’re away from home, our away record speaks for itself and we won’t try and hide from that, I certainly won’t.

“We were fine. To give that goal away and the way we gave it away, we can only blame ourselves. Even though we did respond well ten men completely stifled our rhythm and it felt like a day where a lot of things didn’t go our way.”

On the fans chanting to support him before the game: “That’s the bit that hurts the most, that we and I are desperate to do well for the supporters and the club. It makes these moments and these mistakes and these goals even more costly and even more hurtful.

“I repeat what I’ve said, we can blame nobody but ourselves because of the mistakes we made.”

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