Head coach Steve Cooper will use Nottingham Forest’s FA Cup run as a “reference point” for his players, to show they can hold their own on the big stage.
As they chase promotion in their remaining games of the Championship season, Cooper is keen to make sure some outstanding cup performances are used as a springboard. None more so than the Reds’ quarter-final display against Liverpool.
Forest went toe-to-toe with Jurgen Klopp’s side, pushing them all the way - with only Diogo Jota’s second half goal separating the sides at the finish. And even that came courtesy of a questionable VAR call over a potential offside.
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Cooper’s men had already knocked out Arsenal, Leicester City and Huddersfield Town on their way to the last-eight. But their aim now is to be mixing in Premier League company on a more regular basis.
“We have used the cup to our advantage. We have created some good games of football. We will build belief from this cup run,” said the Welshman.
“The Arsenal and Leicester games were good. Particularly the Leicester game, because of the rivalry and how the game went. We will use that as reference points to show we can play on the big stage - and play well, score goals and keep clean-sheets.
“There’s no doubt Liverpool will be back on their bus thinking, ‘yeah, we’re happy to be through to the next round, and it wasn’t easy’.
“We don’t want any plaudits for playing well. We want to win games here. We want to play a certain way and have certain values and beliefs. I think we showed that at times. But in the end, we want to win games.
“We haven’t differentiated between league and cup games. We haven’t prioritised. We are trying to build a real feeling of togetherness at the club.
“You see supporters are with us. It felt like the same atmosphere as it was on Wednesday night against QPR. You can see that if we play well here, it’s going to be a really hard place for opposition teams to come and win.
“We are taking it day by day, and game by game. We are trying to build a real mentality - a little bit like Liverpool have done in recent years - about whoever you play and whatever competition, you turn up wanting to win.
“We are trying to get something like that. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll take every day and every game as it comes, and do our best.”
