Steve Cooper has described the modifications made to Nottingham Forest’s training this week.

With sixteen players away on international duty, Nottingham Forest was bound to have a strange week.

But manager Steve Cooper has acknowledged that seeing certain U21 players up close and personal this week on the training field has opened his eyes.

On some days, 10 members of Forest’s first team trained, with the remaining spots going to young players who weren’t part of Cooper’s squad.

The Reds manager acknowledged that, despite the absence of players, the training schedule was different from that of a typical match week.

Steve Cooper about the modifications made to Forest training.

In an essay that was published in The Atheltic this morning, Cooper went into great detail on the team’s activities during this week’s international break and how they differed from regular Forest training.

According to Cooper, “the training ground feels different now.”

The atmosphere has clearly changed, and fewer meetings and analysis are finished. We attempt to provide the athletes with a break from our sometimes harsh approach to our work on the instructional and analytical fronts.”

“We concentrate on the specific training plans with the players; I try to put some effort into them. We have the time to do some unconventional and different activities. We make an effort to manage the time. For the boys who are here, we have a different focus, and perhaps that helps them in some way.”