Steve Cooper
Head coach Steve Cooper admitted he had to make some difficult decisions when it came to picking his Nottingham Forest team to face Crystal Palac. Among those who came back into the XI was Morgan Gibbs-White, who made it two goals in two Premier League games to secure a hugely-important win. The three points moved Forest off the foot of the table and made it four home league games unbeaten.
Steve Cooper said: “It is always difficult. We always look at what we think the game-plan should be, then you try to pick the right team for it, but the added part of the plan for this one was we had to take in some of the things that went on on Wednesday night. In life, when you do something well, you want to do it again quickly. I just felt that with the centre-backs and the likes of Renan and Jesse, they needed to go again, because they probably hadn’t come down from Wednesday night – and that’s the best time to go again. And they did, no doubt about that. But then at the same time, we also knew we needed other players in certain positions to commit to the plan we thought was the right one to win the game. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. As pleasing for me is that the lads who didn’t start the game have probably been the most vocal in the dressing room. I like that.”
