When we signed Ange Postecoglou, we were promised a winner – an experienced manager who has won trophies repeatedly, ended Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought by earning their first European title in 41 years.
Given Forest’s sudden re-entrance into European football, on paper Ange sounds like a perfect fit. But to quote Brian Clough: “Unfortunately, the game [is] played on grass.”
Postecoglou remains winless after five games and has only managed one point in the Premier League and one in the Europa League. To make matters worse, Forest were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Championship side Swansea City and most recently lost at home to newly promoted side Sunderland. Many of us are beginning to ask how can this be?
There are three potential factors at play: Injuries, contrasting play style, and individual error.
Last season, Forest were lucky and faced little to no injuries. However, since the new manager was appointed three weeks ago, two of our back four, Ola Aina and Murillo, are both out injured. While we can see the significant impact this has had to our defensive stability, this alone cannot justify the results.
Secondly, key players such as Chris Wood are facing an individual slump in performance. After Brentford, Wood had a 100% conversion rate, but in the past three games, he did not convert any of his chances.
Finally, a new playing style is being implemented without any pre-season for players to adapt. Ange plays an attractive style of possession-based football, deploying a high line and inverted full-backs to overwhelm the opposition’s midfield.
This is a stark contrast to Nuno’s strong defensive approach, which prioritised efficiency over possession by using quick counter-attacks to score.
Will time be enough for players to adapt? Or does he need to move away from his signature style?
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