Nottinghamshire

Sophie Brown
BBC Sport journalist

Burnley and Nottingham Forest are both licking their wounds going into Saturday's game at Turf Moor.

Burnley have been rocked by back-to-back stoppage-time defeats, the most recent of which against Liverpool last weekend ended their 15-month and 24-game unbeaten run at Turf Moor.

That makes it three defeats in their first four league games of the season, but head coach Scott Parker won't be pressing the panic button just yet.

Burnley kept 30 clean sheets in 46 Championship games last season, equalling an all-time league record that had stood for over 70 years; and there are early signs in this campaign that their deep-lying defence remains well equipped to repel invaders.

They were unlucky to concede a penalty at Manchester United and their diligent and organised defence came within a whisker of shutting out a Liverpool team that had scored in 37 consecutive league matches.

Burnley didn't have a single touch in Liverpool's penalty area in the second half but they put their bodies on the line, blocking 12 shots - the highest such tally in a Premier League game this season.

Parker's side have conceded seven goals – the joint fourth-highest total in the Premier League, which compares favourably with their xG against total of 9.4, the highest of any top-flight side this season.

The last team Liverpool did fail to score against in the league was Nottingham Forest, who are currently getting used to life under new head coach Ange Postecoglou.

Asked after Forest's defeat at Arsenal last weekend about how long it would take him to remould his new team, Postecoglou replied: "No, mate, it won't be months, it won't be weeks – it'll be Wednesday [in the EFL Cup against Swansea]. I can't afford to waste time."

Wednesday saw signs that the work has begun – 10 changes to the starting line-up, with eight of Forest's 13 summer signings making their debuts – but it also revealed that there is plenty to do, as Forest conceded two injury-time goals to lose 3-2.

Forest supporters must hope that the shock result can be partly attributed to a newly formed team not used to playing together. But giving up a lead is something Tottenham fans got used to last season, when Postecoglou's Spurs went ahead in 22 of their 38 Premier League games but ended up winning only 11 of them.

A quirk of the fixture list means Postecoglou's first four matches are all away – including a trip to Real Betis in the Europa League, which he won with Spurs last year. It is two down, two lost so far – the Forest players will need to get the hang of 'Angeball' pretty quickly to ensure the fans are onside when that first home game comes at the end of September.

Millie Sian
BBC Sport journalist

Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Burnley at Turf Moor (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Murillo is "still a doubt" to feature this weekend. The defender has "done some individual work" but is "still a bit sore" so a late decision will be made on his availability.

• He added: "This is the nature of the business we're in. You are always going to get some disruptions along the way, so thankfully it's not too serious. If he doesn't make tomorrow, he should definitely be right for Wednesday."

• There are no fresh injury concerns in the squad, with central midfielder Nicolas Dominguez "hopefully getting integrated into full training" next week after recovering from a knee issue.

• Igor Jesus is having his minutes managed after featuring in the Club World Cup over the summer, but the Brazilian is showing he is "such a hard worker" in training.

• Nottingham Forest "paid the ultimate price" in the final 10 to 15 minutes of their Carabao Cup match against Swansea City, but Postecoglou took comfort in seeing "plenty of evidence that the players are taking the information onboard".

• He elaborated on what he meant: "There was certainly an endeavour for us to be more aggressive with and without the ball. We created as many chances as you possibly could in a game like that, away from home. The defensive work apart from the last 15 minutes was excellent."

• The squad will be trying to "make amends" for their last two Premier League results, "get some points on the board" and "start moving in the right direction on the table" against Burnley.

• On Scott Parker's side only losing one game at Turf Moor in the past 15 months: "There aren't any easy tests in the Premier League now. Scott has done a brilliant job since taking over from Vincent [Kompany]. I love that he's tested himself overseas as well. He is a smart guy and has got them set up really well."

• On whether there is pressure on him to deliver results quickly: "There has been negativity around my arrival since I got to the Premier League - that's the constant space I'm in. It is important we win on Saturday, not to ease the pressure on me but because we have lost our last two games in the Premier League."

• It has been 10 days since Postecoglou took charge at Nottingham Forest and he has already made his own assessment of the club: "It has a very solid foundation. You can see why this club has grown steadily over the last few years - there are quality people here. It would've been a lot more challenging coming in at this point if there was some sort of disconnect between me and the existing staff."

• The players are "very united", despite there being a lot of new players in the dressing room, with all of the summer additions "adapting really well".

