Birtles: Cooper will make sure Forest keep pressure on
NOTTINGHAM Forest legend Garry Birtles believes it’s crucial the Reds maintain the pressure on those above them in the Championship when they travel to face Millwall on Saturday.
The Reds last won a League game on December 18, a 2-0 victory over Peterborough United before suffering defeats against Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town.
However, Steve Cooper’s men claimed a shock 1-0 win over Premier League giants Arsenal in the FA Cup third round last Sunday.
Birtles discussed the next game against Millwall and the FA Cup fourth round draw against East Midlands neighbours Leicester City in our Garibaldi Red podcast.
“That’s where Steve Cooper will come into the equation,” said Birtles. “He knows about places to go that are difficult.
“Nowhere’s easy to go in the Championship, we know that. Anybody’s capable at the moment of beating anybody.
“You look at the top of the table, there’s Huddersfield up there and Blackburn up there, maybe it wasn’t expected but that’s how difficult things can be at Championship level, so going to Millwall, it’s always been the fans, they’ve always had a hard style there.
“I think the experience of Steve Cooper will be a big factor in going there and I’m sure he’ll be having a chat with the squad about the Arsenal game. That’s gone now, forget about it – don’t think about the Leicester game.
“We’re got to go to Millwall, we’ve got to win this game. We’ve got to get ourselves back in contention, put pressure on those above us.
“That’s why people like him (Cooper) are so important to football teams. Yes, it was a great win. Yes, hopefully, they celebrated it well. But they have got to focus again now.
“We’ve got to beat Millwall, we’ve got to keep pressure on and I really hope that’s the case.
“Steve will be straight on the case and say forget about that game, great we’ve won it but we’ve got to concentrate on getting ourselves into contention again and I’m sure that will happen.”
On the Leicester tie in the Cup, Birtles added: “Hopefully, that will be televised, what a great draw that is for everybody as well.
“We’ve all been talking about the best team in the East Midlands, we still think it’s us, they still think it’s them.
“It’s them at the moment because they’re in the Premier League, won the FA Cup last season, they won the Premier League recently, too. You can’t deny what they’ve done and it’s great to see East Midlands football thriving a little bit because it’s gone a little bit down the pan of late and now it’s the West Midlands that has gone a little bit more in front of us.
“But yes, that should be a good game to watch and I’m looking forward to that.”