Ange Postecoglou is on the brink of a second sacking in the space of five months and there was undoubtedly a damned if you do and damned if you don’t feeling to his system and team selection ahead of a Newcastle clash which may well be his seventh and last as Nottingham Forest boss.
Owner Evangelos Marinakis is currently scouring the market for a new manager having appointed Ange less than a month ago to replace Nuno Espírito Santo. Oliver Glasner is thought to be his ‘prime candidate’ as the Austrian continues to impress at Crystal Palace having led them to their first ever major trophy with victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season.
Postecoglou was jeered from the pitch after the 3-2 defeat to FC Midtjylland at the City Ground on Thursday having been told he would be “sacked in the morning” by the Nottingham Forest fans, who, having briefly had their concerns over his appointment assuaged by the excitement Angeball can provide, now want him out of the club.
And there was a scattergun sense to his team selection for Newcastle, with captain Ryan Yates, Nicolo Savona and Jair Cunha all handed their first top-flight starts of the campaign, while Morgan Gibbs-White was also reinstated to the starting lineup after he was dropped against Sunderland.
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But, if you’ll excuse the pun, Chris Wood is the stick to beat him with. After his extraordinary return of 20 Premier League goals last season, the New Zealand international’s brace in the opening-day victory over Brentford are his only league goals so far this season.
Wood starts ahead of Jesus again against Newcastle, as has been the case in all seven Premier League game this season, despite Igor Jesus scoring four as Forest’s Europa League and League Cup striker.
It’s odd given the changes Postecoglou has made in every game, including the switch to three at the back he made for Midtjylland and sticks with here, that he’s persisting with Wood over one of the only players in his squad performing at the required level.
Ahead of the game at St James’ Park, Jamie Carragher insisted it’s too early for Postecoglou to be under pressure at Forest.
He said on Sky Sports: “To be fair to ourselves – the pundits – people talk about us putting pressure on and saying certain things different times, this [the sack talk] is coming from the Nottingham Forest supporters. We’re only sort of reflecting that.
“I think we’re all a little bit surprised down thinking ‘wow, six games, is this where the games got to?’
“The situation that they find themselves in at the minute, Nottingham Forest, the standard is pretty high on the back of what Nuno did, and it’s a complete contrast in terms of the manager coming in, and it just hasn’t gone well at all at the start.
“No manager should be judged after six games. But unfortunately, this is coming from his own supporters.”
But that pressure hasn’t arrived on the basis of this brief Forest period alone. The fans calling for his head also saw him lead Tottenham to 17th last season. A new manager without that blot on his copybook would not be under such strain.
And as worrying as things going wrong at Tottenham for Ange, as is already the case at Forest, was his apparent inability to turn things around.