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Listen to Postecoglou's news conference on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Radio Nottingham's Forest commentator Colin Fray speaking on the Shut Up And Show More Football podcast:

"Postecoglou will know as a new head coach coming in, the same as for any head coach, that the sooner he gets a win the better. The sooner he gets a win he gets fans onboard and very importantly, players on board with his ideas.

"For Postecoglou, specifically here at Forest, the difficulty for him is he's coming into a side that was really on the up. I know the last game under Nuno against West Ham was shocking. Take that one away, Forest have been a club growing and growing, going up, looking to take the next step. Suddenly, around the time he arrives - and I am not saying he is responsible in any way - they hit a buffer and conceded nine in three games, two games under Postecoglou and one under his predecessor.

"He has come in to a dressing room under a Nuno style. He has to get his ideas across, which are different to Nuno's. He has to get them across quickly. With it being so many away games, he doesn't get much time to work on stuff on the training pitch. He's starting now to need to convince more fans. If you are preaching something to employees in any position and it's not getting results, there will be scepticism.

"So what's his immediate aim? Win. Win a game.

"He made 10 changes against Swansea, with another couple at half time. So there were lots of things tried. What it means is he's now had a look at the vast majority of his squad. I think he's now more in a position for the Burnley game and Betis game going forward to make more sound judgments on what his starting XI for each game is going to be. He has not got far more idea about players.

"But, he needs to get his selections right, so that he wins a game, quickly."

Listen to Shut Up And Show More Football

The latest Shut Up And Show More Football has dropped, with all the reaction to a "damaging defeat" at Swansea City.

David Jackson and Colin Fray are joined by former Nottingham Forest player James Perch to mull over what went wrong in the Carabao Cup third round and discuss Ange Postecoglou's start.

Plus former Reds midfielder Gareth Edds - who played under Ange Postecoglou for the Australia Under-20s - shares his insight on the new boss.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

All season, we are inviting you to send in your questions about Nottingham Forest as part of the BBC's Ask Me Anything service, using this form.

One of the questions this week was about the plans for Forest's stadium so we put it to our reporter Nick Mashiter.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis wants to increase the City Ground capacity to 50,000.

That will have to wait for now but Forest are pushing ahead with plans to expand their home.

The proposals will see the existing Peter Taylor Stand demolished and replaced with a 10,000-seater stand, increasing the City Ground's overall capacity to around 42,000.

Full planning permission was granted by Rushcliffe Borough Council's planning committee in June, with some conditions.

These include paying just over £1m to improve local bus services, £150,000 to upgrade the A60/Cattle Market Road junction and £200,000 for cycle improvements along Lady Bay Bridge.

They must also replace Nottingham Rowing Club's Britannia boathouse, which will be demolished as part of the plans.

It ended a long wait for Forest as they had initially announced expansion plans in 2019, meaning the club had even considered leaving the City Ground

It was originally expected to cost about £94m but an estimate from earlier this year suggested this has risen to £130m while a build date is yet to be announced.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for what you learnt after Forest's 3-2 loss to Swansea and their exit from the League Cup.

Here are some of your comments:

Craig: Very poor appointment of a very poor manager who, though a trier, is totally out of his depth in a top league. Not right for Ange Postecoglou to come out and blame the players for "getting too comfortable" when team selection and subs were the root cause of throwing away a two goal lead against a mid-table Championship team.

Peter: Well, it's only two games so far for Ange, but I'm already getting the feeling his coaching ability is like having the reincarnation of Brian Clough - only in reverse. Being knocked out of one cup competition at the first attempt could be a blessing in disguise - to allow us to focus on a possible relegation battle.

Ben: An ominous start to Ange's reign. It's too early to be hitting the panic button, but certainly worrying signs. Forest played some good passages of football but lacked the clinical intent to push the game out of Swansea's reach. Some very sloppy play at times meant this team looked as un-Nuno as possible by the end.

Edward: Absolute joke. We should have won that. We needed to keep our focus but we lost it.

Bruce: Absolutely no surprise at Swansea. Sack a successful manager when the team is doing well, just before important cup and European matches. Shoot yourself in the foot and watch the new appointee blame everyone but himself. Deja vu.

Matt: I'm not a pessimistic person, and I'm most certainly not a pessimist when it comes to my beloved Forest but I'd rather not be on this 'exciting' Ange-ball rollercoaster. Especially if it's putting us back into the Championship again. It feels like a collapse at the City Ground- I hope I am wrong