Angeball is back. And surely, very soon, the results will reflect that accordingly.
On face value, it’s been a tough start for Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest: a 3-0 hiding away to Arsenal in his first match in charge, a gutting 3-2 defeat to Swansea in the Carabao Cup, then a 1-1 draw against newly promoted Burnley.
The first win of this new era should have come on Thursday morning (AEST) in Seville against Real Betis. They deserved to win; Forest were comfortably the better team, creating the better chances, threading together the better passages of play. If you’re a believer in “expected goals”, then you can take further comfort in those numbers: Postecoglou’s men generated 3.27xG to just 0.49
But in reality, you have to turn expected goals into actual goals. And the sooner that Forest’s frontline heeds that lesson, the sooner Postecoglou’s critics will give him due credit for what he has built in the 16 days since his appointment.
The bones of a classic Postecoglou team are there already, and that’s no mean feat given the team he inherited, the way they used to play, and the circumstances in which he replaced his beloved predecessor, Nuno Espirito Santo.
“I thought our football was outstanding at times in the first half,” Postecoglou said post-match.
“The only thing I could fault is we didn’t put the game to bed. We should have really finished them off in the first half. There won’t be many teams that come here and dominate like we did in that period. We just needed a third goal.”
Coached by the wily Manuel Pellegrini, Real Betis finished sixth in La Liga last season. And though they were missing a handful of their top-choice players, the trip to face them at the Estadio La Cartuja was, arguably, the toughest of Forest’s eight initial fixtures in the Europa League, as they mark their return to continental football after a 30-year absence.
To come away with a 2-2 draw, then, isn’t awful. But it is deflating.
Coming back from a goal down after Cedric Bakambu opened the scoring for the hosts after just 15 minutes, Forest’s next half-hour was, at times, genuinely awe-inspiring. It was the most vivid display of Angeball in recent memory; certainly much better than anything Tottenham Hotspur produced in Postecoglou’s last six or so months in that job.
The passing was crisp, the movement superb, the pressing relentless, and the energy high despite oppressive heat and humidity. Fans on social media described it as the best attacking football they’d seen from their side in ... forever.
Three minutes after Bakambu’s opener, Igor Jesus became the first Forest player to score in Europe since 1996, capping a cracking left-to-right move by turning in Morgan Gibbs-White’s pass across goal from point-blank range.
“I think the moments like the first goal, when they are constructed like that, are what make our game so beautiful,” Postecoglou said.
Then, five minutes later, he headed in a corner kick to make it 2-1 and further stamp his claims to become Postecoglou’s first-choice striker.
The Brazilian, who joined Forest from Botafogo for a reported £10 million in the off-season, had two further chances to make it a hat-trick, while Callum Hudson-Odoi also hit the post during their breathtaking purple patch. So it could have been, without hyperbole, 5-1 at the break.
But there was always a danger that a one-goal lead would not be sufficient, and so it proved. Partly due to the conditions, and partly due to the withdrawal at half-time of midfielder Douglas Luiz - who Postecoglou said had “felt” his hamstring - Forest’s grip on the match loosened. Still, they dealt well with whatever Betis threw at them, which wasn’t much.
Five minutes from full-time, however, came the sucker-punch. Teed up by substitute Marc Roca, Antony hammered in the equaliser at the back post, and the approximately 3000-odd travelling fans were left shattered.
“I’m just disappointed the players and the supporters don’t get the rewards for our efforts. I’ve just got to make sure they keep their heads up because there’s plenty to be positive about,” Postecoglou said.
“And the wins will come, if we keep playing our football like that.”
He’s not wrong, but words alone won’t convince the doubters, even though everyone on the inside seems to have bought into what he’s trying to do. For external, vibes-based reasons, more than anything else, Postecoglou badly needs a win - and it needs to come in Sunday’s clash (2.30am AEST) against Sunderland at home, or else the voices against him will get louder and more confident.