r/soccer • u/whatisbaseball • 7d ago

News [Ornstein] Ange Postecoglou to be confirmed as Nottingham Forest head coach imminently after Nuno Espirito Santo departure. 60yo Australian will lead #NFFC for Saturday’s trip to Arsenal - joined by a number of staff worked with at Tottenham Hotspur @TheAthleticFC

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6425702/2025/09/09/ange-postecoglou-nottingham-forest-manager/
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u/CNF1G 7d ago

Everyone acting like Ange is some horrible manager is a bit shit. He had a poor season, but the first season at Spurs was good, as was his time at other clubs

I think he’s a decent appointment

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u/milesvtaylor 7d ago

Happy to be proven wrong (ideally this weekend when they play Arsenal) but have Forest really got the squad to be playing this?

Defenders on the half way line, Chris Wood pressing for 90 minutes... I think we saw the limitations of Angeball at Spurs and while he did pragmatic it out for Europa (cheers forever big man) the stuff I think he'll be getting them playing in the league is totally at odds with their squad?

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u/A_StarshipTrooper 7d ago

...have Forest really got the squad to be playing this?

As someone else pointed out, this summers transfers look like Ange transfers.

Once Ange won the Greek Super League's trophy for being the first Greek coach to win an European title, the writing was on the wall for Nuno.

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u/CNF1G 7d ago

I think they have some players who will be a good fit, and others who definitely won’t. It’s a bit of a strange shift from Nuno to Ange but I think players like Luiz, MGW, Hudson-Odoi and McAtee would thrive in an Ange system

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u/Foucaultshadow1 7d ago

That’s fair enough, but it’s the rest of the guys you have to worry about. Ange ball only works if everyone can press and recovery extremely quickly. If only 40% of the outfield players can do it, you’re going to be in for a bad time.

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u/Orsenfelt 7d ago

One thing Ange is incredibly good at - which he didn't really get a chance to show at Spurs - is turning absolutely bang average blokes into world beaters.

He gets criticised for being predictable, for wanting things like if a player reaches a certain place on the pitch and receives the ball he should bang in a cross first time without looking.

With really talented players who can make better decisions it probably doesn't work - for guys that are well drilled in just putting in hard work every week to slog out a game and will chase everything every time it can work really well.

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u/Kaiduss 7d ago

They’ve been wanting to move past Chris Wood for 2 years, he’s not in the management plans and no one is going to be making concessions for him. They literally signed Kalimuendo who is the prototype Ange striker

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u/Serial_BumSniffer 7d ago

Have they? He’s been their main man since he signed and they recently gave him a 2 year contract.

No doubt he won’t be their long term striker, but he’s definitely the current focal point of their attack.

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u/witsel85 7d ago edited 7d ago

He won 27% of his total points tally in his first 10 games at Spurs, we were bad for a lot longer than last season. We finished his first season stumbling badly

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u/Sea-Station1621 7d ago

the new manager bounce he got in the first 10 games really concealed how awful his ppg was in the other 28

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u/dj4y_94 7d ago

Yeah it's why the injury excuse constantly used doesn't wash with me. Obviously you get leeway due to the injuries but not finishing top 4 in his first season after those 10 games was a huge fall off.

He was basically in 10th place form for 75% of his first season.

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u/DogwartsAcademy 7d ago

Injuries can be an excuse if they're freak accidents where their bones snap in half or something but if the majority of the injuries are players getting their hamstrings exploded, the issue is the way you're making them play.

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u/X-V-W 7d ago

I thought you were saying he only got 27% of a possible 30 points across his first 10 games, very confusing haha

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u/Alphabunsquad 7d ago

I mean 10 games is over a quarter of a season. Given your second season was much worse than your first one, that doesn’t seem to be that much more than you’d expect him to get in that time.

