Cooper: We’ve Been Punished
- Leicester City were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest on Friday
- The Foxes fell to a first defeat in three Premier League games
- Steve Cooper reflected on a disappointing night for his side at King Power Stadium
A 3-1 defeat at King Power Stadium ended City’s two-game winning streak in the Premier League, with Jamie Vardy’s goal not enough for Steve Cooper’s side to take anything from Friday’s East Midlands derby.
A brace from former Foxes forward Chris Wood took the game away from Leicester in the second half, following Ryan Yates' opener after 16 minutes on Filbert Way.
“We’ve only got ourselves to blame with the result,” the Manager admitted. “It was self-inflicted how the game went. We’ve been punished for giveaways for the goals but at the same time, we shouldn’t be making mistakes like that in the build-up to the goals.
“We’ve just got to do better. We’ve made some poor errors in the initial turnovers and you can defend better after it. We got back into the game and had a lot of control and looked more of a threat.
“Conceding right at the start of the second half was one thing, but there was still a long way to go and loads of opportunities to do what we did in the first half again. It wasn’t ideal, the timing, but we could have got back into it.
“To concede the third goal, it really took the game away from us. The game then became not what we wanted and it’s on us and me. We have to accept that we fell short tonight. It’s a setback, there’s no doubt about that.”
Ricardo Pereira was one of three changes to the starting XI, making his first league appearance of the season, and his endeavour in the first half was a part of an encouraging opening 45 minutes.
The Welshman continued: “He’s a strong option that we have in that position and Ricardo did some good things no doubt and the change was nothing on his performance, it was just on trying to make some changes in the game.
“Obviously they put some defenders on so we just wanted to get some more attackers on and try and create some chances but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
While the frustration was clear to see, there is an opportunity to bounce back next week with Carabao Cup action at Manchester United on Wednesday followed by a trip to Ipswich Town back in the Premier League on Saturday.
The 44-year-old added: “It’s going to hurt for sure and the disappointment will be even bigger because we’ll reflect and know that we should have done better. As hurtful as it is, we have to move on as quickly as possible.
“We have to pick the bones out of this, but we’ve got to look forward and move forward. There’s going to be ups and downs and this is definitely a down. We don’t want to be losing games like this in the way that we did. We have to put it right as soon as we can.”