Ange talks up trophies in bristling career defence
Ange Postecoglou has defended his coaching career amid doubts over his Nottingham Forest future, claiming "the story always ends the same, with me and a trophy".
The Forest boss is yet to win any of his seven games in charge since being appointed during the September international break, with the Tricky Trees sitting 17th in the Premier League.
Forest has lost four of its past five Premier League games, drawing the other, and has failed to score in each defeat.
It could fail to score in three consecutive matches in the top-flight for the first time since April 1999 this weekend.
Things are not getting any easier for Postecoglou's side as it hosts high-flying Chelsea in its next match.
Postecoglou lost all four of his Premier League meetings with Chelsea as Tottenham Hotspur manager. The only managers to lose each of their first five games against Chelsea in the competition are Rafael Benitez, Mick McCarthy, Tony Pulis, and Owen Coyle.
Although his time with Spurs ended with silverware in the form of the UEFA Europa League, Postecoglou feels he has been misjudged for his spell in north London.
"I guess, from my perspective, I just don't fit. Not [talking about] here. Just in general," Postecoglou said when asked if he is under pressure at Forest.
"If you look at it through the prism of: I'm a failed manager who is lucky to get this job – I know you're smirking at me, and that's what's being said, and I can find the print where that's being said – then of course, it looks like this manager is under pressure.
"There is an alternative story. I came to the Premier League two years ago, I took over Tottenham, 'Spursy Tottenham'.
"I was told by the chairman at the time, 'This club has to win a trophy. We've tried to bring winners in, Jose [Mourinho] and Antonio [Conte], and it hasn't worked, we need something different'.
"I was slightly offended by that, as I see myself as a winner.
"We finished fifth, I got them back into European football where Tottenham should be. I was in meetings, and people still at that club were in those meetings, where I was told winning a trophy is everything for a football club. That's fine.
"We win a trophy. We shed the tag of being 'Spursy'. It's [UEFA] Champions League football, which brings some rewards, the opportunity to bring in better players. But all I've heard since I finished at Tottenham is I finished 17th last year.
"So if you look at it from that prism of we finished 17th, then yeah, I'm a failed manager who is lucky to get another opportunity.
"This is a different story to tell, and maybe I am not a failed manager, but one if you give time, the story always ends the same with me and a trophy."
