Ange Postecoglou’s supposed fresh start at Nottingham Forest has quickly blended into a continuation of the fan and media discontent he battled at Tottenham – as well as overseeing a side sitting 17th – with his new team winless in seven matches since he took over last month.
Unable to see out leads against Swansea and Real Betis, beaten by Sunderland and Midtjylland, and now having fallen 2-0 to Newcastle to leave them a point from relegation; the international break comes as an already needed breather for a manager who only took the job on September 9.
Postecoglou pointed to Forest’s grand history, long trophy-drought and undoubted ambition as factors he found attractive in the job. But as it stands, the myriad of other factors that were stacked against him – no pre-season, closed transfer window, heavy fixture list – look insurmountable.
There’s also the lingering ghost and reputation of the man he’s replaced.
‘The problem he’s got is most of the time when a manager takes over, they’re replacing a manager who’s been sacked because results aren’t good enough. Everyone goes ‘okay, we’ve got a new man, let’s see what happens’, Mark Pougatch of ITV & Stan Sport told Box2Box.
‘For Ange, of course, it’s completely different because he took over from Forest’s most successful manager for two or three decades. Somebody who’d taken him up the table and into European football. So, immediately he’s on the back foot because the fans are going, ‘well, we loved Nuno. Did this really have to happen?’
‘Now, on the plus side, Ange has won the Europa League. But on the downside, if you’re in the Trent End at the City Ground of Forest, you’re going, well, we’ve got a guy who took Tottenham to 17th last season. Is this really what we want?’ So immediately he’s on the back foot.’
All is not lost, and Postecoglou’s appointment is undeniably chairman Evangelos Marinakis’ captain’s call. But he’d want to turn things around quickly, both in the League and in the Europa League, with the club’s first European season since 1995/96 not going to plan.
His much-assessed, oft-maligned press interactions are also showing all the signs of wear that were on full display in his final months at Tottenham. Self-belief and defiance of mass opinion are cornerstones of Postecoglou’s being and success, but it’s not unreasonable to now question whether three months between jobs was enough.
Asked a moronic but standard-enough question post the loss to Newcastle, Postecoglou proved unable to calmly deflect. Going big picture, he asked the reporter if he’d ever had difficulty in his life. It’s a philosophical club he chooses on occasion, usually when the time is right, with players to motivate, or in calmer, more relaxed press conferences.
That he pulled it from the bag in a huff, a touch desperately, on this occasion spoke of a man under duress – hoping to win back the crowd by playing the hits, only to find you’d played them too many times.
‘He doesn’t seem to have read the room very well in that press conference, where immediately it was, you know, stereotypical Ange getting narky with a journalist, being a bit of a smart arse and then talking about having to rebuild something’, said Pougatch.
Tottenham was a rebuild, and fans (at least early on) were happy to hang off every word and take in every part of that process. Forest fans, having already laid the foundation for something special, have no interest in anything other than continued results, and are seeing the opposite.
‘I’m afraid, Ange, you aren’t rebuilding, are you? No, you don’t need to rebuild. They’d done brilliantly last season – look at players like Chris Wood, who did brilliantly under Nuno last season.
‘Today, alongside the traditional media – television, radio, newspapers – just as important is what I call the ‘blogosphere’; the fan phone-ins, the fan podcasts, and the heat that comes from them. There are fans who will only listen to their own club podcasts.
‘Ange said well, you know, there’s always one manager that the media want to put under pressure and it’s me this week. To a certain extent, he’s right. But honestly, as much of that comes from the fans themselves of that club – so therefore in the case of Nottingham Forest, that concentrates this angst, this fraughtness, this ‘oh my goodness, why can’t we get any better?’
Forest face Chelsea, Porto and Bournemouth following the international break. Results, already, will be at a premium.