Former England goalkeeper Rob Green has highlighted the importance of Nottingham Forest picking up their first win of the Premier League season in helping to gel their new-look squad.
Forest have been one of the most active teams in the transfer window this summer. The arrivals of Emmanuel Dennis, Remo Freuler and Cheikhou Kouyaté over the weekend means the Reds have now added 15 new faces to their squad since the start of the transfer window.
Steve Cooper’s side had a successful weekend on the pitch too, a 1-0 win over West Ham seeing them pick up three points in the Premier League for the first time in more than 23 years. That game saw just three of the starters from the play-off final back in May line up again just three months later.
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Speaking on BBC Five Live’s Monday Night Club programme, Green highlighted how big changes for promoted teams are now the done thing. He also outlined the key to quickly helping new players settle in.
He said: “It’s the new model isn’t it? One team to get you up. I’ve had it numerous times in my career where you got promoted and you looked around and went, ‘Well this is the last time we’re going to play together'.
“You just knew some players didn’t cut it in the Premier League and they were on their way out. I think Forest had a massive turnover of players, they had a huge squad of players last season and the season before in the Championship.
“That first win is huge... because you know what’s coming if you don’t win and you know where the fingers are going to point and who will get blamed, you know what the chat is going to be about - about the players coming in and ‘these players don’t care’.
“It’s not the case, you just can’t win a game of football. So I think that win at the weekend was massive, and it was one that yeah, they’ve signed a lot of players, yes, they need to gel. You gel by winning games.”
The pundit has also highlighted the types of players that Cooper has brought to the club this summer, praising the mix of upcoming and established Premier League players.
“I think what they’ve done is the different types of players - Harry Toffolo and Lewis O’Brien coming from Huddersfield, two of the better players in the Championship coming up with them,” he added. “You’re looking at people like that, mixing it in with your Jesse Lingards, if you’ve got that mix then I think that carries you a fair way.”
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