Out with the defence-first old, in with the all-out-attack new?
That’s the simplistic (and not inaccurate) reading of the managerial change at Nottingham Forest following Monday’s dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo.
In his place comes Ange Postecoglou, back in the Premier League after his two-year stint at Tottenham Hotspur ended in June.
In this piece, we ask what the first managerial casualty and hire of the season means for Fantasy managers.
We’ll not rehash the potted history that we included in our Scout Report two years ago; Postecoglou is not the relatively unknown quantity of before.
Instead, we’ll focus more on his time at Spurs.
ANGE: THE SPURS YEARS – AN OVERVIEW
| 2023/24 | 2024/25 | |
| Goals scored | 74 (7th) | 64 (7th=) |
| Goals conceded | 61 (7th=) | 65 (16th) |
| Clean sheets | 7 (12=) | 6 (16th) |
| xG | 68.95 (6th) | 59.70 (9th) |
| xG conceded | 64.55 (14th) | 64.36 (17th) |
In summary: goals and lots of them!
Spurs both scored and conceded 60+ goals in each of Postecoglou’s two seasons at the helm.
The expected goals at either end (xG/xGC) are in the 60-70 ballpark, too. In the top half for xG in each year, the Lilywhites were in the lower reaches of the table for xGC.
Clean sheets-wise, Spurs didn’t get more than seven in either campaign.
NUNO: THE FOREST YEARS – AN OVERVIEW
| 2023/24* | 2024/25 | |
| Goals scored | 32 (12th=) | 58 (9th=) |
| Goals conceded | 37 (9th=) | 46 (6th=) |
| Clean sheets | 1 (18th=) | 13 (2nd=) |
| xG | 31.52 (9th) | 46.57 (15th) |
| xG conceded | 27.75 (4th) | 49.56 (9th) |
*from Gameweek 18 onwards, the point of Nuno’s appointment
Nuno’s Forest were almost a mirror image.
The clean sheets didn’t materialise in his first half-season in charge but the underlying data was there: they ranked fourth for xGC from Gameweek 18 (Nuno’s first game as head coach) of 2023/24.
The Tricky Trees followed that up by finishing joint-second for clean sheets in 2024/25.
As for goalscoring, 58 was a decent tally last season. But Forest massively overachieved (+11.43) on the xG front, relying on ruthlessness – especially from Chris Wood (£7.7m) – rather than a high volume of chances created.
THE XG RACE: NUNO’S FOREST V ANGE’S SPURS
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