Nottingham Forest suffered a heavy defeat against an excellent Arsenal side at the Emirates on Saturday. Martin Zubimendi scored two goals on either side of Viktor Gyokeres's finish to seal the three points for Arsenal. While Postecoglou had addressed how difficult the task at hand would be before the game, the hosts were just too good for his side on the day.
In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou reflected on the disappointing result, while hailing Arsenal's performance:
"It's a disappointing result. Whenever you lose a game of football, it's disappointing. Fair play to them. They're a very good side. Especially here at home. Even if everything's going well, it's still a difficult task to come here."
Arsenal dominated possession right from the start, but Forest were able to keep their shape and keep Arsenal from creating too many chances in the first half hour. Speaking on the positives from the game, the Australian said:
"I think the boys hung in there. At no stage did they give up the fight. Dilane Bakwa, when he came on, was really exciting in his first game. I also liked Dan NDoye’s ability to cause the opposition problems. The bedrock of the team—guys like Milenkovic and Matz Sels—was important today. Neco Williams had a tough job, but when he moved to the left-hand side, I thought he did a really good job for us."
However, he admitted that the second goal, which came 46 seconds into the second half, crushed any hopes they might have had of getting something out of the game.
"We showed small signs towards the end of the first half that we might be able to cause them some problems, but the second goal right after halftime killed the game. From there, they controlled it well and we couldn’t get back into it."
Having been appointed as the club's manager earlier this week, the 60-year-old hardly had any time to prepare for his first game. Acknowledging the players' efforts, he said:
"There’s plenty of encouragement to take, and there’s no one I’d single out as disappointing. That would be unfair on the players. In any walk of life, if you have such a massive disruption and then face such a big challenge straight away, all I can ask for is effort and endeavor. We tried to do a couple of things differently, and I could see they were trying. That’s all I need right now—that effort and willingness. My job now is to give them clarity moving forward so we can play our football."
The former Celtic manager was questioned about how long it will take him to make an impact. When the reporter asked if it would be weeks or months, he said:
"Oh no, mate—it won’t be months, it won’t even be weeks. It’ll be Wednesday. I can’t afford to waste time. This isn’t a project. This football club had a strong season last year, and it needs to be stronger this year. My job is to get us where I want us as quickly as possible. By Wednesday night, you’ll start seeing real principles being embedded. It won’t take long, and I won’t let it take long. We’ll turn it around, because we have an unbelievable opportunity this year to make an impact, and I’m not going to let that slip."
With the defeat at the Emirates, Forest now find themselves 13th in the Premier League, with two losses, a draw, and a win from their four games so far. They now face Swansea in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday.
