Steve Cooper exclusive: Morgan Gibbs-White thriving on responsibility at Nottingham Forest

In football, there are always managers and players who just seem to click throughout their careers – think Jermain Defoe and Harry Redknapp. At the moment, that influence is being felt between Steve Cooper and Morgan Gibbs-White.

The pair first had success with England U17s, before Gibbs-White joined Cooper’s Swansea on loan from Wolves in 2020. While injury restricted his progress the Swans, he excelled the follow season at Sheffield United, before reuniting with Cooper once again last summer.

This weekend against Aston Villa, live on Sky Sports, the forward could make his 50th appearance for Nottingham Forest. Gibbs-White has made himself indispensable too, playing in 45 of 46 Premier League games since his debut with 43 starts.

He currently tops nine statistical categories for Nottingham Forest in the league. Last season, he had the most assists (8) and goal involvements (13) of his team-mates in the top flight on his way to the fans’ player of the season award.

So how has Cooper continued to harness the talent of Gibbs-White?

“In the end, it’s about him getting the best out of himself – that’s always the most important thing,” the Nottingham Forest manager exclusively told Sky Sports.

“What we have been able to give Morgan so far here is the opportunity of playing time in games, in talking about when things are going really well. We’ve also given him belief more than anything else when he feels like he could have done better in a game.

“What we’ve done is given him the opportunity to support him along the way. We really believe he is a talent, but a talent with potential to fulfil and develop.

“He thrives on the responsibility that he carries. For a young boy, I think that’s a good trait because he’s always going to be a player of a profile that can make a difference in games and with that, they have to carry that responsibility.

“We’ve been able to give him that over the last year or so and for me, he’s benefited from that.”

How Forest have learnt from last season

Gibbs-White has benefited from a lack of injuries at Nottingham Forest, but the same cannot be said for some of his team-mates.

An injury crisis towards the end of the last season almost derailed their ultimately successful relegation battle. They have a lack of options up front at the moment too, with Callum Hudson-Odoi – another England U17 alumni – Divock Origi and Chris Wood among those sidelined.

“I’m also not going to dwell on it because if I give it too much thought then I’m not focused on trying to find the solutions that we need,” Cooper said. “Is it what we want? No, but is it really consuming our mind? No, because in the end, we’ve got training and games to prepare for.”

Record-breaking goalscorer Taiwo Awoniyi has only just returned from two Premier League games out too. “With one or two others, we rely on him to get us more goals than anybody else. The quicker we can get back fully fit the better for us and obviously him as well,” Cooper said of his striker.

Injuries have arguably had an impact on a winless run of six games since the September international break. But Nottingham Forest have still been steadily adding points with four draws, and compared to the same stage last season, are five points better off, scoring three more goals more and conceding eight goals fewer.

All of their defeats this season too have been against ‘bigger’ clubs – Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and last weekend, Liverpool – while Forest remain unbeaten against teams ninth and below this season.

They are all signs of progress for Forest, who in only their second season back in the Premier League are continuing to adapt. While having to navigate the immediacy of a results-based business, Cooper is also focusing on his team’s overall development that will ultimately keep them in an unforgiving league for some times yet.

“The biggest factor that will drive anything will be the results,” he explained.

“But we know that we are still only in our second season in the Premier League. We’ve signed a lot of new players again and we are trying to settle down as a squad.

“So while we want to win as many games and pick up as many points game in, game out as we can, we also know that we’re trying to establish a way of playing – a settled connection amongst the team and doing it in a way that will be consistent where we hope, if we can get enough results along the way, that will help us mid to longer term.

“I think it is always something that you can take a step back and ‘go to actually have we made progress?’

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“There’s always the short-term enjoyment and buzz of winning a game and the disappointment when you don’t – that that will always be the cycle you go through.

“Then running alongside that is ‘are we in general progressing with the club, the way we play, the players in the team?’. We’ve got a lot of young players in the squad that are on strong development programmes that we are really enjoying and it’s a big part of our work.

“So there are lots of other things going on at the same time. It is good sometimes if you’ve lost the game to realise we are actually in a stronger position than where we were last year.

“There’s different levels of teams in the league and we’re striving to continue to improve. But while we are where we are, we want to win every game that we play, but we know that’s not going to always be the case.

“So you have to continue to believe in the way that you work, plan, review and deliver accordingly. Hopefully, over the course of time, it stands to the right level.

“We did experience periods of poor form last year, and like anything in life when you experience things, you try and use it, learn from it, understand the benefit that you can take going forward and that will be the case.

“What last season did give us was some mini bad runs, mini good runs and everything in between. Whatever happens this season, at least we’ve got something to refer to.”

‘England U17s will have great experience at World Cup’

Our chat at Nottingham Forest’s famous City Ground comes a week before the U17 World Cup in Indonesia kicks off – a tournament Cooper won in 2017 with a talented England squad.

The 43-year-old knows just how current England U17 coach Greg Lincoln and his team are feeling as they look to regain the crown Cooper won six years ago.

Offering his insight on the upcoming tournament, the Forest boss said: “The boys and the coaching staff will go there wanting to compete well and win, especially with England because I know it will be a really good level team.

“But you also know at that level, you’re also going to gain a great experience for the players and continue that England journey for their future.

“With development football, it’s little bit different in tournaments because you go there to win, but if you can do it in a way that will help serve the player well in the future, then you win even more so.

“I wish them well of course, they’ll have great experiences and it’s another great part of the world to go and play football in. Hopefully they come back having succeeded but with good experiences to help their careers as well.”

Going from international youth football to senior club football is not a path trod by many of his contemporaries, but it has helped Cooper identify top-level talent.

“I think all of your experiences can help that as well because you’re always trying to build your knowledge and know how.

“But for sure, what working with England gave me was an experience of dealing with – at that level – world-class players and that was a good experience.

“You see the attributes in players who are right at the top of the game, when you’re working with them upfront, then it is a good experience to refer to.

“The players are younger than the players I’m working with now, but it was good to have that experience to see the real top at that particular part of the journey. So there’s always something to be taken from experiences and England definitely gave me that.”

Watch Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm on Super Sunday; kick-off 2pm.