It is understandable that many people are confused by the news that Ange Postecoglou has replaced Nuno Espirito Santo as head coach of Nottingham Forest.
Nuno completed his mission excellently before being sacked earlier this week. He brought Forest back to the European arena after a 30-year absence. The Portuguese captain achieved success thanks to his counter-attacking style based on a solid defense with quick, direct attacks. This style of play may not be suitable for everyone, but it is extremely effective.
Meanwhile, Postecoglou's style is almost completely opposite. He is considered a "preacher" for entertaining attacking football, to the point that he sometimes becomes an excuse for public slander. Some of his statements even made things more difficult for himself.
"Are you not happy?" - Postecoglou was once angry with a reporter when asked if he was concerned about the team's performance after Tottenham almost dropped a 3-0 lead over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals last season. In the end, they only won 4-3 to continue.
A year ago, Postecoglou was determined to maintain his attacking style of play even though Tottenham had only 9 men against Chelsea. "As long as I'm here, we'll play like that. Even with only 5 people, we will still try" - the Australian strategist said.
Those statements, along with the philosophy of high pressing and fast attack, sometimes ignore safety in defense, making the Australian captain considered too rigid.
He is associated with this style of play because it has brought success to Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F. Marinos and Celtic. Therefore, Postecoglou has a good reason to be steadfast.
At Tottenham, Postecoglou's possession-based philosophy was initially seen as a breath of fresh air after dark years under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. But in the end, that was the beginning of the collapse.
Postecoglou's Tottenham are too passionate about attacking, often neglecting their defense, conceding many goals and losing many matches. They play beautiful football, but the result is disastrous when winning is sometimes a side factor. Fans have reason to be angry, because his passion for Angeball clearly needs to be adjusted.
In the 2023-2024 season, Postecoglou's first campaign in England, only Manchester City (65.5%) had an average of more possession than Tottenham (62.0%) in the Premier League. Spurs have scored 74 goals in their journey to the finish line for the fifth time, but have also conceded 61 goals - 10 more than Everton, who are 15th.
That helped Tottenham qualify for the Europa League 2024-2025, but also raised big questions. Can they maintain this physically consuming style of play in the entire European arena? And the short answer is no.
Spurs have had their worst season since the 1976-1977 campaign, falling to 17th place with 22 defeats in 38 matches. Only three teams have been relegated and Wolves have conceded more goals than them (63 goals). In terms of expected goals conceded, Tottenham are also only 3 teams behind the bottom (64.4 xG). In terms of defensive ability, the 17th position fully reflects their reality.
That disaster was deepened by the injury crisis, partly due to high-intensity play. Tottenham are top of the Premier League for travel distance (111.5 km/match), acceleration (167.5 km), lack of runs (159 km) and pressure in the final third (55.2 times). Therefore, their formation was exhausted and gradually collapsed.
In complete contrast, Nottingham Forest last season only controlled the ball 40.7% and allowed their opponent to create 49.6 expected goals. They are the team that travels the least (104.1 km/match), presses at the highest level (36.9 times) and spends up to 80% of their time at home or in midfield - the most in the tournament.
So what is Forest planning when deciding to replace Nuno with Postecoglou? Are they willing to break everything Nuno has built? And from here, can we expect Forest to change, play more beautiful football?
