Six games. Zero wins. Ange Postecoglou’s start to life at Nottingham Forest is yet to reap the rewards of ‘Angeball’ or the ‘new manager bounce’ – not in terms of results anyway.

It was supposed to be the glorious return of European football to the City Ground for the first time in 29 years on Thursday evening.

Instead, Forest were beaten 3-2 by Midtjylland, and with it, Postecoglou became the first permanent Forest boss to be winless in his first six games in 100 years – a damning indictment to a start that has been difficult to watch.

And since the start of last season, at both Tottenham and Nottingham Forest in all competitions, Postecoglou has a win rate of 37.9 per cent.

He has won just 25 of his 66 games, losing 30 and drawing 11. The last time he won a game was with Spurs in May – the Europa League final against Man Utd in Bilbao.

Forest co-owner Evangelos Marinakis is keen to go far in this season’s Europa League but with one point from two European matches so far and six more difficult fixtures to come – they welcome Portuguese giants Porto to the City Ground in just under three weeks time – they will need to improve on results fast if Postecoglou can win back-to-back titles.

Then, there’s the Premier League. Last season, Nottingham Forest narrowly missed out on a Champions League finish, having survived relegation by six points the year before, all under the tutelage of Nuno Espirito Santo.

Undoubtedly a huge improvement – but signs of discomfort at the club were there even before the 2024/25 season had finished.

Forest went from looking comfortable in the Champions League positions to finishing seventh after picking up just eight points from their final eight Premier League games.

Nuno’s team may have convincingly beaten Brentford on the opening day of the season, but drew at Palace before a late humbling by West Ham at home in his last game in charge. In a strange twist of fate, the Portuguese now manages the Hammers.

Since arriving at the club, Postecoglou has claimed Forest is not a ‘project’ and his high-intensity, often highly-scrutinised style of play – dubbed ‘Angeball’ – has to be implemented quickly.

And in his first Forest press conference, Postecoglou added: “The fans are not going to love me from the first day, I’ve got to earn their respect. It’s a unique club where if you get that momentum, great things can happen.”

After being booed off following defeat to Sunderland on Saturday, followed by a chorus of ‘sacked in the morning’ chats from Forest fans on Thursday evening, Postecoglou is yet to gain respect or momentum.

Putting it simply, Forest haven’t been good enough for a full 90 minutes in a Postecoglou game yet.

Against Swansea they capitulated late on. At Burnley, they couldn’t find a winner. They allowed Real Betis back into the game after dominating the first half in Seville and allowed a single set-piece to be their undoing at home to Sunderland.

They have thrown away leads, missed chances and been vulnerable at key moments.

It is something Postecoglou admitted himself too. After defeat on Saturday, he told Sky Sports: “It’s another game that got away from us. It has been the story of the five games. We control games really well and don’t take our chances.

“That means we don’t get the result we wanted. We had enough chances to win it. We have been wasteful in front of goal.”

Having acknowledged after the last two games that the fans were entitled to express their disappointment, Postecoglou remains adamant that Nottingham Forest are on the ‘right track’. He and his team will need to start proving that when they travel to Newcastle in the Premier League on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

Sunday 5th October 1:00pm


Kick off 2:00pm

What do the stats show on Nuno and Postecoglou’s approaches?

The key thing is possession and knowing what to do with the ball. Under Postecoglou, Forest are looking to dominate games, create chances and score goals.

In the first three Premier League games this season, they averaged 56.9 per cent possession under Nuno. This has increased to an average of 58 per cent under Postecoglou.

In the 1-1 draw against Burnley, Forest had 63.3 per cent possession – the most they have had in any Premier League game since their return to the competition in 2022. This increased further against Sunderland, edging up to 64.9 per cent.

The number of shots too in Premier League games have also jumped hugely under Postecoglou. In the first three games this season, Forest had an average of 10.3 shots per game, now 14.7.

Against Sunderland, they had 22 shots, but none materialised into a goal. Against Midtjylland too, they racked up another 22 shots, this time scoring twice – although one did come from the penalty spot.

In fact, Forest have scored just one Premier League goal under Postecoglou, compared to four in the opening three games under Nuno.

But in terms of attacking play overall, there is little difference between the two coaches. The left-hand side is favoured for attacking play where the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Neco Williams and Oleksander Zinchenko are often playing.

While the number of goals conceded in the league is the same for both managers (5), set-pieces continue to be Postecoglou’s Achilles heel.

Since the start of the 2023/24 season, sides managed by the Australian head coach have conceded more Premier League goals from them than any other manager.

Sunderland took advantage of this at the weekend and Arsenal scored twice indirectly from set-pieces in Postecoglou’s first game in charge. Two crosses from Midtjylland set-pieces cut through Forest in the first half of their match too.

While the Danish side and Arsenal are well-known for their set-piece prowess, the lack of preparation for the threat was laid bare once again.

A lot of this is indicative of Postecoglou’s ‘Angeball’ approach too – high-intensity, high line and a big focus on attacking play. However, it is yet to to produce the results that the club desperately need and despite a clear shift in playing style, Forest are a shadow of their former selves.

But there are also signs this will click for Postecoglou. Poor finishing cost them dearly against Sunderland, while Europa League naivety has also played a part. You would like to think after a few more weeks under the new coach, they are games they would not throw away.

Postecoglou’s best XI conundrums to solve

Postecoglou has not named the same XI in any of his games so far, leading to questions over whether he yet knows his best starting side.

Compared to previous seasons, Forest will play an extra eight games before the end of January in the Europa League. This means rotation is needed to cope with the demands of a busy calendar.

The good news on that front is Forest’s signings went into double figures this summer – but they did not come to sit on the bench. Most are in their early to mid-20s, a time where playing games is key to their development, adding to the competition for places.

Then, there are key injuries to Ola Aina – out for the remainder of the year – and Murillo. The Brazilian’s return to the XI against Midtjylland lasted just 37 minutes as he once again went off injured. They duo are crucial to everything Forest do and both are heavily missed when absent.

There are questions too over three key players from Forest’s successful 2024/25 campaign – Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi.

Even Postecoglou admits it is tough picking who should be his starting striker. Summer signing Igor Jesus’ impact has been huge, scoring four goals in his first three starts for the club.

But playing the Brazilian more often means dropping Wood, who scored 20 goals in the Premier League last season and has one of the best chance conversion rates in the Premier League.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Wood said he welcomes the competition and acknowledges with European football, he can’t start every game. It’s up to the new head coach to see if he should chop Wood and turn to Jesus more often than not.

There will be lots of stats too about Gibbs-White’s influence on games diminishing this term, but his performances also do not pass the eye test when compared with last season.

Forest’s No 10 isn’t playing badly, he just isn’t having the impact he did previously and was dropped for the Sunderland game in place of James McAtee. He did return with an assist against Midtjylland, but there remains work to do.

Hudson-Odoi is also a player who has been rotated under Postecoglou. Despite the arrivals, are any of the new players as good as Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi in their prime? It is up to the two incumbent players to show they’re still top dogs.

Postecoglou will need that to happen sooner rather than later across his entire squad. While the start may have been poor, the sprouts of change are there, but they need to become fully grown before Marinakis tends to his forest once again.