Ange Postecoglou a 'huge risk' for Nottingham Forest as Jamie O'Hara slams appointment

Jamie O'Hara has labelled Nottingham Forest's decision to hire Ange Postecoglou as head coach a 'massive risk'.

The ex-Tottenham Hotspur manager's debut at the helm of the Reds didn't go as planned, with a 3-0 loss to Arsenal. Despite the setback, Postecoglou is confident that Wednesday's Carabao Cup clash against Swansea City will mark the beginning of his offensive philosophy taking root in the squad.

However, former Spurs player O'Hara is sceptical, voicing his doubts on Sky Sports about the new approach succeeding at the City Ground.

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"No, it won't work. Absolutely not,” he told Sky Sports. “The only way it's going to work at Nottingham Forest is if he's learnt from his huge mistakes tactically that he played at Tottenham.

"It was a disaster at Tottenham. The football in the end was tepid; it was awful to watch.

"Alright, we won the Europa League, but that is because we played a terrible Man United side and managed to beat the best of a bad bunch. We finished 17th.

Reflecting on Forest's previous identity under Nuno Espirito Santo, O'Hara remarked, "He's gone in at Nottingham Forest, who were a really stable football club, they had an identity and you knew what you were getting. Nuno Espirito Santo had them organised, hard to beat, hit you on the counterattack, but he would also change it up. They could go and attack and play some decent football."

Nuno was given the boot last week following a backstage disagreement with global head of football, Edu. The Portuguese manager also hinted at a shift in his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis.

"I'm amazed at this decision from Marinakis to bring him in,” O’Hara said. “I don't know why it's happened. I don't know what's happened between them and why they've all fallen out, but this is a huge risk. A massive risk bringing in Postecoglou. Massive risk. I don't think he deserves the job at Nottingham Forest.

"The only reason I can think is Marinakis believes he's got a squad of players that can play attacking football. Nuno was a different type of manager - he was organised and resilient, and then they'd go and attack.

"I think he wants to watch this brand of football that everyone seems to want these days. He thinks that Ange Postecoglou is going to bring that. But Nottingham Forest are not Man City - they need to defend. They have got to be hard to beat.

"If you think Ange Postecoglou is going to come in and you're going to play this glorious football... I watched it last season at Tottenham and it was terrible. It was all over the place.”