The 21/22 campaign for Nottingham Forest was nothing short of heroic – climbing from rock bottom to the top six, and gaining promotion via Wembley, a dream that most Reds fans would never have anticipated becoming a reality in their lifetime, bare in mind just eight months after fears of relegation to League One. With the dream becoming reality came some hard decisions, and also hard truths: this would be perhaps the most challenging period in decades for the club, surviving in the Premier League is no easy act, especially when you lose loan stars like that they had procured just a summer/winter before – and of course the loss of promotion hero Brice Samba. Steve Cooper, while optimistic as he is, had a huge project in front of him, and for a manager who’d never managed in this league before, probably the biggest project of his professional coaching career.

A tough campaign ensued following the loss to Newcastle, and despite beating West Ham United at home just a week after, Nottingham Forest would find themselves with just 4 points in their first ten games, a major headache – Cooper’s position was in question, a first for him in his role as Nottingham Forest manager. A 4-0 drubbing by Leicester City at the King Power stadium in early October placed further jeopardy on Cooper’s role – every Forest fan had their heart in their mouth: Could this be the end for Steve Cooper?

The ‘new contract bounce’.

Even with major speculation of Steve Cooper losing his job, these rumours were disregarded quickly by ‘those above’ at the club, and on the 7th October 2022, Cooper signed a contract until 2025 – a three-year extension, and a showing of belief in both the promotion-winning Welshman, and the long-term vision of the club, under Steve Cooper. Straight after the signing of his Contract, Steve and his team had some tough games: the likes of Aston Villa, Wolves, Liverpool & Brighton, and even though he had signed the new contract, he was by no-means invincible, he had to start picking up points immediately. A draw at Villa, Loss at Wolves, a win at home to Liverpool, and then a point away against Brighton – 5 points in four games, could you call it a ‘New Contract Bounce’? Maybe, but nevertheless, a crucial number of points, and Forest started to look like a fairly strong side for the first time in their Premier League campaign. And, although they were heavily beaten just a week after by league leaders, Arsenal, at the Emirates, the reds recovered form quickly drawing against Brentford and beating Crystal Palace soon after, heading into the World Cup break outside the bottom-three – a weight lifted off the shoulders of all Forest fans.

Post-world cup – Forest at their strongest?

Perhaps the strongest period for Nottingham Forest in regard to atmosphere and form came after the World Cup – players returning from their respective international duties or having trained in Nottingham during the break – all with a positive mentality, even with the challenges that faced them in just days/weeks to come.

The Reds started with a draw against Potter’s Chelsea side, and then proceeded to pick up seven points in three league outings, with wins against Southampton (the teams first away win) & Leicester, and points shared with Bournemouth away from home. In Between these results, the side also beat Wolves in a hostile cup battle at the City Ground which would see them make it to the final four teams in the Carabao Cup.

Even after the impressive form that subsequently followed on from the World Cup, Cooper’s side are now struggling once again – 6 points in ten games, and Manchester United, Liverpool & Arsenal (to name a few) of the games left to play.

So, can Cooper rally his team to do the impossible once again?

Albeit with a different team in many respects, Nottingham Forest are in a similar position to how they were eight games into last season – except, this time, they now have eight games to save themselves from the drop. This is not impossible.

Of course, for any fan of the club, looking at the incoming fixtures there is naturally apprehension – the fear of not picking up points, it lingers in the minds of any fanbase fearing relegation. However, even with this being said, from the fixtures coming up, Nottingham Forest have only lost to two of the sides (Manchester United & Arsenal) throughout the entirety of the season, and have previously picked up 12 points from the other teams they will face. An encouraging statistic – the club have faced poor form, and turned it around, there is no reason why this cannot be done once more.

Speaking from previous relegation battles, a team would want to be aiming for 38-40 points to stave off the threat of relegation – last season, Burnley were relegated on 35 points, and just a season before, Fulham went down with just 28 points – varying numbers of points, but to be on the safe side, Forest will want at least another 10 points, or around that, in order to stay in this league. Math would suggest this is more than possible, 24 points up for the taking, and on current form Nottingham Forest accumulate approximately 0.90 points per game (as per fbref.com), and will, according to these statistics, gather a further 7 points in this league before season-end.

Even with the numbers being mentioned, there is no doubt that Forest need to pick up form and work better collectively – being more clinical and forcing out the individual errors are, I’m sure, two major talking points at the forefront of Cooper’s team talks.

As Roger Crawford once said: “Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional,” the coming eight games are huge, eight cup-finals if you will, and now it is time to be the ‘12th man’, get behind the team, and overcome the final hurdle.

The time has come once again: defy the doubts, and advance.

*Article provided by Jamie Martin (Nottingham Forest Correspondent).

*Main image @NFFC Steve Cooper will be hoping he and his side can survive relegation.