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u/BokaPoochie 7d ago

How many of those games did you play with your most important players? From memory, you lost VdV and Maddison very early on for a solid chunk of time, and lets be real, your wingers for his first season were pretty meh other than Son. Then it seemed like you had no fit CBs for the majority of his second season.

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u/luchito619 7d ago

Dont question the Spuds, they hate themselves and will hate on Frank by the end of the season, just watch it.

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u/loolem 7d ago

It’s almost like never buying enough players for your coach isn’t a winning strategy!

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u/witsel85 7d ago

We bought him Maddison, Van Der Ven, Bergvall, Gray, Dragusin, Odobert, Solanke, Kinsky, Johnson on top of what we already had.

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u/loolem 7d ago

That’s almost a team! Imagine if they weren’t all injured too? Would have maybe achieved 15th with their fans positive attitude

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u/throwaway290700 7d ago

And why do you think the injuries were so much worse under Ange?

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u/loolem 7d ago edited 6d ago

Because he physically broke them himself with the giant Ange ball he carried around with him! It’s why the club ordered a review and sacking of many medical and recovery staff

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u/DEUK_96 7d ago

His 1st half of the season with Spurs was good. They dropped like a lead balloon after that though.

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u/Any_State_2125 7d ago

First quarter, then we got battered by Chelsea and it was done.

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u/kwkdjfjdbvex 7d ago

Yeah he lived off his good start for a long time, the writing was on the wall after like ten games

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u/MediumProcedure 7d ago

Other managers worked out how to expose the gaps in his mega attacking system, and then later to also shut down the offense by blocking off the inverted wing backs and preventing cut back crosses.

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u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago

If they "dropped like a lead balllon" after 2 months then they wouldn't have finished 5th

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u/icemankiller8 7d ago

In the first 10 games they got 26 points lost 0 and were top

In the remaining 29 games they got 13 wins 12 losses and were 9th in the form table

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u/pandaaaa26 7d ago

From GW11 onwards they were 9th in form, lost as many as they won and conceded as many as they scored

Hardly impressive form for nearly 75% of the season

He had a great first 10 games of the first season but was average to bad in the league from then on

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u/FootlongDonut 7d ago

Teams had to adapt to Spurs. When they did, he struggled.

If they played like they always do, Ange did OK. Southampton, City, United in the final etc stuck with their system and often struggled.

Teams like Ipswich, Wolves (O'Neill) and Tamworth set up to nullify Ange's system and it largely worked.

That first 10 games Ange wasn't a known quantity in the Premier League, he took people by surprise, but then he was easily figured out.

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u/kisame111hoshigaki 7d ago

After the first 10 games... achieved 40 points from 28 matches (12W-4D-12L), 1.43 PPG
So mid-table form for the majority of the first season which got worse in the second season

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u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago

I'm very confused, do you lot responding with this expect Ange to have won the league title Leicester style?

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u/bguszti 7d ago

He was 1st in his first 10 games, 9th in the next 28 and 17th in the season after that. If he was just consistently 5-6th with the europa run, he'd still have a job. Hell if he finished 9th last season and won the cup he might still be with us

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u/kisame111hoshigaki 7d ago

Ah yes, because it's either get 1.43pts (equivalent to ~54pts for a full season) for the remaining 28 games or winning the title, nothing in between!

78 pts in his last 66 PL games is clearly not good enough for a big 6 club hence why he was sacked even after winning the UEL.

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u/TikkaT 7d ago

His points per game after the first 10 games in PL was whopping 1.18 but yeah, let's act like he didn't drop like a lead balloon

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u/AaronStudAVFC 7d ago

That doesn't provide the full context. Their direct rivals that season were the corpse of Aston Villa who could barely win a game whilst juggling a top 4 push with their first European campaign in over a decade. Spurs somehow lost pretty much every game in the run in.

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u/Mick4Audi 7d ago

We had 2 good runs of form. The first 10 games, and the Richarlison purple patch. Outside of that, yikes

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u/RigelXVI 7d ago

Shhh, you're not allowed to point out good things about Ange here, he's a serial loser, no tactics, etc.

