Gunning for glory: Ange’s second act in England begins with a familiar challenge

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Ange Postecoglou’s second act in the Premier League begins with a challenge he couldn’t overcome in his first.

In four meetings with Arsenal as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, he failed to taste victory once, securing just one of a possible 12 points - and that came in his very first North London derby, way back in September 2023, in the middle of the 10-game unbeaten run that earned tributes from Robbie Williams and Henry Winkler.

A lifetime ago, in other words.

On Saturday night (9.30pm AEST), his new journey as Nottingham Forest boss begins with a trip to his old neighbourhood to face the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium - clear evidence, if you’re an agnostic, that the football gods are not only real, but devious.

It was after the first derby of last season, a 1-0 defeat at home, that an exasperated Postecoglou delivered the now-legendary line: “I always win things in my second season.”

It came true, but it didn’t save him, and now that prediction has followed him to England’s East Midlands.

Ange Postecoglou at his unveiling press conference at Nottingham Forest.

As Postecoglou said in his introductory press conference, he’s also won things in his first season - and he might have to at Forest, under demanding owner Evangelos Marinakis, whose relationship with him he played down.

He was only half joking.

“I’m not afraid to say it,” Postecoglou said in a new interview on the club’s website. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. When I talk about it here, I think you have to put it out there. That’s where we exist. We have an owner here who’s quite determined to do that.

“For me to say anything otherwise is selling the club short and its fans short. I want the fans to dream and to almost bring to reality everything they crave for. The only sort of trepidation is you might let them down. I’d much rather that than fear that success might come our way and try to protect or be in some self-preservation mode. It’s not just what I’m about.”

It’s a different sort of pressure Postecoglou is now experiencing, but no less intense. This is a second chance in the Premier League, and should it end in disaster, he might not get a third.

The expectation on him to deliver a result against Arsenal is minimal; there is no direct rivalry with Forest, of course, which means fans will be far less demanding, while his rushed appointment means he has had only one training session with his full squad.

But as Postecoglou has acknowledged, he needs to win over his new electorate, with many Forest supporters unhappy with the sudden spearing of the beloved Nuno Espirito Santo, albeit coming around quickly to the new Aussie bloke in charge. There would be no better way to accelerate the process than by putting a dent into the title ambitions of Mikel Arteta’s side.

Don’t expect an overnight reinvention, though. As predicted, and as dictated by circumstances, Postecoglou has forecast a slowly, slowly approach to the transition from Espirito Santo’s defensive tactics to his own front-foot, possession-based style - although the first three games of this season suggest that process was already underway at Forest.

Ange Postecoglou and Mikel Arteta in January at the Emirates.

Thanks to the friendly timeslot, Australia will be watching.

Forest’s Sydney-based supporters group was anticipating a gathering of only a couple of dozen at their usual haunt, Cheers Bar in the CBD, for the match. Suddenly, their numbers could swell exponentially, as Postecoglou’s personal following swaps the lilywhite and navy of Tottenham for the ‘Garibaldi red’ of Nottingham - a colour they have worn since the club’s foundation in 1865, inspired by the the ‘redshirt’ volunteers of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.

They proclaim themselves to be the first football club in the world to have worn red, and legend has it, Arsenal stole the idea from them.

“When I first took over Spurs, I didn’t know any Aussie Spurs supporters. And then all of a sudden, there’s thousands of them,” Postecoglou said.

“It’s like all my friends. Their allegiances change pretty quickly. I’m a proud Greek, but I’m also a very proud Australian. And I love the fact that people have followed my journey from back home.

“It’s tough. Allegiances will be tested. But I’ll find out who the true Ange believers are and who are just on the gravy train pretty quick.”

His old players, meanwhile, will also be watching from afar with great interest.

Djed Spence is living testament to the legacy Postecoglou has left behind at Tottenham, and an obvious rebuttal to the idea put forward by respected English football writer Henry Winter (and shared by plenty of others) that he did not improve a single player in his time there.

Accused of attitude problems by previous coaches, Spence made his Premier League breakthrough under Postecoglou, but only after he “purposely made it difficult” for the 25-year-old to prove himself. This week, Spence was awarded with his first cap for England, and has been described by Rio Ferdinand as the country’s top one-on-one defender.

For that, at least partly, he owes a debt to Postecoglou - and to one of the assistants who followed him from Spurs to Forest, Nick Montgomery, who took an immediate shining to him.

“Nick is a great guy,” Spence told this masthead.

“Still sends me messages to this day. I had a good relationship with him, and he’s always believed in me from the jump, from when he came in there.”

Spence believes Postecoglou has left behind a “group of winners” at Spurs, whose evolution is now being guided by Thomas Frank. He also knows exactly what Postecoglou has walked into this week, having spent the 2021-22 season on loan at Forest, part of the team that won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.

“Nottingham Forest is a great club ... a club that I’ve got a lot of love for,” he said. “I’m wishing him all the best. He’s going to see that it’s a massive club. Hopefully, they do well.”

Stan Sport is the only place to watch Arsenal take on Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest in a Premier League blockbuster with all the action streaming live and in 4K this Saturday 13 September from 9:00pm AEST.