NOTTINGHAM Forest head coach Steve Cooper is confident all of the club’s new recruits will be connected and fully committed to the cause in the Premier League.

Forest brought in defenders Willy Boly and Loic Bade on transfer deadline day, while winger Josh Bowler joined from Blackpool ahead of being sent on a season loan move to Greek side Olympiacos. That took their total number of incomings this summer to staggering 21 players.

Despite all of the summer turnover, Cooper maintains the squad is not too big in itself – with additional quality cover needed on the bench if Forest are to stand up to the challenges ahead, which continue at home against fellow promoted side Cherries tomorrow (3pm).

"I’m not going to use it (the number of new players) as an excuse, I am not going to say ‘we will be ready in x amount of time’ because we have got a game on Saturday and we have to be ready for that,” said the Forest boss, who saw his side beaten 6-0 at Manchester City on Wednesday night.

“That is what my focus is – I never look further than the next game and never have done.

“Whether there is players that have been here for years or whether they have come through in the last couple of weeks, it is irrelevant to me.

“We work the way we work, we train the way we train, we stick to our our values and beliefs, day in day out. I believe that is what helps you become the team that you want to be.

“For me I want us to be connected on Saturday in terms of a team and we will commit to every game as it comes.”

Cooper is expecting a response from Wednesday night’s comprehensive defeat at the Etihad Stadium, where Erling Haaland struck a second-successive Premier League hat-trick.

“I am sure that the team will be feeling like I am, obviously disappointed, but really motivated,” Cooper said at a press conference.

“I want us to be a team and I want to be a manager and a set of staff that doesn’t just sort of smile after wins and be happy, but can show that we can deal with defeats as well.

“Recovering from setbacks, losses and poor performances is a massive part of succeeding in the long term and we have got an opportunity to do that now.

“What has happened in the last couple of games has made us really focus on what we bring to the next game.”

Forest will be without injured trio Orel Mangala (hamstring), Moussa Niakhate (thigh) and Omar Richards (leg fracture), but former Cherries duo Steve Cook and Sam Surridge could feature.