West Ham’s task of avoiding relegation may have just become a little trickier — or perhaps easier — following Nottingham Forest’s decision to pull the trigger on Ange Postecoglou.
The Aussie has been sacked just 39 days after taking charge at the City Ground. However, that brief spell was more than enough for owner Evangelos Marinakis, who reportedly couldn’t even wait 39 minutes more before deciding to dismiss the former Tottenham boss.
Postecoglou’s short-lived reign came to an abrupt end following Forest’s 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea, which proved to be the final straw for Marinakis. In what was very much a game of two halves, Postecoglou will have been disappointed not to go in at half-time ahead, having seen his side create the better chances early on.
I’ve had enough. Evangelos Marinakis couldn’t wait until the end of the game before getting ready to sack Big Ange
Marinakis Acts Swiftly as Forest Fans Turn
In a brief statement containing non of the usual compliments and platitudes, the club confirmed:
“Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that, after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect.”
Forest fans voiced their anger at the final whistle, booing loudly and chanting “you don’t know what you’re doing” after Postecoglou substituted midfielder Douglas Luiz. Marinakis, visibly frustrated, was seen leaving the directors’ box in the 63rd minute, moments after another gilt-edged chance went begging.
Postecoglou’s dismissal ends a turbulent and short tenure, with Forest now searching for their fifth permanent manager in under two years. The early favourite for the job is Sean Dyche, who may prove a better fit to get the best out of a squad largely assembled by current West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
The harsh reality that chairmen and quite a lot of fans fail to realise is that moving styles is far easier to do in one direction than the other. To get any squad of players to revert or prepare for a defend counter attack approach requires far less of a budget, tactical discipline and therfore coaching. To try and then turn the tide in the other direction à la Moyes > Lopetegui / Potter possession based, Nuno > Postecoglu high press, Conte > Postecoglu etc takes much more time, squad budget and transfer activity to nail down especially if a squad has been honed from front to back for multiple seasons like we were under Moyes. However, the flip side is that the counter attack has limited use and therefore has a shelf life also like seen with Moyes’ time with us who, contrary to what his media mates like to convey, was in charge of a squad that couldn’t defend at a rate of anything less than conceding 1.7 goals combined over his final 2 league season and gradually declining to 1.9 goals per game. So when Moyes moved in after Dyche he had an even lesser job of tweaking a malfunctioning a defensive approach to that of similar approach with the added bonus of the fresh face and manager bounce advantage. It’s best demonstrated and hones to its greatest form by big Sam who had found the sweet spot of going in 2nd half of the season and rescuing failing clubs fortunes from the drop (mostly) and then not sticking around after the summer at the same time as getting paid a small fortune for the job.
For the fans. It’s a lot of fun when it works but absolute agony when the wheels fall off after a season or 2. That’s the trade off.
Insightful read, Bob. Thanks for this.
Better suited to Aussie football!
Could be good news if they continue to underperform but we need to get our own house in order, I haven’t seen anything from Nuno that fills me with confidence.
@West Ham Fan No 32
You haven’t seen anything to give you confidence in just 2 games? We got 1 point from a couple of games that most thought we’d lose. We lost to Arsenal without conceding from a set piece and lost by just 2 goals. Previously we were shipping goals aplenty. Nuno has organised the defence pretty well in such a short time. Yet you haven’t seen anything positive? Get a grip, mate. What do you expect?
haha quite right! And people accuse ME of being negative….
West Ham would say “Give him another 20 games – if he only wins two, then give him another ten games after that to see if he can turn it around”.
Maybe Rangers might take a punt on Ange, as the rest of the world has turned them down !
Ange – ‘West Ham here I come’??
Hopefully the answer is no. Maybe yes to Glasgow Rangers, though.
Gee talk about no patience, at least Westham show a little more restraint.
I think Ange would be better suited to European football