Former Nottingham Forest winger Michail Antonio believes that Steve Cooper needs to "reward" the players who got the club to the Premier League with more starts.
The West Ham United forward was speaking in the aftermath of the Reds' 5-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, which leaves them bottom of the standings. It's the third time they have conceded four or more goals in a league match so far this term.
Antonio, who won Forest's Player of the Season award in 2015, says that the team are finding it hard to gel after the massive influx of new players in the summer transfer window. He feels the promotion-winning members of the squad should be given precedence in the starting line-up and "drip feed" the newcomers into the team.
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"With Forest and talking about settling time, you ain't got the time to settle," he said on BBC Match of the Day 2. "You need to perform because if you don't perform and don't take your opportunities, then you're going to go down.
"That's one thing when it comes to football, when you get so many new players it's hard to find your eleven. It's hard to find how each other plays, because you learn by playing with each other. So the communication and the chemistry is not going to be there.
"They're learning as the season is going, but the thing about the Premier League is that you can't afford to learn as the season is going, you need to learn before the season.
"One thing I feel they did was use the players to get in the situation they were. I feel Steve Cooper probably should reward the people who got them to the Premier League and play them, because end of the day they got them there and what they did.
"What they did to achieve promotion to the Premier League was outstanding, so I feel he should go back to that and work from there and maybe drip feed the new boys in."
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