Nottingham Forest won't remain in a relegation battle, their squad is too good' City Ground legend Stan Collymore backs his old club to climb Premier League table, despite Ange Postecoglou concerns

"Nottingham Forest sit 15th in the Premier League table ahead of tomorrow's home game with Sunderland, having won just one of their first five league matches. The East Midlands club battled relegation in their first two seasons after promotion, finishing 16th and 17th, but shocked everyone by climbing to seventh last season, nearly making the Champions League. The new campaign has started in more difficult fashion, with Nuno Espirito Santo replaced as manager by Ange Postecoglou a fortnight ago."

"Nuno was nine out of 10 for Forest, he made good players superb, saw a gap in the Premier League style, and exploited it and some, the former striker said. Ange Postecoglou (Image credit: Getty Images) Along with that, he was an honest, communicative and much-needed leadership figure at Forest, so I think the timing and reasoning (for his departure) was awful."

"Postecoglou arrived with a very different style of football, promoting a brand of high-pressing football, rather than the low-block, counter-attacking game that the club previously had success with. Forest lost their opening two matches under the Australian, falling to a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, before a 3-2 loss at Championship side Swansea City in the Carabao Cup. They halted that trend with a 1-1 draw at Burnley last week, before a significantly more encouraging result on their Europa League debut at Real Betis, when they led before being pegged back for a 2-2 draw."

Nottingham Forest occupy 15th place after winning only one of their first five Premier League matches. The club rose from early relegation battles in previous seasons to a surprise seventh-place finish last season. Nuno Espirito Santo was replaced by Ange Postecoglou a fortnight ago. Nuno was credited with improving players and exploiting a Premier League style gap, and his departure was criticized for timing and reasoning. Postecoglou introduced a high-pressing approach in place of Forest's prior low-block, counter-attacking game. Early results under the new manager included defeats to Arsenal and Swansea, a draw at Burnley, and a 2-2 Europa League draw at Real Betis, raising concerns about juggling European and domestic commitments.

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