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3 hours ago
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Ange Postecoglou strode towards the tunnel scratching his head and with eyes trained downwards. After seven games as Nottingham Forest’s manager and no wins, his immediate future seems as opaque as a fog on the Tyne.
Although Newcastle were far from their ferocious best, second-half goals from Bruno Guimarães and Nick Woltemade, the latter a penalty, ultimately offered them a restorative second Premier League victory of a season they are gradually growing into.
At kick-off Postecoglou’s padded club anorak swaddled Forest’s manager in the manner of a duvet but, on the evidence of the Australian’s agitated body language, it seemed to be offering him precious little comfort.
No coat could protect Postecoglou from the fear that his winless start to life by the Trent – he arrived on Tyneside as the first Forest manager in 100 years without a victory in his opening six games – would continue before a likely dismissal during the international break. And yet, his side did not do too badly in the course of a defensively stingy first half.
While Elliot Anderson at times upstaged even Sandro Tonali in midfield as he reminded everyone why Eddie Howe was so reluctant to sell the Newcastle academy product, Nikola Milenkovic marked Woltemade out of the game and Nicolò Savona caused Dan Burn a few problems down the home left.
In fairness to Woltemade, who received minimal service to either his feet or head, his team’s creative department was not quite clicking. Admittedly it took a fine fingertip save on the part of Matt Sels – a former Newcastle goalkeeper – to keep Joelinton’s header out and the Brazilian midfielder missed a couple of other chances but, generally, Forest’s defending was much improved.
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Given it is barely a month since Postecoglou succeeded Nuno Espírito Santo and the matches have come so thick and fast that there has been precious little time to put his theories into training-ground practice, all the talk of the impending sack seemed faintly ridiculous. Or at least it did until Guimarães lifted a curving right foot shot over Sels and into a top corner from just outside the area. It left Postecoglou shaking his head in apparent despair, while wearing the anguished expression of a man who had just lost his house keys.
His players complained of a perceived foul on Morgan Gibbs-White by Guimarães in the buildup but their protests fell on deaf officiating ears and, with Tonali now ascendant in midfield, Anderson was not the only visiting player being put in his place.
By now Postecoglou had thrown off his anorak and had rolled the sleeves of his jumper up. With Forest rarely looking capable of scoring and Newcastle threatening to shred their earlier much-enhanced defensive organisation, he was clearly feeling the heat.
It took another fine save from Sels to keep Tonali’s volleyed cross-shot out, before the resultant corner prefaced Woltemade’s half-volley lashing the underside of the bar.
Sels made an excellent double save from Malick Thiaw and Harvey Barnes before finally being beaten again from the penalty spot by Woltemade. That spot-kick was awarded when Anderson’s mistimed challenge sent Guimarães crashing. Up stepped the Germany striker to confound Sels by lifting a rather audacious penalty into the top left corner. It was Woltemade’s fourth goal for Newcastle since his £70m from Stuttgart in August and made a further mockery of the claims of senior figures at Bayern Munich that Newcastle were “idiots” and “foolish” to pay so much money for the centre-forward.
This may not have been Woltemade’s best game in black and white but his ability to hold the ball up and use his adhesive touch to link play is already well on the way to making “WolteWow” a cult hero on Tyneside.
