'A marked improvement in performances compared with last season'

Pat Riddell, The Famous Club

It’s very easy to view the world in black and white. But we all know there’s a lot of grey going on. Nottingham Forest’s away form might be two wins out of 26 games, except stats only tell half the story.

Steve Cooper himself will tell you that losing 3-2 to West Ham United on Sunday was our own fault. And nobody will shy away from the fact that improvement has to come. Forest should have come away from London Stadium with at least a point, if not all three, if the players had done their jobs.

Yet, in the same breath, five of the seven away games this season have been at Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. With just Tottenham Hotspur left of the so-called 'big six' to come, the toughest challenges are largely out of the way. That said, there are clearly no easy games in the Premier League.

But the biggest difference - the story that the statistics don’t tell - is that there is a marked improvement in performances compared with last season. The Reds conceded 24 goals in the same seven fixtures last season, scoring just five. It's been fine margins this season.

So, yes, away performances have to improve - as does game management. But if Forest were still being beaten 4-0, 5-0 or 6-0, it would be a very black and white world.

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