Nottm Forest stars ‘disillusioned’ as Postecoglou ‘sack’ claim is made; Shearer, Lineker give verdict
Gary Lineker is worried for Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou with some more “toughish looking fixtures” coming up after the international break.
The Reds sacked Nuno Espirito Santo over the September international break after getting four points from their opening three Premier League matches of the season.
Postecoglou was appointed by owner Evangelos Marinakis to replace the Portuguese boss, who is now head coach of West Ham, but things have not gone to plan since.
Nottingham Forest are looking to implement a new style of play under Postecoglou but results have been hard to come by with the Australian yet to win his first match.
They have added just one point to their Premier League tally since Postecoglou took charge, while Forest have been knocked out the League Cup to Championship side Swansea and picked up one point from two Europa League fixtures.
A report earlier this week insisted that Postecoglou is being given a stay of execution at the City Ground with Marinakis willing to give him some more time to sort out results.
READ: Who will be next Nottingham Forest manager after Ange Postecoglou sack?
Reflecting on the former Tottenham boss’ start at Nottingham Forest, Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast: “Not the greatest start for Ange Postecoglou. Apparently, if you listen to rumours, but rumours are everywhere, he’s under the cosh already.”
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer added: “They didn’t offer a lot (against Newcastle), I have to say. You know sometimes as a manager you go into a football club or you get a job because it’s a mess whereas it’s quite different with Ange going in.
“They had a really successful season for Forest last season and they’ve got some really talented players.
“Not won a game yet and they were pretty poor. Everything’s so built around Chris Wood. It goes up to him quickly and they break quickly and they sit and be compact and then all of a sudden you get four or five hitting teams on the break.
“I haven’t seen that with Forest under Ange as yet.”
Lineker concluded: “They’ve got some toughish looking fixtures to come. They’ve got Chelsea, then Porto, Bournemouth and Manchester United.”
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Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown – who is still well-connected within the Premier League – has heard that the Nottingham Forest players are “a bit disillusioned” by what is going on at the club.
Brown told Football Insider: “I’m not sure getting rid of Postecoglou would make a difference,
“I hear a few players there are a bit disillusioned with the constant changes that seem to be happening at the moment, and now there’s talk about sacking him.
“That might be part of the problem for Postecoglou, for all his faults, he’s gone in to the job where the players are already not happy with the way things have happened.
“Sacking Nuno out of the blue, after the season they had and the performances he was getting out of the players, it was always bound to cause unrest.
“So that has unsettled them immediately, and then trying to adapt to a new style of play and a new manager, you start losing games and it’s difficult to get that control back.
“If you then get rid of another manager after one month in the job, the players are going to be asking questions about their places, and then they have to adapt to another way of playing and another manager’s methods.
“It’s a very precarious situation for them to be in, they have to find a way to turn it around and I’m not sure that sacking another manager is the best solution.”
