Nottingham Forest boss blames lack of bravery, courage and aggression in Leeds United defeat

The Reds’ boss bemoaned his team’s perceived lack of ‘bravery, courage and aggression’ as the East Midlands club surrendered an early lead. Orel Mangala’s opener was cancelled out by Jack Harrison midway through the first half, before Luis Sinisterra’s curling effort on the stroke of half-time put Leeds in front.

While Javi Gracia had nothing but high praise for his players, Cooper was critical of his own.

"Starting the game well enough and going 1-0 up is obviously what you want to do, something we've not done away from home. I don't think we managed that period, from our goal to half-time, anywhere near good enough,” the former Swansea City coach said.

"We didn't show enough bravery and courage on the ball. We gave too many spaces to Leeds and couldn't get pressure on the ball and when we did we weren't aggressive enough,” he added.

Leeds enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and dominated the territory at Elland Road but Forest carried a threat on the counter throughout the game.

Despite this, Cooper feels his team created too few chances to have deserved anything from the game, supported by the fact United stopper Illan Meslier made no saves and Forest’s solitary shot on target came in the 12th minute as Mangala struck the opener.

“[We] only have ourselves to blame. Benefit of the doubt to the guys in the second half, there were some bits, but not enough. [Some] half-decent threatening moments; from them moments we didn't convert them into creating chances, never mind scoring or missing. It was clear where we fell short and the first half we fell way short of our performance levels.

"They took their opportunity,” Cooper said, on Leeds’ own display.

The Whites are up to 13th in the Premier League table while under-pressure Cooper sees his Forest side slip to 17th, outside the relegation zone on goal difference.