Sky Sports EFL pundit Keith Andrews has praised Steve Cooper’s ability to be a strong communicator with his players and believes that has played a key part in his start to life at Nottingham Forest.

Cooper was handed the difficult task of trying to turn around Forest’s difficult start to the campaign following the Reds’ decision to part ways with Chris Hughton.

The former Swansea City manager has made an instant impact and he has managed to guide Forest to three wins in his four Championship matches. That has helped to transform the direction that their campaign was heading in and inspires confidence they could continue to rise up the league table.

The performance levels of the likes of Lewis Grabban, Joe Lolley and Brennan Johnson have all improved in the last few weeks, as have the likes of Ryan Yates in the middle of the park. That shows Cooper is finding the right way to get the maximum out his squad.

 

 

Speaking on Sky Sports’ latest EFL podcast, Andrews suggested that Cooper’s ability to communicate well with his players and even those who are not starting has helped him enjoy the strong start that he has made so far.

He said: "I think that when you look at what's at his disposal players like Joe Lolley, obviously Brennan Johnson, you've gotta remember as well after Chris left Forest, Steven Reid took over for that one game before Steve Cooper came in and it was him that actually changed it to a back three. Steven Reid stayed on as part of the staff, it's obviously a system that Steve knows very very well from last season.

"I just think that when you go into a new club like that and they've been through that period of a little bit of pain, the players maybe feeling a little bit sorry for themselves, it's easy to blame the manager when things don't go so well, they were underachieving some of those players in terms of their performance levels and where the responsibility lies s obviously very subjective.

"So when you look at what they've done now over the last few weeks and the type of person Steve Cooper is, he strikes me is he's a very good communicator, he's very good one to one with players, even the players who are out of the team, always easy to deal with the players that are not playing when you're winning, it's when you're not winning when the real pressure is on because that's when players seriously go and knock on the door and ask tougher questions.

"So, so far it's been a really impressive start. He's someone I like anyway, so I'm particularly surprised by that and like I've already touched on I think the squad was slightly underachieving anyway "

The verdict

You would have to agree that Cooper has been able to show a real strength in immediately getting all of his players onside and buying into what he is trying to do at the City Ground.

There is no doubt that the squad looks a lot happier and brighter than it had been doing towards the end of Hughton’s time in charge and that change in atmosphere has been vital in helping them to go on a winning run of form.

Cooper was always able to come across as a manager that had the total backing of his players at Swansea and that took them to the brink of promotion to the Premier League. That is something that it seems he can indeed emulate at the City Ground.

It is of course early days, but the signs that he has been showing so far show that there is every chance that Cooper can now finally get more from the players than they have been producing over the last few years.