39 Days: Inside Ange Postecoglou’s Turgid Time at Nottingham Forest

As the curtain drew on Nottingham Forest’ season on May 25, 2025, there was a sense of optimism. Nuno Espírito Santo had led the side to European qualification for the first time in 30 years. A summer break can be a long time in football; however, as the days grow shorter, the sun has begun to set on what was a promising Forest project.

There had been hints at the end of last season about the growing rift between Nuno and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis. By the start of the 2025/26 campaign, that tension had reached explosive heights. A 3-0 loss to West Ham proved to be the breaking point, and saw Nuno sacked.

Postecoglou failed to win a single game, losing six and drawing two

In came Ange Postecoglou, fresh off the back of a European trophy with Tottenham, but also critically a dire Premier League campaign that saw Spurs finish 17^th. He began his tenure reiterating the same mantra that we had heard so often at the Lilywhites: he is a “winner.” However, it is a word that will indeed not be associated with his time at Nottingham Forest. Postecoglou failed to win a single game, losing six and drawing two.

His final game, a 3-0 loss to Chelsea, will forever be remembered for a disgruntled Marinakis leaving his seat at 2-0, not even seeing Reece James strike the final nail in Postecoglou’s coffin. As the dust settles on his time at Nottingham Forest, questions will arise over whether a change in manager will solve the club’s dramatic drop-off in form or whether the owner’s bullish attitude is indicative of a toxic culture. Postecoglou shifted systems from Nuno’s typical 4-2-3-1 to a back five. While the team occasionally used a back five under Nuno, it was typically to see games out. Starting matches in that shape required a different level of tactical adaptation, and time to adjust was essential.

However, waiting for players to adapt is a dangerous game. With Nottingham Forest languishing in 17^th and Postecoglou’s track record in the Premier League not being kind to him, swift action had to be taken – and it was.

Perhaps a more crucial issue than the tactical shift was the number of changes that Postecoglou made from game to game. Under Nuno, Nottingham Forest were one of the sides with the fewest changes, and that reflected in a startling degree of consistency. Wood broke the 20-goal barrier for the first time, while the centre back pairing of Murillo and Milenkovic played a central part in them keeping 13 clean sheets, on a par with Arsenal.

Between the Newcastle and Chelsea game alone, Postecoglou made five changes, including switching wingback Williams to the opposite flank to accommodate the introduction of Zinchenko. The substantial number of changes between games made it more challenging to find the consistency that had led Nottingham Forest to over-perform to the extent that they did last campaign.

Arguably, Postecoglou was thrown into the melting pot at Forest

There is no denying that Postecoglou’s record now reveals that he is tactically out of his depth in the Premier League. His successes at Celtic and in the A-League do not hide the fact that his system is simply not tactically adaptable enough to meet the defensive demands of the Premier League.

Yet it is hard not to feel sympathy for a man who seems to have had his last hurrah in the Premier League. Arguably, Postecoglou was thrown into the melting pot at Forest – with the owner prone to outbursts as visceral as they were absurd, players who had massively over-performed last season, and a squad that was already starting to show cracks before Nuno’s sacking. Ultimately, these circumstances resulted in the simple fact that it was almost impossible for Ange Postecoglou to succeed.