EVEN by Nottingham Forest’s standards it’s been a dramatic 24 hours.
The club announced the departure of Nuno Espirito Santo late on Monday night and appointed Ange Postecoglou as head coach by Tuesday lunchtime.
Nuno oversaw 19 league wins last season and guided Forest to a seventh-place finish, which ultimately led to Europa League qualification following Crystal Palace’s demotion.
However, the Portuguese tactician fell out with Edu, the club’s global head of football, and owner Evangelos Marinakis in what proved to be a fatal rift.
The arrival of Postecoglou at the City Ground represents a dramatic change of approach in terms of on-pitch tactics, something that will surely impact Dream Team performance.
Nuno made no secret of the fact he set his team up in hope of a clean sheet first and foremost whereas the ex-Tottenham gaffer is prepared to take considerable risks in an effort to outscore the opposition.
Postecoglou favours a high defensive line and encourages his full-backs to influence the game in both the middle and final thirds.
The 60 year-old Australian ended Spurs’ trophy drought when he delivered the Europa League at the end of the 2024/25 campaign but the North Londoners finished 17th in the Premier League under his watch.
Spurs lost 22 league games and conceded 65 goals in the top flight last season, three more than West Ham.
With Forest set to play six times across the next three Gameweeks, many Dream Team managers would have been eyeing up the likes of Matz Sels (£3.3m), Murillo (£3.7m) and Nikola Milkenkovic (£3.6m) as smart options.
But if Postecoglou sticks to his principles and employs familiar tactics then clean sheets may be harder to come by for Forest assets.
On the flip side, might there be more points on offer for Chris Wood (£4.1m) and the other attack-minded players?
Despite their woeful performance as a collective domestically, several Spurs players provided healthy returns last season because there were plenty of goals and assists to share around.
And the likes of Pedro Porro (£5.1m), Dominic Solanke (£4.5m) and Brennan Johnson (£4.9m) benefited hugely from their Europa League commitments.
Forest are due to start their Europa League campaign in Gameweek 5 when they travel to Real Betis later this month and the additional fixtures are appealing from a Dream Team perspective.
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Postecoglou’s first game in charge will be this Saturday’s trip to Arsenal, a daunting prospect given the Gunners’ home record in recent years.
But September also brings league meetings with Burnley and Sunderland, two favourable match-ups on paper.
Couple these with a Carabao Cup game against Swansea and the aforementioned Europa League fixtures and it’s understandable if Dream Team bosses are still keen on Forest players after the international break.
It just might be the case that the change in dugout personnel means the points are to be had in attack rather than defence.
We’ll find out soon enough.
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