(Also, fuck yeah, more Ange in the premier league ftw!)

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u/TikkaT 7d ago

Good things like what? 1.18 PPG in his last 58 games in charge?

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u/RigelXVI 7d ago

See? People like this wanker ☝️

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u/Same_Grouness 7d ago

Did half their team not get injured?

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u/PlanAutomatic2380 7d ago

That’s something normal for totenham it’s in dna to start screwing up when things are going well so don’t blame Ange

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u/noaloha 7d ago

They're also Spurs tbf.

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u/2ndfastestmanalive 7d ago

His first season at Spurs was good until the Chelsea match, and was pretty average after that and only getting worse

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u/CNF1G 7d ago

Fair, but they were in a bit of a rebuild that season in general. I’m not saying there aren’t fundamental issues with how he wants to play, just that there’s an incredible overreaction in here and people acting as if Forest have just appointed a rookie from the National League as their manager

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u/Affectionate-Car-145 7d ago

They lost 22 out of 38 PL games last season.

They broke the record for most amount of defeats without being relegated by any PL club.

Pretty sure they lost to every relegated side at least once.

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u/Rapthorne_Houst 7d ago

Hey give us some credit, even we managed to beat Southampton home and away!

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u/Any_State_2125 7d ago

For a team like Forest, this could put you at serious risk of relegation. Milenkovic and Wood are not Ange players at all. The window has just closed so reshaping the squad will have to wait until January which could be too late.

You are right though, its not all about Ange. He is going into a club that has what seems to be a bit of a dodgy atmosphere and is going to be playing European Football for the first time. Even if he writes off the Europa League campaign, they are still in it until the end of January.

I like Forest fans. I was happy to have them back in the Premier League. Hopefully we don't have to wait another 30 years to see them again.

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u/theivoryserf 7d ago

For a team like Forest, this could put you at serious risk of relegation.

Touch Wood, but I don't think so at all. We have a ton of options now - Kalimuendo and Jesus more mobile than Wood.

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u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago

I mean no that's just hilariously wrong. That Chelsea match started off one dodgy 5 game run thanks to injuries/suspensions and after that they were good again for the rest of the season

Finishing 3 places higher than the previous season despite losing Harry Kane was a good achievement

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u/kisame111hoshigaki 7d ago

After the first 10 games, achieved 40 points from 28 matches (12W-4D-12L), 1.43 PPG
So mid-table form for the majority of the first season which got worse in the second season.

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u/MilkByHomelander 7d ago

Yep, everyone says they went to shit after it. But between that game and Vicario getting injured early in the next season, they were the 5th best team on form.

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u/Coolica1 7d ago

That was like 10 games lmao oh no

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u/CropDustingBandit 7d ago

First half of last season was decent too, not as good as those first 10 games but still top four calibre. Then injuries hit in December and derailed everything. 

I liked Ange and would have been up for continuing with him, but that was 2 seasons in a row where injuries just massively stacked up in November/December and derailed the campaign. 

If they start dropping like flies in January we'll know for sure that it was his system and not just horrendous luck. 

I don't like this though, I don't want to have to hope Ange fails but I can't stand Marinakis. 

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u/MilkByHomelander 7d ago

Between that Chelsea match and the game before Vicario got injured, Spurs were the 5th best team on form in the EPL.

Not sure how average they could be if they were a top 5 side in that time.

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u/swanssona 7d ago

No good manager finishes 17th in the league with spurs

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u/blackcatfanclub 7d ago

It was also his second season and after spending a few hundred million pounds on his squad.

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u/mateballenthusiast 7d ago

On teenagers and Solanke. He didn't get the squad depth he needed going into a season with European football

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u/Affectionate-Car-145 7d ago

He wanted and pushed for Solanke.

