Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper says he gives the Championship table no more than a passing glance at this stage of the season.
And his full focus is on wringing every last drop out of the squad he has got, as the Reds look to compete towards the top end of the standings.
Sunday’s 4-0 thumping at home to Fulham was their first defeat since the Welshman took charge, having been on a run of four straight wins.
The head coach is looking for a response against QPR on Friday night, when victory would take Forest to within one point of the top six - albeit likely only temporarily.
“I just glance at the table at the minute, really. It’s not the first thing I look at after a result, if I’m being honest,” Cooper said.
“You naturally look at the other results. At quarter-to-five on a Saturday, that’s what you do, isn’t it?
“But I don’t really look at it yet. That time will come, of course, because it will become even more important.
“But at the moment, you just want to accumulate as many points as you can to get yourself in a position to do something at the end of the season, whatever that may be.”
If the Reds are eventually going to put themselves in a position to challenge, they will be battling against teams who have been bolstered by the financial benefits parachute payments can bring.
It is a topic drawn into sharp focus by the weekend’s result at the City Ground, as the Cottagers target an immediate return to the Premier League - and has been a source of much debate.
Cooper, though, says it shouldn’t matter what resources the opposition have available to them.
“I haven’t paid too much attention to that debate, because I think you believe in the players you work with, you give them 100 percent and you try not to think about, ‘this team has got that’ or ‘that team has got this’,” he said. “As soon as you start focusing on that, you’re not focusing on yourself, and I don’t agree with that strategy.
“I’m probably not the right person to comment on it, to be honest.
“I don’t know what the club’s general view is on parachute payments. It’s maybe a talking topic at executive level, but fortunately I won’t be in those meetings so I won’t have too much of an opinion on it!
“I think you just have to focus on what you’ve got in the building, try to get the best out of them, try to make them feel as good as you can and as prepared as they can be for games, and see where that takes you.
“If you don’t do that, you’re being defeatist from the start - you’re just accepting that somebody is better than you.
“Sometimes they are, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to lose - or you’re going to win.
“Football is a competition. It’s an unpredictable sport in a lot of ways, so you have to go for it as much as you can.”
That will be the message at Loftus Road in the first of three games before the next round of international fixtures.
And Cooper knows going on another good run before the break could make the table look even healthier.
“We’re not looking too far ahead, because we’re not even halfway through the season,” he added.
“It’s a three-game week coming up. I know we’re playing Friday, but it’s Friday-Tuesday-Saturday before the next international break. That’s nine points available.
“You’ll see somebody come from nowhere. You’ll see somebody drop down.
“You can’t look too far ahead. I don’t, anyway. So much can happen.
“What you have to focus on is what you’re in control of, and that’s being as prepared as you can be for the next game, then trying to deliver when it counts.
“The only objective in my mind at the moment is playing well at QPR and getting three points. Beyond that, and what it means elsewhere, is not something I’m really thinking about.
“In this league, everything goes to the last day, more or less. That’s what’s exciting about it - the unpredictability.
“There will be things to play for at all ends of the table come the last week or so.
“You’ve just got to commit to the present, and fight for every point, because they can end up being so important.”
