By Gareth James
Steve Cooper insisted he was not worried for his future at Nottingham Forest despite a 2-1 defeat at Leeds United which extended his side’s winless run to eight matches.
The Premier League’s only Welsh boss saw his Forest team slump to a fourth straight league defeat on the road and they now sit above the bottom three on goal difference alone after letting slip the lead against their relegation rivals at Elland Road.
Orel Mangala’s first goal for Forest gave them an early lead, but Leeds hit back with first-half strikes from Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra to deservedly clinch a crucial win.
"If he can keep them up – he's got to get manager of the season"
👔 @ellsbells89 says she can't see Nottingham Forest getting rid of Steve Cooper
🌳 Will he be sacked after defeat to Leeds tonight?#BBCFootball
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) April 4, 2023
Asked if he was worried about his position, Cooper said: “I respect the question and I understand it 100 per cent, but I’m not that guy that thinks like that.
“I always think of the greater good of the club, so any sort of worry, disappointment, frustration I’m feeling right now is the fact that Forest have lost a game they could have done so much better in.
“That’s just the way I’m wired. I’ve trained myself just to focus on the stuff I can control and work as hard as I can every single day, believe in my work and stay true to it. That’s just where I’m at.”
Cooper, who has retained the support of the majority of Forest fans up to now, said he still believed in himself and his players and confirmed there had been no contact from the club’s board.
“I’ll forever be grateful to the supporters and that’s why winning games feels so joyous and losing games hurts,” he added.
“Because they’re so good with me, when we let them down like we did tonight, it’s painful.
“That’s how I think, trying to do what’s right and good for the club. I just don’t think about myself.
“The more support I get, the more determined and paranoid I get about not letting them down.”
Leeds United in 2022-23 are the only team in Premier League history to have played as many as four games starting in the relegation zone in a season and won every single one of those games. #lufc
2-1 vs Liverpool
1-0 vs Southampton
4-2 vs Wolves
2-1 vs Nottingham Forest pic.twitter.com/znw4LFyWZp— Jonny Cooper (@JRCooper26) April 4, 2023
Leeds climbed out of the bottom three and up five places to 13th, two points above the drop zone after collecting 10 points from boss Javi Gracia’s six games in charge.
Gracia said: “I’m very pleased because the performance was really good and I think we got a good result, but first, the performance was good.
“I think we should have killed the game before. We didn’t do it and after had to suffer at the end of the game.
“But the performance was good. The attitude after conceding a goal again at home and the reaction was perfect and something I’m really proud of.”
Leeds under Javi Gracia in the Premier League:
✅ 1-0 v Southampton
❌ 0-1 v Chelsea
🤝 2-2 v Brighton
✅ 4-2 v Wolves
❌ 1-4 v Arsenal
✅ 2-1 v Forest10 points gained from a possible 18. Up to 13th in the table.#LUFC pic.twitter.com/appSe3w207
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) April 4, 2023
Gracia has a 50 per cent win ratio after victories over Southampton, Wolves and Forest since replacing Jesse Marsch in February.
“I try to do my job,” the former Malaga, Watford and Valencia manager added.
“I try to help the players understand every single game how to manage the game and have more options to get a good result. That’s my job. But the protagonists are the players.”
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