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Ange Postecoglou’s press conference exclamations about needing time to fix things at Nottingham Forest was not without logic. If only he was working for a different owner.
Forest’s 2-0 defeat at Newcastle leaves their new manager without a win in seven games since taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo and Postecoglou says he needs more time to turn a group of players used to playing without the ball to one that gets on the front foot.
The former Tottenham manager is right. A fundamental change of style is the kind of thing that needs a pre-season to bed in. It’s harder to achieve during a Saturday-Thursday-Sunday cycle that tends to be the life of an English club in European competition.
But his problem is that Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis hasn’t often shown himself to be a patient sort.
We all know how well Nuno did at Forest, taking over from Steve Cooper in December 2023 and leading the club into Europe and to an FA Cup semi-final in the space of 18 months.
What is less well known is that Marinakis considered sacking the Portuguese coach not long into his time at the City Ground and even asked Oliver Glasner if he would like to work for him.
Glasner – now pulling up trees at Crystal Palace – was out of a job at the time but told Marinakis he would only come to Forest if he was given time to settle in!!
The one problem Ange Postecoglou forgets is his new boss famously has little patience
WILL PALACE RUN OUT OF STEAM?
Glasner's Palace have finally lost a game after Jack Grealish’s last-minute winner for Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. It was a game they could have put to bed, wasting a couple of great chances, but it’s also hard not to wonder if a lack of squad depth may catch up with them in the end.
Glasner fielded exactly the same team on Merseyside that had beaten Liverpool a week earlier and that in itself was only one name different to the one that had previously won at West Ham.
it’s an eleven that has formed the bedrock of what Palace have achieved so far this term.
Indeed Palace have made only six changes to their Premier League line-ups this season which is the joint fewest in the Premier League along with Burnley.
When you consider that a team such as Aston Villa have been able to make 18 then it tells its own story.
Consistency is your friend…at least until everybody is knackered.
After enjoying an incredible unbeaten run, it remains to be seen just how devastating Sunday's defeat at Everton will be for Crystal Palace
LATE MARGINS SEPERATE ARSENAL AND LIVERPOOL
Late goals such as that scored by Grealish continue to define this season’s Premier League. Consider the case of new league leaders Arsenal.
Trailing Manchester City at home a fortnight ago, they were facing a second league defeat in five opening games and next up was a trip to Newcastle, where they don’t often win.
A crisis loomed in the face of Liverpool’s all-winning juggernaut start to the campaign.
But a 93rd minute equaliser by Gabriel Martinelli that day was followed by a 96th minute winner by team-mate Gabriel at St James Park a week later.
When you consider the two added time goals that have subsequently sunk Liverpool at Palace and Chelsea (90+5 & 90+7), that amounts to a seven-point swing between the two rivals in the space of just a fortnight.
Proof, if we needed it, of just how fine the margins are in the top flight. Increasingly, it’s not how you start a Premier League game but how you finish it that matters.
On the day that Palace downed Liverpool, for example, there were 8 added time goals which was the most in Premier League history on a single day. So far this season, there have been 23 – more than a quarter of last season’s tally of 95.
Late goals have defined this Premier League season and will have a big effect on the title
WILL BROJA EVER SCORE AGAIN?
Burnley could do with a goal of any kind, having scored only three in their last four Premier League games.
They were far from overrun in losing at Aston Villa but looked blunt up front where Lyle Foster struggled against Villa’s excellent pairing of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres.
The introduction of substitute Armando Broja didn’t greatly improve things and the 24-year-old Chelsea academy graduate continues to be a curious case.
As recently as January 2024, Chelsea were trying to sell the Albanian international to Fulham for £50m. Needless to say Chelsea's neighbours didn’t bite and loans to Craven Cottage and then Everton failed to yield a single goal.
Indeed Chelsea’s historical valuation looks ever more ridiculous on the back of a barren run that has seen Broja score only twice in the Premier League in three years and not at all since October 2023.
Burnley bought Broja for a fee that could one day rise to £20m back in the summer. He really needs to score some goals quickly.
Armando Broja's form has fallen off a cliff and it remains to be seen whether he will recover it
THE GULF HAVEN HIDING BIG NAMES
Last season’s Burnley top scorer was actually midfielder Josh Brownhill and he left Turf Moor on a free transfer in the summer.
His decision to jump ship remains one of the off-season’s most curious calls. Last year's Burnley captain has now rocked up in the Saudi Pro League with Al Shabab and has become one of a growing legion of British players in the Gulf.
For example, spotted taking – and missing – a penalty for Arabian Falcons in the third tier of the UAE league over the weekend was Brownhill’s former Burnley team-mate Jonjo Shelvey.
Shelvey is still only 33 and was at Newcastle as recently as two and half years ago.
EMERY STILL HAS THE POWER
Donyell Malen’s two excellently taken goals for Villa were the Dutch midfielder’s first since scoring in three Premier League games in a row back in April.
His lack of influence since arriving for £20m last January was cited as one of the reasons why president of football operations Monchi was allowed to leave last month. Too few of the Spaniard’s signings were seen to have worked out.
Monchi was close to Villa manager Unai Emery, of course. To all intents and purposes, Emery hired him at Villa.
And now that he has gone, another Emery ally has arrived at the club in the shape of Monchi’s successor Roberto Olabe.
It will be interesting to see what happens on the field this season but what is clear is that Emery’s peculiar brand of power continues to underpin his time in the midlands.
After a poor start to the season, Unai Emery has demonstrated his prowess once again
FROM COVENTRY TO ENGLAND?
Still in that part of the world, Frank Lampard’s Coventry continue to tear it up at the top of the Championship where they remain unbeaten and averaging three goals a game.
Coventry were 17th when Lampard took over less than a year ago and their subsequent journey to the play-offs – where they lost in the semi-final to Sunderland - has now been backed up by more progressive work.
Saturday’s 5-0 win at hapless Sheffield Wednesday followed a 4-0 win at Millwall and a 3-0 home win over Birmingham. Previously Lampard’s team had scored seven at home to QPR and five at Derby.
More broadly, the Football Association have noticed and are watching closely. Lampard – he of 106 international caps – is becoming a very good shout to be the next England manager.
UNITED PLAYING THE LONG GAME
A change of mood, a change of goalkeeper and a change of tactic for Ruben Amorim and Manchester United.
United’s 2-0 win over Sunderland represented a rare afternoon lacking drama and Amorim will be grateful. Even the Old Trafford roof didn’t leak in the downpour.
Afterwards the United coach said: ‘If you can’t always play well then don’t let the other team play well. That’s what a big team does.’
It was perfectly put and the victory was underpinned by two big decisions – the reintroduction of Mason Mount and the handing of a debut to Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens.
Lammens was confident and tidy in most of what he did and it’s fair to say it’s been a while.
United are playing the long game figuratively and literally with goalkeeper Senne Lammens
What was most noticeable, though, was what Lammens did with his feet.
Predecessor Andre Onana was hired in part because he could pass the ball so well. He has now been jettisoned to Turkey.
Now, with big number nine Benjamin Sesko in the team, Lemmens struck 38 of his 44 clearances straight down the field.
With Sunderland’s Robin Roeufs adopting a similar tactic, it all felt rather 1980s for a while at Old Trafford and all the better for it.
