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Barry Cooper: Another incredible week at Nottingham Forest

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Football is a funny old business, isn't it? A little more than a week ago, Nottingham Forest had been beaten at the City Ground followed closely by the sacking of club legend, Stuart Pearce. Within 24 hours of that dismissal, Dougie Freedman had been appointed, chief executive Paul Faulkner walked out and Peterborough chairman, Darragh McAnthony vented his spleen on Twitter about Forest reneging on a payment for leading scorer Britt Assombalonga. Fast forward to Saturday and after a week of yet more upheaval within those famous old City Ground walls, Freedman managed to rouse his troops to a morale boosting victory on the South Coast against lowly Brighton. No matter what happens off the field, and that includes another Twitter storm caused by Fawaz Al Hasawi and his flippant, unhelpful comments about potentially leaving the club, everything can almost be forgotten when a team wins a game. Suddenly, the events that completely overshadowed the appointment of Freedman have been ushered into the background somewhat. I refuse to say forgotten simply because there are still serious issues off the field, but those precious three points at the wonderful Amex stadium have lifted some of the gloom and worry that had been washed up at the City Ground. Make no mistake about it, Forest aren't out of the woods yet. While relegation, I maintain, isn't a realistic concern, the need for Forest to find a way to play, to have a structure and way of playing under the guidance of the new manager ahead of next season is imperative. It has been well documented that Forest have little room for manoeuvre for the next couple of transfer windows, so Dougie Freedman will have to work with the squad he has and there won't be the dramatic change of personnel this summer compared to the last few. That, in my eyes is a good thing. After Stuart Pearce took over, he had a great deal of remedial work to carry out and did so exceptionally well. Freedman will benefit from that and bar one or two who are out of contract this July, will not need to change too much. That, should, in theory, work to Forest's advantage in the sense that it will be a settled squad heading into the new Championship season in August, something Forest haven't had for a long, long time. Forest have won one game, only their third in fourteen matches. They remain 13 points off sixth place and while that isn't insurmountable, it is certainly a huge ask, especially when Watford, who currently occupy that place, continue to perform well. Freedman will have the backing of the crowd, every manager at the club does when it comes down to their first match at home, but the response from his players will be key to just how supportive the supporters will be. Having not won at home since November 8, virtually every game since has been a tough, relatively uninspiring watch and that has to change if the Reds are to finish the season with positivity. This cannot be another false down for the playing squad that has obvious talent but for whatever reason, was unable to show it more than a handful of times after the September 17 victory over Fulham.

Barry Cooper: Another incredible week at Nottingham Forest


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