Ange Postecoglou has claimed that he has been “pigeon-holed” for playing just one brand of football.
The Australian has just been appointed as Nottingham Forest’s new head coach, replacing Nuno Espirito Santo, who was sacked on Friday due to a tense relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Postecoglou, the former Tottenham manager, was dismissed by Spurs just 16 days after the club’s Europa League triumph over Manchester United in May.
The 60-year-old had led the north Londoners to a 17th-placed finish in the Premier League, and he was replaced by Thomas Frank in the dugout.
Now, in his first interview since becoming Forest boss, said that it had been “misconstrued” that he only plays one way.
“I’ve got to be careful with what I say, because everyone has pigeon-holed me pretty much my whole career,” he said.
“I love winning, I love winning things, that’s what I’ve done. I want the fans to be excited to watch the team play. There’s already an existing mentality within the group of working hard for one another and I want to tap into that. It’s about implementing my own ideas.
“I love my teams to attack, I love my teams to score goals. That’s sometimes misconstrued as me just playing one way.
“The reason I want my teams to play that way is because I love winning things. That’s what I want to do here.”
Postecoglou’s first game in charge comes this weekend, where he will return to north London to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
He then takes his side to Burnley before a trip to Sevilla to take on Real Betis in Forest’s first game of their Europa League campaign.
His first home game at the City Ground will be against Sunderland on Saturday, September 27.
