<\/div>\n\u201cMaybe there\u2019s still a chance for Ange, if he so desired, at some stage to go to another club in Europe,\u201d Schwarzer added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a pathway. People do it. Let\u2019s hope he\u2019s still got a pretty long career in management. I hope he ends up back in Europe in one of the big leagues soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwarzer is right. There are big names who have abandoned the Saudi Pro League for a European return.<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson left Al-Ettifaq after half a season, joined Ajax and then made his way back to the Premier League with Brentford before making his recent move to Chelsea.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old even played his way into Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England World Cup squad this year.<\/p>\n
Brazilian superstar Neymar played just three games for Al Hilal in an injury plagued stint before returning to boyhood club Santos and making it to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
It has been done but has been not commonplace among managers.<\/p>\n
Most notably, Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has been out of work since leaving Al-Ettifaq last year.<\/p>\n
Postecoglou will need to be a trailblazer if he is to shake off the tag that the Saudi Pro League is a retirement village.<\/p>\n
It is challenge that the 60-year-old is unlikely to shy away from.<\/p>\n
He blazed a trail for Australian managers by making it to the Premier League, but Al-Nassr will pose a different challenge.<\/p>\n
From South Melbourne and Brisbane Roar to Celtic and Tottenham, Postecoglou has been a figure of rejuvenation.<\/p>\n
Taking over clubs that had been falling short of expectations who needed a manager to shake things up to deliver success.<\/p>\n
It is the first time in his career that Postecoglou is taking over a champion team.<\/p>\n
Previous boss Jorge Jesus departed after only one year saying he had completed his mission of helping Ronaldo win the Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n
In a positive sign for any future Postecoglou ambitions, he was appointed Portugal manager, replacing Roberto Martinez after they were eliminated in the World Cup Round of 16 by eventual champions Spain.<\/p>\n
Maintaining a playing groups\u2019 hunger is something Postecoglou has successfully done before.<\/p>\n
He followed up winning the domestic double at Celtic by winning the domestic treble the following season.<\/p>\n
But building on the momentum already created by someone else will be a significant challenge.<\/p>\n
At least this time around, he has the pre-season to work with the playing group unlike being thrust into the Forest job once the season had begun.<\/p>\n
\u201cAl Nassr fans are sceptical,\u201d Mohammed Fayad, a sports reporter for the Saudi-based Arab News, told Football360 last month.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Ange Postecoglou is now a long way from the English Premier League.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cYou\u2019re going from Jorge Jesus, a serial winner to Ange Postecoglou who, while he does get stuff in his second season, you can\u2019t do that at a big four club in Saudi and tell the club you\u2019re not going to win a trophy in your first season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t believe he\u2019s managed a club (in this situation) that has won a trophy the season before, so how is he going to do better than Jorge Jesus? If he goes into mid-season by the winter and he\u2019s third or fourth in the league, that could get him sacked at Al Nassr.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s such big, big, big shoes he has to fill in terms of Jorge Jesus. It\u2019s (winning) either the league or the AFC Champions League (Elite). There\u2019s no way, I believe, Ange lasts the season if he doesn\u2019t win either of those trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nPSG win back-to-back UEFA Super Cup | 01:34<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nHow Postecoglou manages Ronaldo will be the key to it all.<\/p>\n
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus superstar copped widespread ridicule throughout the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour centre forward has to move, he has to contribute, he has to press, he has to have variation in his play and he doesn\u2019t,\u201d former England international Chris Sutton said on the BBC after Portugal\u2019s loss to Spain.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s waddling around the field like a Grandad, that\u2019s why Portugal are out. Cristiano Ronaldo does nothing. He did nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old\u2019s struggles do not exactly fit the mould of Angeball \u2013 Postecoglou\u2019s high octane, high pressing and exciting preferred playing style.<\/p>\n
The Australian will almost certainly have to tweak his tactics to accommodate Ronaldo.<\/p>\n
Although, football fans may have to wait get a glimpse of how their relationship will work with Arabic daily newspaper Arriyadiyah reporting that Ronaldo will miss Al-Nassr\u2019s opening two games of the season following his wedding.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo returned to training on Thursday, and Postecoglou denied those reports by saying, \u201cRonaldo is always ready\u201d.<\/p>\n
With 1,000 career goals within reach (Ronaldo has found the back of the net 976 times in his career) and Al-Nassr paying him roughly $340 million a season to score goals, the manager will take the fall if the relationship does not pan out.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, Ronaldo could reach his milestone in the blink of an eye if Postecoglou can successfully have his teammates feeding him inside the box.<\/p>\n
The Australian missed out on the chance to work with England captain Harry Kane at Tottenham as he left for Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n
He will no doubt be relishing the chance to form a partnership with a legend of the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing for me is during my whole career, I\u2019ve enjoyed taking on new challenges, new competitions, working with different people and growing from that,\u201d Postecoglou told the club\u2019s media arm shortly after his arrival in the Saudi capital that he was looking forward to the test.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s another opportunity for me to test myself in a new environment and new country with a new team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of ambition too, so I\u2019m glad the club has \u2013 that\u2019s why I\u2019m here. I\u2019ve worked a lot through Asia and come from this part of the world [Australia]. And even when I was in Europe, I always said to people that all the success I\u2019ve had has been harder; just because it is in Asia doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how difficult it is [in] every competition, the challenges. You look at the Saudi league and how much it\u2019s grown in the last few years and now there\u2019s four, five, six clubs that all are very, very competitive and want to win. Champions League Elite is very, very challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nAustralia Cup penalty shootout drams | 01:25<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nPostecoglou is set to have other big challenges ahead of him.<\/p>\n
In his first match in charge, a pre-season friendly, Al-Nassr were beaten by Portuguese outfit Benfica\u2019s B team during a training camp in Lisbon.<\/p>\n
Albeit that was without Ronaldo and other World Cup stars.<\/p>\n
More concerning is what has been happening off the pitch.<\/p>\n
Reports emerged last month that Al-Nassr are in financial trouble.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, who own 75 per cent of the club, have cut back on their spending this year.<\/p>\n
They removed their backing of LIV Golf and with $305 million of debt reportedly hanging over Al-Nassr, the sovereign wealth fund has said no to making new signings until dollars start flowing in from sponsors and via other revenue streams.<\/p>\n
The PIF are allegedly even interested in selling part of the club to private investors.<\/p>\n
It is an unwelcome distraction that will tie Postecoglou\u2019s hands in the transfer market and will draw parallels to his time at Tottenham when long-time owner Daniel Levy was reluctant to open the cheque book during multiple transfer windows.<\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nLionel Messi hints at retirement | 00:47<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nFor a manager who famously won a trophy everywhere he went before Forest, it made things a lot more difficult.<\/p>\n
Not that he is using it an excuse.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the financial situation, Postecoglou promised fans that his tenure will be a thrill ride. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it doesn\u2019t matter, first year, second year, third year. Every year I coach, I want to win things,\u201d he told the club\u2019s website. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not just about winning; it\u2019s about how you win, how you play your football. That is also very important to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited to be here. It\u2019s a privilege and an honour for me to coach such a big club, and we\u2019ll have some fun this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will make an impact. We\u2019ll try and be as successful as possible and we\u2019ll do it in a way that everyone enjoys.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ange Postecoglou\u2019s remarkable next chapter begins this weekend with Al-Nassr welcoming Al Fateh in the early hours of Sunday morning Australian time. The former Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Celtic boss stunned the football world in the hours leading up to the Socceroos\u2019 World Cup clash with the USA in June by joining the Saudi Pro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-257700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}