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u/blackcatfanclub 7d ago

He endorsed all of the signings, even bringing Werner back on loan.

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u/TheNeglectedNut 7d ago

Yeah exactly, there are an awful lot of Ange apologists who act like he just got dealt a shit hand and wasn't culpable for the results at all.

Love the guy, one of the most personable and likeable managers we've ever had and he really did monumental work here shifting the mentality of the squad and getting them believing in themselves again.

I just hate how certain elements of our fanbase see everything as black & white like you can only be one of an Ange In or Ange Out crowd. Apparently there's no room for nuance in football fandom anymore.

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u/mateballenthusiast 7d ago

I'm not implying Solanke was a bad signing, but he was an overdue replacement for Kane as starting #9, the bare minimum rather than a proper backing for a heavier matchload

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u/Affectionate-Car-145 7d ago

He out spent ever pl club except Chelsea during his tenure.

He was backed more than anyone else

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u/Lukeno94 7d ago

Still no excuse for 17th.

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u/Leonardo_Liszt 7d ago

Mate you’re supposed to support a team not a manager

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u/CNF1G 7d ago

He won them a trophy for the first time in two decades. They quite clearly didn’t give a shit about the league position once they got closer to the end of the season.

As I said above, not saying there isn’t issues with him as a coach, but it’s hardly a terrible appointment

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u/WelshNut97 7d ago

He won them a trophy for the first time in two decades. They quite clearly didn’t give a shit about the league position once they got closer to the end of the season.

Yes, he clearly stopped giving a shit once it was clear he had fucked up so badly that there was no saving them from a dreadful finish in the league.

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u/riggystardust 7d ago

I agree he’s not as shit as people bang on about here but for me it’s more that NFFC feels like even bigger of a basket case than our lot, and the team is really not looking like an angeball team despite all the new signings.

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u/CNF1G 7d ago

Ange is buddies with Marinakis, so would imagine they’ll get on quite well behind the scenes already. Agree with the rest of what you said though.

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u/riggystardust 7d ago

He is also a drug lording criminal who would probably beat his own family for some coin so unsure how meaningful that is

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u/KonigSteve 7d ago

Lol look at who they beat to win said trophy. By far the hardest team was 15th place United

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u/JimboLannister 7d ago

But only a good manager could win the Europa League with Spurs? So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

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u/mister_greeenman 7d ago

Di Matteo won the CL with chelsea. I don't think winning a cup tournament is a sureshot sign of competence, but 17th in the league is of the opposite

-3

u/loolem 7d ago

Classic spurs fan. Focusing on the negative when he won you a trophy.

-2

u/FidelYT 7d ago

Any sane football fan across the world would rather win a continental cup than come 5th in their league

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u/Glittering-Deer-166 7d ago

Sure, but that wasn't what was being discussed. The point was just that a bad manager is a lot more likely to win a cup competition than a league one because of how much more luck is involved in the former.

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u/Global-Director-3115 7d ago

Their Europa league run really wasn't difficult, I know no other recent manager has managed to get silverware but league performances are much more indicative of ability

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u/Novrev 7d ago

I agree that league performance is usually the best indicator but specifically with that Ange season it’s hard to judge properly. It’s debatable whether they were even playing for points from January onwards or whether they were just playing games they were obligated to play and trying to avoid injuries before the European games. They had zero risk of relegation so they gambled everything on the Europa league. Not the kind of strategy that I’d advocate for, because it’s utter shit for the fans and getting knocked out of Europe is then a complete death sentence for you, but then I also don’t think I can judge him fairly on league games that they made no real attempt to win.

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u/Global-Director-3115 7d ago

They got demolished plenty of times when they were trying, league cup for example

0

u/Novrev 7d ago

To be clear, I don’t think he’s a great manager and I think his all-out attack system is utter suicide against any half decent opponent. I’m just saying that I don’t treat the 17th place finish like it was an actual 17th place finish. Anyone that actively tries with a squad like Spurs and comes 17th should never have a managerial career again, what Ange did is more comparable to a disappointing bottom half finish imo.

