Problems for Ange to sort if he stays in Forest hot seat

ANGE Postecoglou has plenty of problems to solve and a great deal of pressure to shed after a difficult start to life at Nottingham Forest.

- By SARAH CLAPSON

There remains a significant question mark over the 60-year-old’s future at the City Ground. Seven games in, he is without a win and has felt the wrath of a substantial number of Reds fans.

How long he will retain the support of owner Evangelos Marinakis is up for debate. Certainly, if Postecoglou remains in post by the end of the international break he will need results to improve quickly.

He has successive home games next up, against Chelsea and then Porto in the Europa League. So what does the under-fire Forest boss need to do to turn the situation around?

Here’s a look at the issues for Postecoglou to address.

Defensive difficulties

The Reds had one of the sturdiest back lines in the Premier League last season. This time around, they are yet to keep a clean sheet and have shipped 12 goals in the League alone - only the current bottom three have a worse record.

As with a few of Forest's problems, the issue had started to rear its head toward the end of last term. But while Ange-ball may be focused on pushing forward, it cannot be completely at the expense of robustness at the back.

Postecoglou adopted a more pragmatic approach against Newcastle United on Sunday. It didn’t earn his team a positive result in the end but it showed he is prepared to adapt.

Sorting out set-pieces has to be top of the to-do list. As an example, the Reds knew the threat that was coming from FC Midtjylland last week but they failed to deal with it and they paid the price.