Ange Postecoglou was showered with boos and fans left the City Ground early as Nottingham Forest were stunned 3-2 by Midtjylland in the Europa League on Friday (AEST).
The Australian manager is now winless after six games in charge of the ambitious club and some Forest supporters failed to hide their disgust when Valdemar Byskov scored the Danish club's third goal in the 88th minute.
Dario Osorio won the ball deep in his own half and set off on a long, winding run that Forest failed to halt before the Chilean found Byskov for what proved to be the decisive goal.
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There was late drama in added time when Forest were awarded a penalty which New Zealand's Chris Wood duly converted.
But it was too little, too late as pressure builds on Postecoglou, who looked stunned on the sidelines.
Forest were heavy favourites to win the match and some supporters were heard to chant "you're getting sacked in the morning."
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"Nothing surprises me in football anymore," Postecoglou said when asked about the reaction.
"I heard. They're fans. They want to see their team win and they're entitled to their opinion… I'm a big boy. I can take it.
"We've just got to keep going. There's no hiding in the sport we're in. We've just got to keep our head up and recover."
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Midtjylland opened the scoring in the 18th minute from a free kick.
Mads Bech got to the bouncing ball first, flicked on a header and fellow defender Ousmane Diao snuck in unmarked at the far post to tap in.
Forest levelled four minutes later through Swiss midfielder Dan Ndoye.
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It was far from classic Ange-ball, instead a goal in keeping with former manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
Goalkeeper Matz Sels simply hoofed the ball long down the right wing for Morgan Gibbs-White to chase and the England international sent a perfect first-time square ball to catch Midtjylland off-guard as Ndoye applied a calm finish.
But the applause had barely died down at the City Ground before Midtjylland got back in front just two minutes later.
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This time it was a corner that Forest failed to successfully defend as Bech went from provider to scorer.
Forest substitute Wood then found the back of the net twice in three minutes but both times the hosts were offside.
Elliot Anderson was well offside in the 78th minute before providing the assist to Wood before the Kiwi veteran himself started his run a bit early in the 81st minute.
Postecoglou opened his Forest tenure with a 3-0 Premier League loss to Arsenal before Championship club Swansea City knocked him out of the EFL Cup with a 3-2 upset.
Draws with Burnley (1-1) in the Premier League and Real Betis (2-2) in the Europa League followed before a 1-0 loss to Sunderland.
Postecoglou won the Europa League with Tottenham Hotspur last season before being sacked because of dismal Premier League results.
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Stats provider Opta said Postecoglou was the first permanent Forest manager for 100 years to fail to win any of his first six games in charge of the club.
John Baynes failed to win any of his first seven games in 1925.
Forest registered 22 shots, with nine on target, compared to Midtjylland's eight shots with five on target.
Forest's next match is away to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Monday (AEST).
Newcastle are in strong form after hammering Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 in the Champions League on Thursday (AEST).
Postecoglou is trying to implement his style of possession-based football with a squad used to predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo's counter-attacking style.
Nuno led Forest to seventh place in the Premier League last season but despite those strong results fell out with club owner Evangelos Marinakis.
"We've got a tough game in Newcastle on the weekend and we've just got to make sure we're ready for that," Postecoglou said.
"I don't think I've seen anything that suggests they're (the players) not on board or they're not trying to implement the stuff we're talking about. But again, if we're not dealing with these key moments, which we haven't been in games recently, we're not going to win the games of football we need to win."
Postecoglou is Marinakis' eighth manager since taking the reins of the club in 2017.
Marinakis also owns Greek giants Olympiacos and in 2022 fired manager Carlos Corberan after just 11 games in charge.
"I get people's kind of attitude at the moment particularly towards me, I'm never worried about that, it's not unfamiliar territory for me," Postecoglou said.
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"I really believe we'll get through this period of uncertainty and we'll be on a good path we need."
It was Forest's first home game in European football for 29 years.
Forest claimed back-to-back European Cups – now the Champions League – in 1979-80 under legendary manager Brian Clough.
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Postecoglou found some much needed support from Martin O'Neill, the long-time Premier League manager turned pundit.
"Only six games in. You hardly know the name of the tea lady, forget everything else," O'Neill said.
The Northern Irishman is a Forest legend, having played 285 games for the club and winning two European Cups.
He then managed Forest in 2019 before getting sacked by Marinakis after just 19 games.
