Ange Postecoglou said he cannot afford to waste time to revive Nottingham Forest’s fortunes as he lifted the lid on a week of disruption at the City Ground following his side’s 3-0 defeat at Arsenal.
Martin Zubimendi scored a brace with Viktor Gyokeres also on the scoresheet as Arsenal excelled at the Emirates to deliver the perfect response to their 1-0 defeat at rivals’ Liverpool prior to the international break.
Postecoglou was back in a Premier League dugout 99 days after he was sacked as Tottenham manager, following his appointment as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor this week.
Nuno, who steered Forest to seventh last season, was dismissed on Monday following a falling out with owner Evangelos Marinakis, with Postecoglou appointed a day later.
The Arsenal fans at the Emirates goaded the Australian with chants of, ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’, and ‘Are you Tottenham in disguise?’, and speaking after the defeat, Postecoglou said: “To keep my disappointment in terms of the result in context, it’s been a very disruptive week for the players.
“Seven days ago, their world was totally different to what it was today. You’ve got to understand that. Some players were away on international duty. The other players had the whole weekend off. They only got back in on Tuesday.
“So, you know what they left, when they left the club, to what they inherited, was totally different, with new faces, new voices, new coaching and new training. We’ve only had one training session together.
“We’ve got a (Carabao Cup) game (against Swansea) on Wednesday. We’ve got two sessions before that. We’ve got another couple of sessions before the next Premier League game, so whatever’s happened this week, and how disruptive it’s been, we can put a line through it and start looking ahead.”
Quizzed as to whether it could take months to put his stamp on this team, Postecoglou replied: “Oh no, mate. It won’t be months, it won’t be weeks. It will be Wednesday.
“I cannot afford to waste time. This is not a project. This football club had a strong season last year, they need to be stronger this year, and my job is to get us to where I want us as quickly as possible.
“On Wednesday night, we will start seeing principles being embedded. It won’t take long and I will not let it take long. I will make sure we turn it around because we have an unbelievable opportunity to make an impact this season, and I am not going to let that slip.”
For Mikel Arteta, his side have now scored eight goals in their two home matches so far, and conceded just once in their opening four fixtures.
Asked if his side have moved to a new level this season – with Eberchi Eze, Gyokeres and the impressive Noni Madueke leading an all-new front three – Arteta replied: “We hope so. But we need to go game by game. It doesn’t matter what we want to do, it is what we have to do.”
With Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and William Saliba all injured, Martin Odegaard completed just 17 minutes on Saturday after he suffered a shoulder injury. However, Arteta, who side face Athletic Bilbao in Spain in the Champions League next week, said: “We have to assess him with the doctors and see, but I’m sure he will try his best to be fit for Tuesday.”
