Ange Postecoglou to Al-Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo issue he faces, why Socceroos return could work

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IS THIS HOW IT ALL ENDS FOR ANGE?

In a footballing journey that began at South Melbourne in the mid-1990s and ascended to the heights of the Premier League, one thing Postecoglou has almost never done is take a sideway career move.

He made his name in the A-League with first Brisbane Roar and then Melbourne Victory, winning back-to-back titles with the former.

He became an international manager with Australia, securing a maiden Asian Cup crown, then won yet more titles in Japan with Yokohama.

That success saw him being headhunted by Celtic for a tenure that began with mockery but proved historically successful even for Scotland’s most celebrated club.

A new glass ceiling was broken when Postecoglou took the helm at Tottenham Hotspur in mid-2023, with his early days at the club seeing him named Premier League Manager of the Month three consecutive times, and claiming Manager of the Year honours in February 2024 — halcyon days for sure.

Even after that tenure ended in acrimony, sacked days after breaking Spurs’ trophy drought with Europa League glory, a shift sideways to Nottingham Forest proved Ange remained close to the pinnacle of the world management scene.

Cue a disastrous 39-day tenure, the shortest of any full-time manager in Premier League history (Sam Allardyce was only a Leeds interim in his 30-day nightmare), and an eight-month stint without another gig before Al-Nassr came knocking.

After receiving the rough end of the stick twice in 2025, and turning 61 in August, few could begrudge Ange another chance to bolster his trophy cabinet, bank accounts, and peacefully wind down an unprecedented career — even if the human rights record and accusations of sportswashing levelled at Saudi Arabia in recent years leaves a sour taste.

Still, having been linked to national vacancies with Scotland and Kazakhstan – reports have swirled that he was too expensive for the latter to consider – such a move has historically had the whiff of a retreat.

Certainly few players, and even fewer managers, have used Saudi football to catapult themselves to bigger things.

So whether tactical or permanent, only time will tell.

HOW DOES HE HANDLE THE RONALDO ELEPHANT IN ROOM

Whether in Real Madrid white, Portugal red and green or Al-Nassr yellow and blue, Cristiano Ronaldo has been the centrepiece of every team he has played in for more than two decades.

It carries with it a new challenge for Postecoglou as he heads to Riyadh – never before has he been faced with managing a player so clearly bigger than the team. Harry Kane notably left Spurs before Postecoglou could manage his first game for the club.

Stylistically, Postecoglou’s attacking philosophy should gel well with a team that boasts the twin attacking threats of Ronaldo and Portuguese partner-in-crime João Félix, and sat comfortably first for goals in their title-winning 2025/26 season.

But if the 41-year old champion’s acrimonious falling out with Erik ten Hag during his ill-fated return to Manchester United in 2021 is any indication, Postecoglou may need to tread lightly if he has any plans to spread the load around beyond the No.7.

Further complicating things is Ronaldo’s close relationship with Postecoglou’s predecessor, Jorge Jesus, with the Portuguese manager stepping aside having achieved his goal of winning the title for his countryman.

Ronaldo also returns to clubland having been the centre of intense debate over his seemingly untouchable role for Portugal at the World Cup, with pre-tournament calls for the champion to be benched.

“Ronaldo, if he would be a real team player, he would step down and let the young players flow,” former Ghanaian midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng said on SBS.

“Because Portugal is a better side without him.”

However, those calls fell on deaf ears, with Ronaldo playing the full 90 minutes in four of Portugal’s five games.

The one time he was substituted, late in the team’s thrilling round of 32 win over Croatia, his replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, proved the hero with a 94th-minute winner.

And following the team’s elimination at the hands of Spain in the round of 16, former England striker Chris Sutton didn’t hold back on his criticism of Portuguese manager Roberto Martinez, who resigned immediately after the defeat.

“He’s waddling around the field like a grandad, that’s why Portugal are out,” Sutton said on the BBC.

“Cristiano Ronaldo does nothing – he did nothing.

“What is Roberto Martinez doing? How can you pander to a player so much? His job was to try and win the World Cup and put the best team out for Portugal. Has he done that? Absolutely not.”

Should Postecoglou be of a similar line of thinking concerning Ronaldo’s future in the game, a confrontation would seem inevitable.

The man himself has remained hostile to any criticism, perceived or otherwise, of the latter stages of his glittering career.

“They’ve tried to kill me for 23 years,” he said of media scrutiny on him in the lead-in to Portugal’s loss to Spain, which leaves him with an equal tournament record eight defeats.

“People in Portugal have faith, they never fail us, they’re always on our side, my side. All the rest is rubbish. It doesn’t matter at all.”

It would be a hugely brave call for Postecoglou to do anything against the wishes of a man on a $235 million salary. A potentially career-defining one, even.

CAN ‘ANGEBALL’ SURVIVE IN THE SAUDI HEAT?

The arrival of Ronaldo in 2023 didn’t bring instant success for one of the Pro League’s resident powerhouses, but Postecoglou, unusually, arrives at a club basking in recent success.

Al-Nassr’s 2025/26 title was their first since 2018/19, but despite consistently challenging for the Saudi title, they have historically struggled to take the next step in Asia, with repeat semi-final appearances in the AFC Champions League the sum of their efforts in recent years.

