‘Don’t feel sorry for him’ – Matt Le Tissier reacts to Nottingham Forest sacking Ange Postecoglou
Matt Le Tissier thinks that Ange Postecoglou deserved more time to implement his ideas at Nottingham Forest after he was sacked as their manager following just over a month in charge.
Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier has exclusively told Football Insider that Ange Postecoglou shouldn’t have been let go so soon into his Nottingham Forest tenure despite a poor start.
Postecoglou was appointed as Nottingham Forest‘s new manager last month following Nuno Espirito Santo’s controversial sacking, but things did not go to plan for him in the East Midlands.
The Reds did not win a game under his guidance, with six losses and two draws in his opening seven games in charge before things came to a head after their 3-0 loss to Chelsea on Saturday (18 October).
Club owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just minutes after the final whistle at the City Ground, and so his 39-day tenure came to a swift end, with the search now underway for his successor.
Le Tissier blasts Nottingham Forest for lack of time given to Postecoglou
Le Tissier previously insisted to Football Insider that Forest fans needed to get behind Postecoglou after a chorus of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ rang out during their 3-2 loss to Midtjylland in the Europa League on 2 October.
The 60-year-old managed to cling on for another 16 days before the call was made over the weekend, and Le Tissier has now exclusively told Football Insider that he believes Postecoglou should have kept his job for longer after having to change things drastically from Nuno’s more defensively-minded tactics.
He said: “I think you’ve got to go back a little bit really and ask yourself why Nuno got sacked in the first place. Obviously, there was a breakdown there, but when you look to replace somebody it’s very strange to replace them with somebody who is so completely opposite of the last manager given the squad of players that they’ve got.
“So, that was the first problem in my opinion. Now, secondly, is 39 days long enough for a manager to try to implement a completely different system on a new set of players? It’s not. He’s probably a little bit unfortunate, Ange, in that they were in European football as well because there just wasn’t any real breaks for him to work on his team.
“It was just game after game after game every three or four days. So, I think it’s a little harsh to, or really harsh actually, to sack a manager after that short a period in time, especially given that, I appreciate that Spurs were rubbish in the league last season and he didn’t really focus on that and he just wanted to win the Europa League, but fair play to him, he did go and do it.
“This is a manager who has won a significant trophy, and yet 39 days in, it’s just like, see you later, mate, you’re off. But, from Ange’s point of view, he’s going to get very well rewarded for that, so I don’t think we should be feeling sorry for him from that perspective.”
Forest woes caused by Nuno fall-out and sacking
Many Forest fans were left devastated when Nuno was relieved of his duties last month after a fall-out with Marinakis and amid ongoing disagreements around transfers with Edu Gaspar.
They had made some brilliant strides forward last term as he guided them to a seventh-placed finish and qualification for the Europa League following Crystal Palace‘s expulsion, but things unravelled quickly over the summer and the writing was soon on the wall after a slow start on the pitch.
Nuno has been hired by West Ham since being sacked, and Forest are now left looking for their third boss of the campaign already with Sean Dyche believed to be closing in on the job.
For the Reds to now be close to appointing a manager who, despite his decent track record, has a worse top-flight points-per-game record than Nuno and less experience of managing in European football, seems to be a step-back on the whole.
The Forest chiefs, namely Marinakis and Edu, must have some regrets over how Nuno’s situation was handled, as a result, and Dyche may have a tough task to get fans behind him if he is appointed soon.