Steve Cooper has explained why Matt Turner was dropped by Nottingham Forest, with the USMNT goalkeeper now facing a fight to win his place back.
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American moved to the City Ground from ArsenalStarted the season as first choice between the sticksHas now lost his place to Greek rival VlachodimosWHAT HAPPENED?
The United States international moved to the City Ground during the summer transfer window in the hope of finding regular game time. Opportunities in English football had proved hard to come by for the former New England Revolution star at Arsenal, but Forest slotted him straight into their starting XI. A costly mistake in a 3-0 defeat at Liverpool – which resulted in Mohamed Salah rolling into an empty net – is considered to have contributed to Turner losing his place in the Forest side after just 11 appearances, with Greek shot-stopper Odysseas Vlachodimos drafted in for a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa.
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Explaining his decision to bench Turner, Forest boss Cooper has said: “The first thing I would say about that – and it’s really important – is that it wasn’t on the back of the third goal last week [against Liverpool]. If it was, it would be completely naive and narrow-minded. OK, it was a disappointing moment and Matt was the first guy to show that disappointment. But we wouldn’t do that, it’s not who we are and it’s not the culture we’ve created among the players, staff and supporters here. When people make mistakes we support them, we don’t kill them. There’s enough people out there who want to do that, so we get behind people.
“I spoke to Matt early in the week and told him what I was thinking. We’ve been really pleased with Matt and what he’s done for us. If he’s done 10 per cent not so good, he’s done 90 per cent really good things – and that’s where we’re focused. But there’s a couple of things we want to continue his development with and felt this was behind the decision. We had a good conversation about it and we made the change. Matt has been outstanding this week, in terms of his work and his commitment. That’s what he is anyway, he couldn’t be anything different. Ody stepped up and had a really good first game for his new club. He was brilliant with his clean-sheet, made a couple of good saves and showed good distribution. It was his first game at home as well, which is always a good one so you can feel what the City Ground has become."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Cooper went on to say of the decisions he faces between the sticks, with Ethan Horvath another American star that finds himself out of favour in Nottingham at present: “We’ve just got a really good goalkeeping department now, with Wayne (Hennessey) and Ethan as well. The goalkeeping coaches have put together a really good programme. It’s a vibrant department. There’s always going to be a question of who plays in goal. That’s my job to manage, but what I do know is everyone in that department is really committed to supporting whoever plays to be at their best and keep the ball out of the net.”
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Forest have one more Premier League fixture to take in before the next international break is reached – away at West Ham on Sunday – with Turner hoping to figure in an upcoming CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final clash for the U.S. against Trinidad & Tobago.