Postecoglou is no stranger to managing a successful club competition run alongside a primary season – he has a Europa League title in his trophy cabinet to attest to that.

Indeed, the similarities to Celtic’s standing in Scotland when he took over in 2021 are stark – a perennially strong team needing an innovative thinker to take the next step upwards.

However, more challenging might be for the Australian to tailor his coaching philosophy to suit the climate he’ll face in Riyadh.

At its core, ‘Angeball’ is fast, attacking, and high-octane. Be prepared to run, fast and for longer than just about anyone else in world football.

Postecoglou’s biggest challenge to begin with, therefore, is how to translate a style well suited to the cooler climes of Britain with the searing heat of the Middle East, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius – hot enough for FIFA to move the entire 2022 World Cup from its traditional mid-year slot to November and December.

Added to that, his star player and the team’s most prized asset will be 42 before the end of his first season in charge.

It’s a curly question, and surely one that will require some refinement to Postecoglou’s typical approach.

Otherwise, it’s easy to see Al-Nassr following on from Spurs’ first season under the Australian, which started in a blaze of glory but gave way to injuries and fatigue, setting into motion a disastrous fall the season after.

… AND CAN WE STILL DARE TO DREAM OF A SOCCEROOS FAIRYTALE?

Australia’s campaign in North America was an exercise in frustration: Following the euphoria of a 2-0 upset over Turkey, a turgid, defence-first style saw the Socceroos score just once more (an own goal) before being eliminated on penalties.

With criticism mounting of Tony Popovic’s performance in his first World Cup at the helm, and Australian supporters going beyond the thrill of merely qualifying for the tournament and beginning to expect more, having Postecoglou in the headlines on the same day as the loss to Egypt felt … intriguing.

Postecoglou copped a brutal ‘Group of Death’ in his first trip to the global stage at the 2014 World Cup, losing all three games but performing creditably in a 2-3 defeat to the Netherlands in particular. More than a decade on, and with stints around the footballing world now under his belt, there’s no question the 60-year old is a more rounded, capable coach to take on the job for a second time somewhere down the line.

Yearning for more has become the prevailing opinion around the Australian footballing fraternity, too, and it puts Popovic in an uncomfortable position.

The Socceroos legend is assured of his position and will lead Australia to next year’s Asian Cup, but will do so with questions around whether he has the tactical nous to develop the style of what is being billed as this nation’s next golden generation — one which could reach maturity for the 2030 World Cup.

Speaking on SBS in the aftermath of the loss to Egypt, former Socceroo Tommy Oar lamented the team’s reliance on ‘individual moment of brilliance’ from several promising youngsters – Jordy Bos and Nestory Irankunda chief among them – over a system that could reliably create opportunities to score.

“If you look at this team and how ‘Popa’ [Popovic] should evolve the team moving forward, I don’t think we create enough opportunities to score goals by design,” Oar said.

“A lot of them are relying on individual moments of brilliance from Bos, Irankunda, [Mo] Toure in the front third, and expecting, I guess you could say miracles from them to get past one or two players.

“There’s no repetition of us having a formula to break down opposition teams and getting better at that formula. That’s something we need to work on.”

Former great Mark Milligan was equally scathing on the Socceroos, faced with a golden opportunity to take the clash with Egypt by the throat, lacked the impetus to seize the moment.

“We saw it in the first half that it felt that Egypt did have vulnerabilities when we were more aggressive playing out,” Milligan said on SBS.

“This group of players is a much better team when playing with that kind of intent, and they got the reward for it – a very, very deserve own goal.

“But from there, we’ve reverted back to what we’ve come to expect from this side, through qualification and through the World Cup.

“Yes, it was disappointing, because, yes, they have good players, world-class players, but we have a fantastic team, fantastic players, a lot of young boys who are very, very promising, and up and coming.”

A team built on solid defence-first foundations, with bright sparks up front, and an entire country crying out for a more positive style to take the next step? If Postecoglou was writing out the ideal team template to come in and work his magic, it wouldn’t be too far from this.

Popovic’s display at the World Cup, having won rave reviews for guiding Australia safely through qualifying after taking the reins in mid-2024, has left plenty clamouring for change, too – in particular the contentious decision to let defenders Harry Souttar and 18-year old Lucas Herrington take penalties in the Socceroos’ shootout disaster.

“No one else will say this – I think he tried to outdo Graham Arnold,” former great Robbie Slater alleged on The Big Sports Breakfast.

“I can’t see any other reason – now, only Tony Popovic will know. I think that’s what this was all about.

“It’s a failed World Cup because of it. Why would you let an 18-year old centre-half [take a penalty] – I don’t know if he’s ever taken one for Vancouver, but I seriously doubt it.

“I feel sorry for Lucas … that stays with you forever.

“When he gets older, he’s going to look back and say “Why did those idiots let me, as an 18-year old, take that penalty?””

Finances aside, Al-Nassr is hardly the most glamorous outpost for a former Premier League head honcho – but if the goal is higher honours further down the line, it’s as good a place as any for him to start rebuilding credentials dented by his Nottingham Forest and Spurs experiences.

And if he has unfinished business with Australian football?

It would be hard for Football Australia to resist at least the temptation of sounding out the country’s greatest ever.