A REINVENTED ANT CAN DECK FOREST Cooper isn’t finished in the transfer market yet... but he has to get new signings to gel
MICHAIL ANTONIO returns to Nottingham Forest today as a deadly striker – seven years after leaving them as a workaholic winger.
And that transformation from creator on the flanks to prolific marksman down the middle at West Ham never ceases to amaze the manager who engineered it.
Irons boss David Moyes may have taken the decision to switch Antonio up front because of a dire shortage of strikers at the club, but it is one that neither he nor the player has ever regretted.
Following the conversion, the £8million bargain from Forest has struck fear into every top-flight rearguard, combining power and relentless energy with a serious ability to find the net.
He has done that last part an impressive 56 times in 196 Premier League appearances for the eastenders.
Ahead of today’s trip to face Steve Cooper’s newly-promoted Forest, Moyes waxed lyrical over Antonio’s unlikely impact leading the line at the London Stadium.
The Scot (below), in his second spell at the helm, declared: “When I came first came here
we moved Marko Arnautovic there because we didn’t have a centre-forward or wanted something better than we already had.
“It was the same really with Micky. We were looking for something that we needed to improve and to play in a different sort of way.
“And I have to say he’s been a revelation these last couple of years as our centre-forward. He’s played a huge part in our development.
“He’s been so good for us that it’s not been easy trying to find someone to either challenge or be better than Michail Antonio.“
Moyes confirmed Antonio, 32, has recovered from a niggle picked up in last Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City to be in contention to meet his old club at a packed City Ground.
He added: “I’m sure Micky is grateful to Forest for what they did for his career and he’ll be looking forward to going back.
“He could tell you far more than me about what a good club they are. But, like Leeds coming up two years ago, it’s great to have Forest back in this league.”
The good news for Moyes, who felt Jamaican international Antonio ‘struggled’ towards the end of 202122, is he now possesses a viable alternative following the £30.5m capture of Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca, 23, from Genoa.
The Irons supremo said: “If we played him instead of Michail, we’re talking about two different strikers and that has an impact on how the team play.
“But there will be plenty of times they can play together because Micky can play as a winger.”
STEVE COOPER says the revolving dressing-room door at Nottingham Forest will keep turning until the transfer window closes. As the two-time former European Champions prepare to host their first Premier League fixture at home in 23 years, they do so against the backdrop of a huge upheaval in playing staff. Owner Evangelos Marinakis has already bankrolled a £100million spree – with a glut of new faces arriving at the City Ground. Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis is primed to be added to Cooper’s squad, along with free agent and former Crystal Palace star Cheikhou Kouyate. And the Forest chief says the spending is not over yet. He said: “We’ve have signed a lot of players – and we will continue signing players. We’re nowhere near finished in terms of players coming in and leaving. The sooner, the better, because then you can get your group together and the window shuts. “But this is the situation we are in. We’re not looking at it negatively, it’s part of the journey.” Cooper knows there is a buzz about the amount of work that Forest have done. However, a significant chunk of their Championship play-off winning side was loaned to them. Djed Spence, James Garner and Keinan Davis were only ever temporary stop-gaps – but all of them played an integral part in the club’s promotion to the top flight.
Cooper knows that a huge question hangs over the club as to whether he can forge a bond that will see them adapt to life among the big boys.
He said: “At the moment, the narrative is, ‘Look at Forest, there’s a load of new players, are they going to gel?’
“If that’s the case, I think it’s an easy one to focus on, but I understand it and, yes, that’s the situation.
“There’s still a lot of players and staff who were here last season. So there’s a lot of continuity. The club captain is Joe Worrall and the vicecaptain is Ryan Yates. They’ve been here years – let’s not lose sight of that.
“The question is how quickly are you going to become a team – and that’s about togetherness and a culture.
“If you want to be all of those things, for me, it’s about daily behaviour. It’s not about a team-bonding session where you all go off and climb a mountain.
“All of those things can be important, of course, they can. But the real way to become the team you want to be is by living and breathing it every day. It’s by being consistent, sticking to the plan. To be the team we want, it has to be not just on a match day or by giving an interview, it has to be the way we live every single day.” With Forest’s return, questions about the history and the achievements of the legendary Brian Clough are at the forefront. But Cooper has embraced the challenge. Asked if he feels the hand of history on his shoulders, he said: “It’s never been on my shoulders. “We will always stand on the shoulders of those great teams and and we stand on it proudly because this club was built on that era. “This summer, I really loved getting to understand it even more and meeting John Mcgovern, Garry Birtles and Frank Clark – people who should always be here as much as they want to be around the club. “I’ve enjoyed learning about it. I had an amazing phone call from Nigel Clough during the summer. We are always looking to really understand the past because it just motivates us to create a future. “It sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true. “We don’t want to fear the hand of history – in fact, we take pride in it.”