International break offers no respite for under-pressure Postecoglou

We are not quite halfway through the October international break but it has already delivered some cracking soundbites and the occasional bit of on-field drama.

On Wednesday, Cape Verde thought they had sealed their spot at next summer's 144-team World Cup until a controversial offside decision denied them a 4-3 victory in Libya.

Now they need to beat Eswatini on Monday and the Cape Verdean government has boarded the bandwagon, granting public employees the afternoon off work in order to support their team.

Steven Gerrard may struggle to relate to such frenzied enthusiasm about a World Cup qualifier. 

Gerrard said this week on Rio Ferdinand's podcast that he had "hated" going away on England duty because he didn't enjoy spending time with players from rival clubs. Such as Rio Ferdinand.

Any vaguely interesting quotes are pounced on by media and fans during a quiet international break and Thomas Tuchel made headlines with his claim that England "will arrive as underdogs" at the World Cup.

Keeping expectations in check is a priority for any England manager. However, Tuchel might be pushing his luck given that European champions Spain are the only team shorter than the Three Lions in the outright betting.

Hopefully bookmakers will be hoodwinked by his wily psychological ploy and there will be some juicy odds available on England progressing further than Cape Verde next summer.

Another eye-catching and ear-grabbing quote came from Ireland striker Troy Parrott, who declared in the build-up to Saturday's clash with Portugal: "It's not over until it's over."

It's not an ideal rallying cry when your team are only two matches into their qualifying campaign but football's narrative unfolds in fast-forward these days.

Take Ange Postecoglou's precarious position at Nottingham Forest, which has also kept us entertained during the Premier League hiatus.

A mere seven games into his career at the City Ground, Postecoglou is long odds-on to be the next top-flight manager to leave.

But just imagine if everyone in sport was judged on how they started rather than how they finished. Graham Gooch was dismissed for a duck in both innings of his Test debut and went on to score 8,900 runs for England.

Dennis Bergkamp failed to score in his first six matches for Arsenal and Thierry Henry's first goal came in his ninth appearance for the Gunners. Now there are statues of both of them outside the Emirates Stadium.

Bournemouth are flying in this season's Premier League and Andoni Iraola is being linked with every job from Manchester United manager to Secretary-General of the United Nations.

But Iraola failed to win any of his first nine league matches in 2023-24 – a run that would have tested the patience of Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis to breaking point.

Of course, Marinakis is not the first club supremo with an eccentric approach to hiring and firing. You hear about Serie A teams going through four managers in six months only to reappoint the bloke who had been in charge originally.

And last term Cologne sacked ex-Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber despite the fact that they were three points clear of their Bundesliga 2 promotion rivals with just two games remaining.

What is the grand plan for Marinakis, though? He must be aware that Postecoglou's plight, just a month after Nuno Espirito Santo was dismissed, doesn't reflect well on the brains who are running the club. 

As Malcolm Tucker tells an under-pressure government minister in 'The Thick Of It': "The PM's not going to sack you after a week. Sacked after 12 months, looks like you've f***ed up. Sacked after a week, looks like he's f***ed up."

So what happens if – when? – Big Ange gets his marching orders? Maybe Forest will appoint Graham Potter but the players won't really get what he's asking them to do and his teams never score any goals. 

Then they'll bring in Sean Dyche, who will keep them up but annoys Forest fans with his brand of football. So they bin off Dychey and get some 34-year-old tactical wunderkind from Barcelona B who's then replaced by a 1970s club legend who refuses to watch Match of the Day ever since the woke BBC got rid of Lawro.

At least Ange can console himself with the thought that, by Thomas Tuchel's logic at least, he's one of the underdogs in the sack-race betting.

Read more:

Forget the long throws – Haaland, Mbappe and Kane are the real entertainment 

Liverpool look the weakest of the three main Premier League title contenders 

Let's go Nuno: What West Ham's new boss needs to get right 

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