NOTTINGHAM — Nottingham Forest captain Ryan Yates said the players must also take the blame for their dismal run after the Premier League club sacked manager Ange Postecoglou immediately after yesterday’s 3-0 home loss to Chelsea.

Postecoglou’s miserable 39-day reign at the Midlands side came to an end 20 minutes after the full-time whistle as the Australian became the first Forest manager to fail to win any of his first eight games in charge.

The speed of the dismissal caught even the players off guard as Postecoglou was sacked even before he could fulfil his post-match media duties, with the 60-year-old leaving The City Ground immediately after speaking to the team.

“I’ll be honest. Ange came in after the game, debriefed the game and then I went out to do some running. I came back and news had broke that he had gone,” Yates told BBC Radio.

“Everybody has to take responsibility. I think it would be unfair to pin it on anybody.

“We have to look ourselves in the mirror and dust ourselves down and go again because things in football can change really quickly. That’s what we are going to be thinking about.”

Following other results yesterday, Forest have now slipped into the relegation zone, sitting 18th with five points after eight games — two points behind Burnley in 17th.