<p>The Australian walked off the City Ground pitch for the final time, applauding a near-empty stadium. Minutes later, he was delivering the news to his players himself: he'd been sacked.</p> <p>Just 18 minutes separated full-time in Nottingham Forest's 3-0 collapse against Chelsea and the official confirmation that Ange Postecoglou's tenure was over.</p> <p>By the time the world learned of his dismissal, the 59-year-old had already left the building. His coaching staff? They remained in limbo for hours before learning they too were out.</p> <p>Thirty-nine days. Eight matches. <strong>Zero wins</strong>. The numbers tell a story of one of English football's briefest managerial reigns, but they don't capture the full picture of what went wrong and, in all honesty, whether Postecoglou ever stood a chance.</p> <h2>The Impossible Brief</h2> <p>Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis didn't even wait for the final whistle on Saturday; when he'd departed the City Ground before Chelsea's third goal sealed Postecoglou's fate, the ruthless decision had apparently already been made.</p> <p>Postecoglou had moved into a new Nottingham apartment just days earlier. Before that, he had time to oversee only 20 training sessions and, if you factor in two international breaks disrupting his tenure, only eight of those featured his full squad.</p> <p>On top of that, it’s fair to say that the Australian never worked with a consistent group since key injuries plagued his brief spell from day one.</p> <p>Ola Aina, a player identified by Postecoglou as essential to his tactical setup, suffered a season-ending injury the very day the new manager arrived in Nottingham.</p> <p>Other key players like Murillo, Douglas Luiz, and Oleksandr Zinchenko have all missed between two and four of Postecoglou's eight games.</p> <p>Tasked with completely overhauling Forest's approach from Nuno Espirito Santo's pragmatic counter-attacking style to possession-based "Angeball," Postecoglou barely had time to unpack, let alone revolutionise a football club.</p> <h2>The Philosophy That Divided Opinion</h2> <p>Was the tactical transformation even necessary? That question now hangs over the entire project.</p> <p>"Everybody was talking about last season and how good they were," one source close to the dressing room revealed to Sky Sports UK. "But the team weren't really good. They had Anthony Elanga running in behind and Chris Wood scoring crazy goals. Matz Sels doing crazy saves. That cannot be repeated again."</p> <p>The statistics support this interpretation. Wood outperformed his <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/soccer/soccer-news/what-is-xg-soccer-explained">Expected Goals</a> by nearly seven last season and not even Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland or Alexander Isak matched his conversion rate. The New Zealand striker netted just twice in his final 11 Premier League appearances of 2023-24, and has scored once since opening weekend this term.</p> <p>Goalkeeper Sels claimed a Golden Glove alongside David Raya last season and ranked fourth in the Premier League for shot-stopping. This campaign? Not a single clean sheet.</p> <p>Forest had won just three of their 19 matches (including pre-season) before Postecoglou's appointment. The Australian inherited a squad drained of confidence, not riding a wave of momentum.</p> <p>Postecoglou's coaching team believed attacking football would restore belief, and that is why the Australian transformed Forest into a possession-dominant, high-pressing outfit virtually overnight. Every major attacking metric improved. Players responded positively.</p> <p>"Ninety per cent of the squad were really enjoying being more of a dominant team," the dressing room source said. "They were enjoying actually playing with the purpose of winning, but trying to dominate games, going into games without fear."</p> <p>The approach aligned with Marinakis's vision of Forest playing like a "big club."</p> <p>Modern English football's success stories - the teams that dominate <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/soccer/united-kingdom/english-premier-league">the EPL</a> these days, like Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal - are built on possession-based dominance.</p> <p>Even Leicester City's 2016 title triumph served as a cautionary tale for Postecoglou's camp: the Foxes used pragmatism to lift the trophy, then flirted with relegation the following season.</p> <p>Forest didn't want to follow that trajectory. They wanted to capitalise on last season's success by establishing a sustainable, progressive style.</p> <p>Glimpses of potential emerged. At Real Betis, Forest dominated the Spanish side in their first European fixture in 29 years, and only a late equaliser from Antony denied Postecoglou his maiden victory.</p> <p>Against Chelsea in his final match, Forest spurned three or four clear chances that could have given them a comfortable half-time advantage. In his only other home Premier League fixture against Sunderland, Forest registered an Expected Goals figure of 1.68 in a 1-0 defeat.</p> <p>In other words, the performance merited goals… that never arrived.</p> <h2>What Comes Next</h2> <p>Sean Dyche has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Postecoglou, and he’s likely to become Forest's third manager of the season after Nuno's controversial September departure.</p> <p>The potential appointment carries obvious irony: Dyche's reputation for defensive solidity and set-piece excellence represents the polar opposite of Postecoglou's philosophy and the type of soccer the team is expected to play this year.</p> <p>How Rice and his set-piece team integrate into Dyche's setup, given the former Burnley boss's emphasis on dead-ball situations, will be interesting to discover.</p> <p>Postecoglou may acknowledge his shortcomings. Boasting about winning formulas in press conferences whilst failing to claim a single victory creates obvious contradictions, and not securing the squad or specialist coaches needed for his vision left vulnerabilities exposed.</p> <p>But those closest to the Australian believed something was being built for the medium and long term. They just never received the time to prove it.</p> <p>Thirty-nine days. Eight training sessions with a full squad. The numbers suggest Marinakis's patience ran out before Postecoglou's project truly began.</p>