Pressure on Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou was compounded by a miserable 3-0 defeat to Chelsea with the Australian now without a win in his first eight games as head coach.
Boos rang out around the City Ground at full-time, with owner Evangelos Marinakis not spotted in the stands after the break as Forest spiralled to a sixth defeat since Postecoglou’s appointment on September 9.
A fiery press conference from the head coach in the build-up to the game seemingly sparked a reaction from Forest after a positive start, but the same issues that have plagued his 39-day reign persisted.
Opportunities fell to Taiwo Awoniyi – making his first start since rupturing his intestine in May – Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White but the hosts were made to rue those missed chances when they unravelled in the second half.
Two goals in three minutes from a Josh Acheampong header and Pedro Neto free-kick punctured the positivity at the City Ground, with applause quickly shifting to boos.
Substitute Igor Jesus came close to sparking a reaction for his side when his effort crashed off the crossbar and post, suppressing the soured atmosphere momentarily, only for Reece James’ goal to confirm the defeat despite a late red card for Malo Gusto.
Forest now sit 17th, one point above the relegation zone, with Porto next up in the Europa League and a trip to Bournemouth arriving three days later.
Whether Postecoglou is in charge for those fixtures remains to be seen. He said before the game that no talks had taken place with Marinakis regarding his future – but that could now be revisited.
Ange Postecoglou on the touchline during the 3-0 defeat for Nottingham Forest against Chelsea
Morrison: Forest are nowhere near good enough
Sky Sports’ Clinton Morrison speaking on Soccer Saturday:
“Not winning in eight games is nowhere near good enough. They’ve got a big European game in midweek.
“There were some boos at the end but they weren’t chanting ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ like in previous games.
“The problem is they can’t keep clean sheets like they did last season. Chris Wood was on fire, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White played well but these players have been quiet this season
“They’re missing big chances. You do feel for managers in these situation. He probably feels like he’s doomed at the moment.”
Forest’s issues under Ange growing
- Since the start of 2023-24, no manager has seen his teams concede more Premier League goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half of matches than Ange Postecoglou (16).
- Nottingham Forest have conceded 10 set-piece goals under Ange Postecoglou in all competitions – twice as many as any other Premier League club in that time.
- Nottingham Forest are on the longest current ongoing run without a clean sheet of any side (16 games), while of current managers in the competition, Ange Postecoglou is on the longest run without a clean sheet (18 games).
- Nottingham Forest have lost five of their last six Premier League games (D1), failing to score in each defeat.
- Since Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge of Nottingham Forest, they have conceded more corner goals in all competitions than any other Premier League side (5).
- Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest is the first manager to see his team score only one goal in his first five Premier League matches in charge since Sean Dyche at Burnley in 2014.
- Nottingham Forest have failed to score in three successive Premier League home games for the first time since October 1998, while it’s the first time they’ve had 2+ xG and not scored in the competition since earning promotion in 2022.