Ange Postecoglou: Nottingham Forest tensions rise as old Tottenham concerns emerge
Nottingham Forest have endured a difficult start to the Premier League season as they struggle to replicate last season’s success story.
The decision to sack Nuno Espirito Santo and replace him with Ange Postecoglou has had little impact, with the Australian now having gone five games without a win.
Defeats to Arsenal, Swansea and Sunderland came amongst draws with both Burnley and Real Betis in a difficult start to life for the new boss.
Postecoglou’s side lost 1-0 to Sunderland at the City Ground last time out despite what was a dominant performance with all stats pointing towards a Forest win.
While that will be seen as a positive to build on for Postecoglou, concerns are emerging that familiar patterns to his time at Tottenham are already on display.
Ange Postecoglou facing early questions at Nottingham Forest
Postecoglou was sacked by Tottenham despite leading them to Europa League success after finishing 17th in the Premier League due to their inconsistent displays.
However, may of the issues which were raised during his time at Spurs have already been cited as issues at Nottingham Forest, leading to increased tension.
That is according to former Man United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown, who remains very well-connected within the game, as he exclusively told Football Insider that Postecoglou could come under pressure if results do not improve.
“It might not be long until Postecoglou is under pressure,” he told Football Insider.
“I feel there’s a bit of tension there after what happened with Nuno, definitely amongst the fans but probably behind the scenes as well because it was a crazy decision.
“Now they haven’t won a game since they made that change, and that isn’t going to help things, and a lot of the problems he’s having now at Forest are replicas of the issues at Tottenham.
“That isn’t a coincidence, Forest are seeing the same problems Tottenham saw, and making the same excuses as Tottenham made.
“It’s like we see with Ruben Amorim at Man United, there are deficiencies in the way they play, but when they’re so set on that style they won’t change things.
“It all started at Tottenham, insisting he would stick to his way of playing even when they’re losing games, with that ‘I always win things in my second season’ line.
“Honestly, he might not even get a second season to do that at Forest.”
While any suggestions of his dismissal being imminent would be over the top, the manager is in need of a positive result to ease some early concerns.
Nottingham Forest injuries following a worrying trend
It is not only the performances on the pitch which have echoed Postecoglou’s time at Spurs, with the boss seemingly cursed in terms of injury issues.
Since his arrival at the City Ground, Ola Aina has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, while Douglas Luiz has suffered a similar blow and Murillo remains out of action.
During his time at Spurs, the likes of Micky van de Ven missed significant periods with hamstring injuries, leading to questions about the manager’s role.
Luiz is expected to miss the Midtjylland and Newcastle games after sitting out the defeat against Sunderland, with Forest’s injury concerns rising.
Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara felt that Postecoglou didn’t deserve the Nottingham Forest job and his view has been matched by their poor start.
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