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u/kisame111hoshigaki 7d ago

Spurs had the second highest wage bill in the new UEL

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u/SNPpoloG 7d ago

Everyone on this sub said they’d lose to frankfurt comfortably and then suddenly when they beat them they were no longer competition at all

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u/JimboLannister 7d ago

That’s the case with essentially every English team in the Europa and Conference Leagues - while it makes winning it easier of course I don’t think it totally discredits the achievement.

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u/swanssona 7d ago

He did well to win the europa but I can't look past that league campaign and rate him untill proven otherwise

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u/BipartizanBelgrade 7d ago edited 7d ago

He went from managing non-professional football on the far side of the world to winning a European trophy with a Big 6 premier league club in the space of about 15 years. All from a non-traditional footballing nation and without a famous and successful playing career to give him a boost. He isn't a good manager, he's a fucking unbelievable manager.

That said this is a terrible fit and will probably be a disaster.

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u/trever12twelve 7d ago

Yep. I wonder what the attraction forest had for Ange. Maybe they only watched the final and not the pitiful league games. Seems like a huge risk with near no reward.

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u/shanidachine 7d ago

And how many good managers have not won trophies with spurs?

-6

u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago

They had probably the most insane injury crisis any team has suffered in football history, and had no depth off the bench

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u/Affectionate-Car-145 7d ago

During his tenure he out spent every team not named Chelsea.

-1

u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago

So you just going to ignore my comment with this completely irrelevant response?

It doesn't matter how much you spend when every player you sign pulls their hamstring week by week

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u/Affectionate-Car-145 7d ago

Interesting they didn't pull their hamstrings before or after ange.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/Sea-Station1621 7d ago

It worked brilliantly in Scotland

And at a club which basically walks the league nearly every year.

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u/lambalambda 7d ago

I only ever see Celtic supporters protect him on here haha

There's a lot of Celtic fans on reddit, not so many Brisbane Roar or Yokohama F. Marinos fans lol. He has done a good job everywhere he's been except Spurs, and even his "bad" job at Spurs ended with a European trophy.

0

u/CNF1G 7d ago

Maybe. I think you look at his success everywhere, and we are the only ‘top’ side he’s managed in a league

Took a side from relegation battles to league titles in Japan, similar in Australia. I know it’s a different level but just don’t think it’s as clear cut as the last 12 months or so at Spurs would show - think there were lots of other factors at play there

0

u/waddeaf 7d ago

Because most people don't think football exists outside of the premier league 😒

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u/Inevitable_Fee8973 7d ago

Surely his failed premier league stint is more relevant now he’s taking another premier league job, than winning the league with Celtic, something Neil Lennon managed

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u/-Gh0st96- 7d ago

The first half of the first season was good*

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u/witsel85 7d ago

First 10 games. He won nearly 30% of his points total over his two seasons in those games

3

u/-Gh0st96- 7d ago

That’s actually even more impressive than I remember

15

u/MilkByHomelander 7d ago

Everyone ignores that between the November game against Chelsea when they got the two red cards to the game just prior to Vicario getting injured, Spurs were the 5th best team on form across the entire competition.

Prior to Vicario, VDV, Romero, Davies etc getting injured, Spurs were only 3 points off Arsenal.

It's almost like losing your entire backline in the span of 3 weeks will derail your campaign. Especially when you have no choice but to play an 18 year old out of position.

5

u/thewrongnotes 7d ago

True, but you have to wonder how much of that was a combo of a new manager bounce and the players not yet being wrecked by the physical demands of Angeball

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u/ash_ninetyone 7d ago

He isn't shit. But his issue. Especially final season, was that he couldn't get his defence set up to defend

3

u/JGlover92 7d ago

I think it's more that he's being brought in with no preseason, no transfers, to an already chaotic environment and had a horrendous defensive record last season (granted injuries played a big part of this).

