Nottinghamshire

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It was supposed to be a glorious return to Europe at the City Ground which started with such hope and excitement.

It ended with Nottingham Forest fans chanting against their new manager, who was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur in June, and singing in praise of his predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo.

The question before Valdemar Byskov rolled in Midtjylland's late third was one Forest had not expected to be facing so soon - when does a problem become a crisis?

It was swiftly answered as the home fans turned on Ange Postecoglou and called for his dismissal.

Club owner Evangelos Marinakis, whose relationship breakdown with Nuno led to the change of coach, would not have expected calls for such drastic action so early in Australian Postecoglou's reign.

Postecoglou was only appointed on 9 September and has had limited time on the training ground with his new side.

There have been brief glimpses of the quick, snappy football Postecoglou wants from his team, but during Thursday's Europa League defeat there was little for the simmering City Ground faithful to hold on to.

A trip to Newcastle awaits on Sunday in the Premier League before the sanctuary of the international break.

Given this evidence, Postecoglou must quickly find a way to recover from his wretched start or Forest fans may soon be seeing another new face in the dugout.

• Find and follow your Premier League club on BBC Sport

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Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou speaking to TNT Sports following the 3-2 defeat to Midtjylland: "Really disappointing. Just really, really poor goals we conceded in the first half.

"It allowed the opposition to get comfortable in the game.

"That's the story of our last few games. We just let ourselves down in key moments of the game. Nothing organisational just in those moments we have not shown the same desire and determination to the opposition."

On regressing: "I don't know. Progress is us winning games of football and we haven't done that.

"Football has been compelling at times, but you have got to keep winning games of football and that's what we will keep trying to do."

On the Forest fans singing 'you're getting sacked in the morning': "I heard it. They're fans, they want to see their team win, and they're entitled to their opinion.

"Nothing surprises me in football any more."

"We've just got to keep going. There is no hiding in the sport we're in. Got to keep your head up and recover. We have a tough game against Newcastle at the weekend."

Did you know?

• Since Postecoglou took charge of Nottingham Forest for the first time on 13 September, Forest have conceded the most goals of any Premier League side in all competitions (13) and have shipped seven set-piece goals – three more than any other side.

Hear more from Postecoglou on BBC Sounds

Dan Roan
Sports editor

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A decision on whether to scrap the Premier League's controversial Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and adopt an "alternative system" is "coming up", says chief executive Richard Masters.

The current regulations, introduced in 2015-16 to prevent clubs from overspending, allow losses of £105m over a three-year reporting cycle.

However, they have been criticised by several top-flight teams for limiting their ability to invest.

BBC Sport has been told a decision on any changes is likely to be made at a meeting in November.

In February, clubs chose to continue with PSR for the current season.

However a squad cost ratio (SCR) system of financial control was adopted by the Premier League on a shadowing, non-binding basis.

SCR is similar to Uefa's existing financial rules and allows clubs to spend up to a percentage of their total revenues on squad-related costs.

Nine of the league's 20 clubs already have to comply with Uefa's SCR as a result of qualifying for Europe. Both Chelsea and Aston Villa were fined by Uefa in July for breaching the rules.

Asked about SCR at the Leaders sports conference in London, Masters said: "We are talking to our clubs about an alternative system. That's not to say we don't think the PSR system works."

He added: "It's about closer alignment with European regulation, which is squad cost ratio, which is a revenue test. In Uefa, it's now set at 70%. Our system will be 85% because we always want our clubs to have the ability to invest.

"The Premier League has been built on the back of investment in which international capital flows [are] coming in. We don't want that to be to be stifled off."

Read more here

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

What did you make of Forest's display?

Come back on Friday for a selection of your replies

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels, Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Sangaré, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Ndoye, Jesus.

Subs: John, Wood, Kalimuendo, Domínguez, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Boly, Savona, Abbott.

FC Midtjylland XI: Olafsson, Erlic, Diao, Bech, Mbabu, Castillo, Billing, Bak, Simsir, Brumado, Cho.

