Postecoglou indulged in a few of that darkness within the Europa League final season, partly out of injury-enforced necessity. It’s not his factor, but it surely served a function. Now he’s again the place he feels most snug: standing proudly within the crossfire.
As soccer strikes in a single route – the identical route Postecoglou’s beloved predecessor at Nottingham Forest, Nuno Espirito Santo, had taken them in, to nice success – he’s dragging them the opposite method.
The issue is, Forest are winless after his first seven video games, and their very own fan base can not stand the sight of him. You could possibly really see and listen to the plenty turning on him the moment they conceded the third purpose in their 3-2 defeat to FC Midtjylland within the Europa League final week.
Every day since, they’ve been praying for him to be gone, and the conversations they’re having about him – examine social media for your self – are more and more nasty and private.
The private assaults apart, you may type of perceive why. They by no means needed Nuno to depart, they usually by no means needed Ange to come back in. They noticed what occurred at Spurs from afar – defensive looseness, vulnerability at set items, lengthy stretches of domination with out reward – and feared it could occur to them. It has.
Postecoglou has made the worst begin by a brand new Forest coach in 100 years. He has suffered probably the most defeats by any coach in Europe’s high 5 leagues this calendar yr. The solidity they used to have on the again is gone, and after spending most of final season within the UEFA Champions League locations, they’re now bracing for a relegation battle.
The second Nottingham Forest followers turned on Ange Postecoglou.Credit score: Getty Photos
The first measure of a coach’s success is outcomes. And when the outcomes aren’t there, the coach has to supply up some type of clarification as to why they’re not profitable, and in the event that they’re not going to alter, why their concepts must be endured with.
Postecoglou can level to another numbers: Forest are No.1 within the Premier League for profitable passes within the opponent’s half, passes into the ultimate third, passes into the opponent’s field, and for sequences of 10-plus passes in open play. Plus they’re second for ahead passes, and fifth for total possession. Actually, they’re a bit unfortunate to not have received at the least a type of seven video games. So, when Postecoglou insists that the targets will quickly come, you may see the place he’s coming from, too.
And, you already know … it’s solely been seven video games. If he had been to be sacked right now, it’d be one of many shortest reigns in Premier League historical past.
Forest’s dramatic shift in id, from the consolation of Nunoball to the danger of Angeball, was by no means going to be clean, significantly with out a pre-season. Complicating issues additional is the burden of expectation: proprietor Evangelos Marinakis employed Postecoglou to win the Europa League. However Forest can not afford to break down domestically whereas chasing Europe, and he has but to show he can stability the 2.
Postecoglou’s historical past is one other factor that he can level to: his groups often undergo a tough patch when he takes over, and there’s all the time a trophy on the opposite aspect. It’s value grinding by way of. And actually, that’s his huge drawback, and it explains why he has change into such a polarising determine.
In Australia, he’s probably the best coach in our sporting historical past. His achievements converse for themselves. In England, nonetheless, his observe document is meaningless. To them, his achievements occurred in lesser nations, towards simpler opponents, and subsequently don’t apply. So it turns into a query of, ‘What have you ever finished for me these days?’ And within the Premier League, the truthful reply is: not a lot. His fifth-placed end with Tottenham in 2023-24 is principally historical historical past. Since then, his groups have misplaced many video games. The dialog ends there.
The believers imagine exactly due to what he has achieved prior to now, which says to them he can do it once more. They see mitigating circumstances at Spurs final season, a catastrophe that nonetheless ended with their first trophy in 17 years. They love the best way he stands up for himself and his convictions.
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In distinction, the doubters usually are not ready to present him any grace as a result of they see no motive to. They’re extra inclined to view him as somebody who has been ‘discovered’ on the highest stage. They solely see the identical issues that Spurs had being repeated at Forest.
That makes him extra of a goal of derision than ever. His bullish press conferences, as soon as refreshing, now strike as hole; with out outcomes, with out motive to imagine they’ll come, his sermons sound self-indulgent.
There’s one certainty in all of this: Postecoglou received’t change. He’ll dwell and die by the identical concepts that carried him into the Premier League as a result of they’re a part of him, for higher or worse. Whether or not they nonetheless work, in an period that has moved on from huge concepts, is the query that can determine his destiny, and maybe say one thing about soccer itself.
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