Postecoglou risks Marinakis wrath as Nott’m Forest fans destroy ‘£160m’ oversight in lineup vs Chelsea

Ange Postecoglou made four glaring omissions from his Nottingham Forest lineup for the game against Chelsea on Saturday, with fans raising serious questions as he battles to save his job.

Postecoglou is the most under-pressure manager in the Premier League and he knows it, having gone on a lengthy rant about perceptions of his managerial ability at his press conference on Friday. After taking the Nottingham Forest job in September, he is still without a win from his first seven games.

And the team he has chosen for his eighth has raised serious questions among the Forest fanbase, not least because of four major summer signings being left out of the squad entirely.

Forest’s lineup is as follows: Sels, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Williams, Luiz, Sangare, Anderson, Zinchenko, Gibbs-White, Awoniyi.

On the bench, Postecoglou has named: John, Hudson-Odoi, Wood, Ndoye, Dominguez, Jesus, Yates, Jair and Savona.

The big surprise is Awoniyi starting up front, with Forest’s attacking options strangely being limited. After all, there’s no sign of Arnaud Kalimuendo, Omari Hutchinson, Dilane Bakwa or James McAtee in the squad, all of whom only joined the club in the summer.

Significant sums were spent on most of them as well, which has led some Forest fans to question whether Postecoglou’s decisions will be going down well with owner Evangelos Marinakis – who’s no stranger to a bold decision about the managerial position at the City Ground.

The fact that Hutchison cannot even play in the Europa League after not making their squad makes his omission on Saturday lunchtime all the more baffling.

In the replies to their lineup announcement on X, Forest fans were perplexed.

“Kalimuendo, Hutchinson, McAtee and Bakwa all not in the squad. 4 of our most expensive signings ever. Not sure what to say about that,” wrote @Gratollini.

“We spent £160m on attackers this summer and not a single one starts, whilst the one we tried to get rid of does,” observed @rippey89.

“Good to see we spent $100m on Hutchinson, McAtee, Kalimuendo and Bakwe and none of them can even make the bench. Great investment,” noted @NG_15Reds.

“It’s a controversial line up to put it mildly….can’t think Marinakis will be happy either with expensive signings sidelined,” warned @MaidenheadRed.

“No McAtee, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Kalimuendo at all??? £100m of young talent that needs game time to actually improve not even picked,” argued @NFFC_Harvey.

“Feels like someone is playing a video game picking this team. Hutchinson, Kalimuendo and Bakwa had two weeks of training with Ange then didn’t make the bench. Can’t be good for their progress,” echoed @BenHarries.

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Postecoglou set for sack?

Forest have reportedly been looking at replacements for Postecoglou, who could face the axe if he loses to Chelsea.

Some believe he may already be wanting a way out, as shown by his choices for the game.

“No Hutchinson, kalimuendo or mcatee 😂😂 and Awoniyi starting. I think ange is treating us as a joke now and actually wants sacking,” claimed @TomSaxton2207.

“He must want his payoff before the 3 o’clock games have finished. All that attacking talent brought to the club to get benched. Get him out before the game starts….” argued @Leeoverton18.

“No hutch mcatee kali. Then plays a striker who hasn’t played all season. What an absolute circus this club is,” said @Maxnffc25.

“Only two new players from the summer transfer window. What has Hutchinson got to do to get a start? Hope you know what you’re doing Ange. Could be your last,” warned @paulhogg56.

Attackers regretting Forest moves?

Forest invested heavily to swell their squad over the summer, but some supporters are speculating they will be regretting their moves.

“Is it April 1? Beside that starting 11, no Bakwa and Kalimuendo… The last one of them must be thinking why the hell he joined Forest…” posed @henjohansen1.

“Trying my best to not to lose my head here. If you’re Kalimuendo, Bakwa, Omari you’re probably regretting joining the club,” claimed @AJMORROW01.

“Might regret the attackers we’ve not even got on the bench!? Bakwa, McAtee, Hutchinhson and Kalimuendo must be wondering what’s going on?!” judged @Hillereal.

“Is Kalimuendo really this bad??” wondered @lukeyboy1865, with the striker still yet to get a start since joining Forest and Awoniyi getting a first start of the season ahead of him.