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Steve Cooper rues Matt Turner’s costly errors with the Nottingham Forest keeper at fault for both Tottenham goals in his side’s 2-0 defeat

  • Richarlison opened the scoring for the visitors after a fine Dejan Kulusevski cross
  • Swede then doubled Spurs’ lead after a pair of mistakes from Matt Turner in goal 
  • A restless crowd and a club with the same old problems. Teams are racing past Crystal Palace… but what do Eagles fans want? – It’s All Kicking Off 

Steve Cooper could not hide his frustration at goalkeeper Matt Turner after his errors in the defeat by Tottenham kept the Nottingham Forest boss firmly under pressure.

Turner was slow to react when Richarlison headed in Dejan Kulusevski’s cross for Spurs’ opener and Kulusevski’s shot for the second beat Turner even though it was straight at him. To make matters worse, it was Turner’s poor clearance that let Kulusevski in.

Forest have won only one of their last 13 games and Cooper’s short-term future remains in doubt with owner Evangelos Marinakis considering his options.

‘It is not something that should happen at this level,’ said Cooper when asked about Turner’s mistake for the second goal. ‘We have to own stuff we can do better – sometimes it will be individual, sometimes collective. We’ll review it over the weekend.

‘There are real little moments of quality we are not delivering. I have no complaints with the commitment but we are not managing defining moments. We have to strive to do better.

Steve Cooper was unable to hide his frustration after seeing his side come unstuck against Spurs on Friday night 

Matt Turner was slow to come for the cross that led to Richarlison’s opener at the City Ground

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The Forest keeper compounded the mistake of a poor kick by failing to stop Dejan Kulusevski’s powerful drive 

‘The job means the world to me and always has done. I know there are talking points around me and I wish it wasn’t the case. I wish we were talking about wins but as a club we are very together.

‘We have to stay that way. Everything we have done here has been built on togetherness. The fans saw a team who gave everything but we need to show quality and not give away silly goals.’

Tottenham were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when Yves Bissouma’s yellow card for a foul on Ryan Yates was upgraded to red after a VAR check.

It was Bissouma’s second sending-off of the season, meaning a four-game ban. Given the midfielder is due to play for Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations, he may not now play for his club again until the end of January.

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Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou had little to say about that decision from referee Jarred Gillett but he was delighted with the performances of Richarlison and Kulusevski.

The Australian said: ‘It was a desperate lunge from Bissouma more than anything malicious. I assume they slowed down the footage and saw what they saw. You have to cop it.

‘Richarlison is a goalmouth monster and ‘Deki’ has been great for us all year, in a number of positions. We are working hard to make him more of a goal threat.’

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