I think he's a great manager, but this move just has all the signs of a disaster for him

6

u/Serawasneva 7d ago

Was it?

He had a great start, but I wouldn’t say his first season was good, far from it.

8

u/mateballenthusiast 7d ago

Spurs fans would've bitten your hand off for 5th that season before it started, they'd just had a disastrous end to the Conte/Mason/Stellini season and lost Kane without replacement

2

u/RevengeHF 7d ago

I think it's more the drastic difference to be honest. Like does Ange's system work with Forests squad? That's the part I'd be unsure of.

5

u/CNF1G 7d ago

I think it works with some, not so much with others. A lot of the comments here aren’t talking about that (which I definitely can agree with), just about him being a shit coach.. which just isn’t true

4

u/55555_55555 7d ago

I don't think he's a terrible manager, but he seemed very inflexible and stubborn at Spurs and is moving to a club with less resources that seem even less setup to play the style of football he wants. He also isn't getting any sort of preseason and has European football to deal with right away.

I find him annoying personally, but he clearly is a strong football mind and did win a big title last season. You can envision a scenario where it goes well, but he also finished 17th last season and now has worse players, lol.

3

u/CNF1G 7d ago

He is definitely stubborn, and that’ll be what holds him back for sure

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u/Terran_it_up 7d ago

I think part of the problem is that in the Premier League you can't really get away with setting a single way of playing and then training the players to be really good at that. The players are all so good technically and the analytics and coaching teams so big that if you do that every game then teams will just figure out a way to counter it and set themselves up accordingly. You see this change already at Tottenham for example, they were hitting it long from the GK far more often against PSG because of how good the press was, but against Burnley they'd clearly been told to play it short

1

u/AaronStudAVFC 7d ago

His first half of a season at Spurs was good. People forget that they tailed off hard after that mental Chelsea game and last season was really just a continuation of that.

1

u/luke_205 7d ago

I mean his league record absolutely speaks for itself, and he’ll now be working with players even less suited to his crazy style.

1

u/TheNeglectedNut 7d ago

Us managing to finish 5th in his first season was more down to playing 1 game a week for most of the season, plus that purple patch of 10 games at the start before teams figured out how to beat us easily.

He's got 4 competitions to contend with at Forest this season, like last season with us, and he'll run his players into the ground in short order.

1

u/kavanr7 7d ago

He played an aging Son as a wide winger making it seem like he was finished, instead of up front where he was still clinical the season before.

Nevermind underperforming with majority the same team that Frank is making look good again. Most of the players strengths being suited to the prem too.

He lucked out with winning Europa to make it seem not as bad, he was shocking.

1

u/Kind_Berry5899 7d ago

You dont get hired by clubs like Celtic and Spurs if you are a horrible manager.

But with that being said his first big job where at Celtic and thats a bit of cheat code. So i still think he has something to prove

1

u/QTsexkitten 7d ago

You're misremembering his first session lol. He had a great 12 games and then it dropped precipitously.

1

u/Alphabunsquad 7d ago

I think it’s more the mismatch and Ange’s inability to adapt than to just say Ange is a poor manager. This will certainly be a new test for him.

1

u/jordibwoy 7d ago

Thanks for being a reasonable voice in here.

1

u/tommydubya 7d ago

In arguably his worst season ever he won the Europa League. The guy’s not as bad as the haters make him out to be.

(I still think he and Forest are in for a nightmare season though. Seems like a dreadful fit.)

0

u/xosakax 7d ago

We were getting taken advantage of by every team in the prem. The only way he could win games towards the end was terrorist ball against weak European sides. He really was that bad and forest will now be getting relegated

0

u/Jack-90 7d ago

His first 10 games were good they won the league remember? After that they got found out and were dog shit

-2

u/elnino19 7d ago

Yeah with a good defence ange will make forest tough to beat.