Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães adds to Postecoglou’s Nottingham...

Ange Postecoglou cut a solitary figure as he stood apart from his players and applauded the Nottingham Forest fans perched high in the Leazes End. His team had just extended their winless run to seven games under his charge yet as the Australian turned on his heel and strode towards the tunnel scratching his head, it seemed a little early for goodbyes.

True, with talks with Forest’s board scheduled for this week, the manager’s future by the Trent seems as opaque as a fog on the Tyne, but it would surely be faintly ridiculous to sack him now, barely a month after succeeding Nuno Espírito Santo.

Creditable performances alone can take a manager only so far but Forest’s latest defeat did feature some much-improved defensive organisation allied to the sort of sensible tactical pragmatism that succeeded in frustrating Newcastle during a low-key first half. Postecoglou looked a man alone at the final whistle but there was nothing to suggest his team have stopped playing for him.

Significantly he deployed a back five for the first time in his Forest tenure; indeed it was only the second time the former Tottenham manager has used this starting system in the Premier League.

Ultimately Newcastle upped their game with an eye-catching goal from Bruno Guimarães and a Nick Woltemade penalty offering Eddie Howe’s team a restorative second league victory of a season they are gradually growing into but it was no walk in the park against that defensive quintet.

Perhaps attempting to change the narrative – or maybe endeavouring to repel a chilly October wind – Postecoglou also modelled a new club coat in the north-east.

At kick-off that padded anorak swaddled him in the manner of a duvet but, on the evidence of his agitated body language, it seemed to be offering precious little comfort.

Although Elliot Anderson at times upstaged even Sandro Tonali in midfield as he reminded everyone why Howe was so reluctant to sell him to Forest last year and Nikola Milenkovic marked Woltemade intelligently, Postecoglou’s constant grimaces reflected his fear that it still would not be quite enough to undo Newcastle.

Even when Nicolò Savona began causing Dan Burn a few problems down the home left and, on one occasion even nutmegged the England defender, Forest’s manager struggled to raise a smile.

At this juncture Woltemade was receiving minimal service to either his feet or his head and, despite considerable buzzing around on Anthony Gordon’s part, Newcastle’s creative department was not quite clicking.

Admittedly it took a fine fingertip save on the part of Matz Sels – once a Newcastle goalkeeper – to keep Joelinton’s header out and the Brazilian midfielder missed a couple of other chances but, generally, the Forest defence held firm.

Given that, since Postecoglou succeeded Nuno last month, the matches have come so thick and fast that there has been precious little time to put his theories into training ground practice it was a decent enough away display.

Or at least it remained so until the suddenly irrepressible Guimarães lifted a curving right-foot shot over Sels and into a top corner from just outside the area. That finish left Postecoglou shaking his head in apparent despair, while wearing the anguished expression of a man who had just lost his house keys.

His players complained of a perceived foul on Morgan Gibbs-White from Guimarães in the preamble but their protests fell on deaf officiating ears and, with Tonali now ascendant in midfield, Anderson was not the only visiting player being put in his place.

By now Postecoglou had exchanged the anorak for a zip-up woolly cardigan with sleeves rolled up. With Forest rarely looking capable of scoring as they struggled to capitalise on rare counterattacks and Newcastle’s tempo heightening he was clearly feeling the heat.

Sure enough, it took another fine save from Sels to keep Tonali’s volleyed cross-shot out before the resultant corner prefaced Woltemade’s half volley lashing the underside of the crossbar.

Sels then made an excellent double save from Malick Thiaw and Harvey Barnes before finally being beaten again from the penalty spot by Woltemade. That spot kick was awarded when Anderson’s mistimed challenge sent Guimarães crashing.

Up stepped the Germany striker to confound the keeper by lifting a rather audacious penalty into the top left-hand corner.

It was Woltemade’s fourth goal for Newcastle since his £70m transfer from Stuttgart in August and made a further mockery of the claims of senior figures at Bayern Munich that Newcastle were “idiots” to pay so much money for a centre-forward whose ability to hold the ball up and use his adhesive touch to link play are already turning him into a Tyneside cult hero.