Head coach Steve Cooper will ignore any “sideshows” as he focuses on trying to keep Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
The Reds have seen the cushion between themselves and the drop zone cut to just one point after a run of seven games without a win. They make the trip to relegation rivals Leeds United on Tuesday night desperately needing to turn around their miserable away form.
Cooper’s job has come under scrutiny as a result, with owner Evangelos Marinakis keen to avoid an immediate return to the Championship. However, amid speculation about his future - and with Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City) and Graham Potter (Chelsea) having taken the number of Premier League departures this season to 12 - the Welshman says he is only looking at the task in hand.
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“I just do my job,” Cooper said, when asked whether this is not the time for anyone to panic. “There’s always sideshows running alongside what is the most important thing and that is turning up every day and doing the job to the best of your ability.
“It’s not even turning up; you never switch off. Even when you go home, you’re thinking about work, because I’m completely obsessed with doing my best and trying to be at my best. In the end, you see how far that takes you, like every other manager and every other player.
“I don’t get too caught up in what might be or what might be said. It’s counterproductive, in my opinion, if you’re thinking about stuff like that because you’re not thinking about the team or the next training session or next game. If I’m not doing that, I’m not at my best and I don’t think I’m doing my job properly.
“I’ve had three or four years as a manager, which is enough experience for me to train myself just to focus on the importance of doing your job. That’s your every day work with the players and staff. Everything else outside of that is something I don’t pay much attention to.”
He added: “We know it’s a results industry and you have to do your best to win as many games as you can and pick up the right amount of points. We’re all in the same boat, whatever league we work in, we’re all committed to doing that.
“We’re all trying our best. We’re all trying to reach objectives set by the club and what we think we can do with the team, and we’re all giving it our best shot.”
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