Nottingham Forest head coach Ange Postecoglou watched his side lose 3-0 away at Arsenal on Saturday as his tenure got off to a disastrous start.
In fairness, whether it’s been Steve Cooper, Nuno Espirito Santo or Postecoglou, since winning promotion, Forest have lost every game played at the Emirates Stadium.
Murillo limped off for Forest after 37 minutes and there will now be an anxious wait over whether or not he will be fit for next weekend’s trip to Burnley.
Elliot Anderson shared what Postecoglou said to the team after the 3-0 defeat to the Gunners, and it would appear as though he was keen to maintain a positive outlook on things.
There was, however, a big problem that emerged for Postecoglou and it won’t be long before he has to make some brutal calls as the new Forest head coach.
Morato facing up against Noni Madueke
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Ange Postecoglou must make brutal call involving Morato
In fairness to the Australian head coach, this was a rock and a hard place situation for him, but never in a million years should Morato have been playing at left-back.
Noni Madueke is a man in fine form, and he starred for England during the recent international fixtures. Yesterday, he must have felt like it was his birthday, given the amount of freedom he was given down Morato’s side of the pitch.
Morato moved to centre-back when Murillo limped out of the action, with Neco Williams reverting to left-back and Nicolo Savona making his debut at right-back.
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A £10 million signing from Benfica, Morato did a good job last season in coming on and seeing out games, with the Brazilian having a solid run of games with Forest, not conceding a goal when he was on the pitch.
However, when he starts games, there’s just something about him that feels erratic, and it feels as though he’s always prone to the odd error.
The 23-year-old should have to fight for his place in the team as a centre-back but based on yesterday’s performance, Postecoglou simply can’t play him as a left-back ever again.
Oleksandr Zinchenko now has golden chance at Forest
Although there have been reservations about Zinchenko defensively across his career, the Arsenal loanee should now have a golden chance to play regularly at Forest.
The Ukraine international should get some minutes in the Carabao Cup against Swansea and there is absolutely no need to ever put Morato in the position he found himself in yesterday.
Morato Stats vs Arsenal Total
Minutes 90
Tackles 1
Clearances 3
Who Scored Rating 5.45
Morato stats vs Arsenal
Zinchenko has bags of experience and his ability to drop into midfield could also be a very useful asset for Forest to call upon this season.
Morato starting games in the Premier League just now feels like too much of a risk and perhaps after yesterday’s performance, there is a sense that he’s on borrowed time at the City Ground.