Club legend ‘only’ has one ‘worry’ after Forest sack Nuno for manager with 35% win-rate since Nov 2022
Stuart Pearce has one “worry” after Nottingham Forest sacked Nuno Espirito Santo and replaced him with ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou.
Forest made the shock decision to sack Nuno this week despite the Portuguese taking them from relegation candidates to the Europa League in the space of 18 months.
He kept the club afloat in 2023/24 and almost secured Champions League qualification, only for their late-season form to let them down.
Nuno recently said his relationship with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was “different” than last season and, in the weeks leading up to his dismissal, would often – with little prompting – hint that he’d be leaving the club.
While it felt inevitable, it’s still a ridiculous decision and one that the City Ground faithful are very upset about.
Nuno’s replacement, Postecoglou, hasn’t filled the supporters with much optimism after an abysmal 2024/25 Premier League campaign as Spurs head coach.
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Known for his intense, attacking tactics centred around playing a high line and pressing all over the pitch, his methods will be a huge change from Nuno’s more defensive, counter-attacking approach.
His style of play is a concern for club legend Pearce – but remarkably, his “only” concern.
“The only thing that worries me, Simon, is the style of play,” Pearce said to Simon Jordan on talkSPORT.
“I think there’s a group of players here that have got into a groove and the style of play has brought them success that counterattack.
“I think certainly the two centre-halves enjoy having people around them to cover them up a little bit and gets the best out of them.
“If you’re going to play expansive and open, does that suit Forest with their counter-attack method of play? That’s my question mark with Ange.”
It’s a remarkable change of pace for the Forest squad, who will need to quickly adapt to Angeball ahead of Saturday’s trip to Arsenal.
Everything comes under the style of play umbrella, so it’s quite broad to say that is your ‘only worry’.
You could also worry about Spurs’ domestic results last season – but you’ll always come back to the style of play Big Ange adopted.
That style of play resulted in a horrendous sequence of results once it was found out by other Premier League managers.
His first 10 games brought eight wins and two draws as Spurs looked like genuine title contenders. But from November 2023 to the end of 2024/25, Spurs were one of the worst teams in the league.
Between those dates, Spurs played 66 Premier League matches, winning 23, drawing nine and losing 34, while conceding 117 goals and scoring 116.
They were entertaining, for sure, but only for neutrals and rivals. Spurs fans were just baffled at the lack of adaptability and the sheer instability of their performances.
That’s a win rate of 34.85%, while Spurs lost 51.52% of their league matches in that time.
Out of the 17 clubs to have played in the Premier League throughout that entire period, only Wolves had fewer points (78-76) and wins (23-22), but nobody had more defeats. And only West Ham conceded more goals (117-119).
So yes, worrying about Postecoglou’s “style of play” is the tip of the iceberg. “The only thing that worries me,” doesn’t even begin to cover it…mate.
