Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper said his side are still learning how to play as a team after Monday’s (3 October) 4-0 defeat by Leicester City left them bottom of the Premier League.
Forest brought an English record 21 players in a single transfer window on his return to the top flight before signing free agents Serge Aurier and Adnan Kanuric in September.
Cooper told the BBC on Monday that he didn’t want to be overly critical of his side after eight games into the season.
“Without sounding too soft, it’s really difficult to be overly critical of the group because it’s a whole new group and we’re getting to know ourselves and the job,” he said.
“They’re just a really fresh group trying to get together. We’re going through difficult moments that you usually see in preseason and we have to go through that process in the most difficult league in the world.
“Some of the guys have only met each other in the past few weeks. That’s the realism of the situation and something we have to deal with. At the moment we are being penalized for periods in games where we are not a team and key moments too.”
Forest, who have lost five games in a row, next host Aston Villa on October 10.