Barnsley Forest Preview

Tonight the reds welcome Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest side to Oakwell for a big clash as head coach Markus Schopp faces pressure from the reds supporters after a difficult start to the new season.

The Tykes who reached the championship playoffs last season have picked up 8 points from the opening 9 games. After Valerian Ismael left the club to join West Brom the club have faced a rebuild this summer with Markus Schopp taking charge. Tonight the club welcome the Nottinghamshire side who themselves have had a difficult start to the season which ended up in Chris Hughton later losing his job and being replaced by former Swansea boss Steve Cooper who defeated the reds in the Sky Bet Championship playoffs last season but later lost in the final to Brentford which lead to his departure from the welsh club.

The home fans will be looking for a big reaction after the disappointing defeat to Blackpool last week. The reds head coach looked ahead to tonight’s game.

“It wasn’t good enough. The first half, like I said on Saturday, it was not what we expect to see, especially in the first half. We were prepared for the opponent, but then it didn’t happen.”

“We conceded the goal from our own throw-in. We had a lot of players around the ball, and it’s impossible to break through this way.”

“We created very little again, in the first half. But we had - still - a couple of good chances to score in the game and we didn’t do it. “We need to do things better. We know this.”

“Aapo Halme suffered a little bit after Sunday’s training session, so it’s very unlikely that he will be involved. And Obbi Oularé has an issue with his back which we are trying to manage.” 

“They’ve changed their manager, so while we’ve watched all of their games, it’s a different look with the new coach and we have to be careful in the regard.”

Will the reds bounce back from a difficult period or will Steve Cooper pick up his first win as Nottingham Forest boss?