Swansea City manager comes to the defence of Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou

Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou is proving to be a polarising figure in the media, but Swansea City manager Alan Sheehan has come to his defence ahead of the Carabao Cup clash.

Perhaps most remarkably, Jamie O’Hara suggested that Postecoglou didn’t deserve the Forest job, after his mixed spell at Tottenham last season.

However, it was made clear when the appointment was made that Postecoglou was Evangelos Marinakis’ dream appointment, so at least the owner is able to ignore the strong opinions in the media.

Undoubtedly, though, getting the football world on side would take the outside pressure off Postecoglou, so he’ll be grateful to hear the kind words of his Carabao Cup opponent in Sheehan.

Alan Sheehan heaps praise on Ange Postecoglou

Postecoglou has hinted at changes for the Swansea clash with a number of the summer signings set to earn minutes in the trip to South Wales.

The Australian also made it clear that his side will start to play his brand of football against Swansea, a style that Sheehan is clearly a fan of.

He said in his pre-match press conference: “He’s [Postecoglou] a top-class manager. I’ve seen his teams at Spurs and he won a trophy there, which was exceptional.

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“[…]He knows how to win, which is a good habit to have. […] he’s a manager who has been there and done it, so it’s a good test for me to come up against someone with that level of experience.”

Clearly, Postecoglou’s achievements at Spurs were respected more among his peers compared to the reaction of pundits, as fellow managers have readily praised the Forest head coach throughout his time in the Premier League.

Ange Postecoglou is well-respected by fellow managers

During his time at Spurs, his side suffered some heavy defeats in the high-profile Premier League clashes, including a 5-1 loss to Liverpool in April.

Still, Liverpool boss Arne Slot has praised Postecoglou in the press, saying in December: “For his brand of football and his style, it is so much more important and if he can combine that with winning something, that would be so good for football in general because people can stop talking about it’s too attacking or ­whatever. How on earth can you play too (much) attacking football?”

Even before the Arsenal game, Mikel Arteta hailed Postecoglou for his style of play and even claimed that he had learnt from the Forest head coach, further emphasising his respect in the game.

Hopefully, then, starting with the trip to face Sheehan’s Swansea, Forest can start to implement Postecoglou’s style and begin to win over parts of the media.

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