Nottingham Forest players are “going to be exposed” under new head coach Ange Postecoglou, according to former Liverpool full-back Steve Nicol.
The Premier League club relieved Nuno Espirito Santo of his duties on Monday and swiftly confirmed the appointment of former Tottenham Hotspur boss Postecoglou.
The Australian was sacked by the north Londoners at the end of last season despite leading them to Europa League success, the club’s first major trophy since 2008.
He lost his job after an abysmal domestic campaign, which saw Spurs finish 17th in the Premier League with 22 defeats from 38 matches.
Postecoglou was able to fully prioritise the Europa League as Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton were so bad that relegation was never a realistic concern.
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Spurs beat Manchester United in the final to qualify for the Champions League but Postecoglou was dismissed and replaced by Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
The former Celtic boss replaces an extremely popular figure after Nuno took Forest from relegation-threatened to Champions League contenders in the space of 18 months.
Nottingham Forest qualified for the Europa Conference League through their seventh-place finish in the league last term but are competing in the Europa League after FA Cup winners Crystal Palace were demoted due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
Postecoglou winning the competition last season might’ve played a part in Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ thinking, but supporters are very unhappy at what’s transpired with Nuno.
Ultimately, it was his strained relationship with Marinakis and new director of football Edu Gaspar that resulted in Nuno losing his job, but he leaves with his reputation intact.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, has a big point to prove and lots of Forest fans to win over, and a trip to Arsenal on Saturday is far from an ideal first match in charge.
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Forest’s style of play will change dramatically under the 60-year-old, who is known for his intense, attacking approach.
Under Nuno, the Tricky Trees built success on being compact and organised at the back and lethal on the counter. Postecoglou’s style is almost completely different as he likes his defenders to play high, with players pressing all over the pitch.
Forest could get torn apart at Arsenal as they try to adapt to Postecoglou’s style, unless he completely changes his approach and works to the strengths of his playing squad.
Nuno’s rigid system certainly played to his players’ strengths, and former Scotland and Liverpool player Nicol thinks Marinakis hasn’t thought the managerial appointment through and can see “every single” player getting “exposed” under their new head coach.
“This is how Ange does it and he is not going to change that,” Nicol said on ESPN.
“I mean, Marinakis has just been waiting to find somebody and he clearly has not thought about this because everything we talked about – having a good shape and being tight – is because nobody on that Forest side ever got exposed because they were always a unit.
“Now under Ange, every single one of them is going to be exposed.
“Now it is okay; let us see what he can do, and they do not have a [Micky] van de Ven at the back who can do 100 metres in nine seconds to clear up all the holes and all the gaps.”
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