Subs: Lossl, Lee, Gabriel, Paulinho, Dani Silva, Bravo, Byskov, Franculino, Gogorza, Etim, Osorio, Andreasen

There's a busy night of action across Europe in store, with 18 games in both the Europa League and Conference League, three involving Premier League sides.

• Dynamo Kyiv v Crystal Palace (17:45)

• Feyenoord v Aston Villa (20:00)

• Nottingham Forest v Midtjylland (20:00)

Kick-off times BST

Follow all of the action and reaction here

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Morgan Gibbs-White says it will be an "incredible feeling" to step out on to the City Ground pitch when Nottingham Forest host their first European match in around three decades on Thursday night (20:00 BST).

The Reds are still searching for their first win under new head coach Ange Postecoglou and the England midfielder is hoping it could come against FC Midtjylland on home turf.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Gibbs-White said: "This is what we have worked for and what we feel like we deserve after last season. It will be an incredible feeling to just be under the City Ground lights, knowing that European football is back here.

"Just knowing that we have given back to the fans is something we are really proud of as a club. There is nobody in this city that deserves it more than our fans, they are the ones that have backed us through absolutely everything.

"I expect the players to be bouncing and everyone to be really looking forward to the game. It's going to be a really special night."

When asked about walking out to the Europe League music last week, he replied: "It was a special feeling. I just wish that first game was at home!

"I get little goosebumps thinking back to that moment. As a player, you can't let these moments pass by and you've got to really grab them. It's such a small career so you might never get the opportunity again."

Image source, Getty Images

Today's the day.

European football returns to the City Ground for the first time in almost 30 years as Forest host FC Midtjylland in the Europa League.

Following last week's trip to Real Betis, the Reds now welcome the Danish side for their opening home game of the competition, hoping to pick up their first win under Ange Postecoglou.

So, what are your plans for the day?

Where will you be watching from - and who with?

The build-up starts now.

Send us your plans and photos

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest have been unlucky and the players deserve more for their efforts, according to boss Ange Postecoglou.

The squad have quickly bought into Postecoglou's methods despite the five-game winless start, which was extended after defeat to Sunderland on Saturday.

The Europa League visit of FC Midtjylland on Thursday - the City Ground's first European game since 1996 - represents another chance to get off the mark.

Morgan Gibbs-White has been enthused by Postecoglou's philosophy and the head coach feels they could even have a 100% record.

Postecoglou said: "We've got to be fair to players. I mean, what are they going to say? They're not going to say it's rubbish and 'I hate the manager'.

"I do genuinely think they see what we're trying to do.

"More important to me is what I see in terms of the games, in terms of the training and look I get it people look at the the end result and work their way back from that so when you're not winning they just think that obviously there's something wrong.

"Then they look for things that are wrong but you know the flip side of that is I've got to give feedback to the players, analyse the game and be honest with them.

"When I analyse the games I see they're doing so many things right and in a normal course of events we could have been sitting here and I don't think anyone would begrudge us if we'd won all those games.

"Apart from the Arsenal game I don't think anyone would have said we were lucky if we had won those games.

"There's so many positive signs and I think the players, they're not silly they see that and they understand that but I want them to get the rewards for their hard work."

Image source, Getty Images

Former Nottingham Forest player David Phillips is "absolutely delighted" younger fans are getting to experience European football at Nottingham Forest.

Phillips was part of the 1995-96 Forest squad that competed in the Uefa Cup, where they were knocked out by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham, Phillips said it's been "too long" since fans of the club last got to experience a European competition.

He said: "I'm absolutely delighted. There was the speculation whether they'd been in Europa League or Europa Conference League. It's ended up being the right league for Nottingham Forest.

"I'm absolutely delighted the way the club has moved over the last few years, for them to get into Europe is fantastic. It's been too long and they've made a good start.

"I'm really pleased for them [the new generation of fans]. We can all reminisce about what happened 29 years ago, but there's a lot of fans now that weren't born at the time.

"It's only through history, heritage and parents that they become Forest supporters. They're now getting to experience what others experienced 29 years ago."

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