Premier League Analysis · Nottingham Forest
Glasner Can Fix Forest's Shape Only If the Club Stops Resetting It
Oliver Glasner has given Nottingham Forest a coherent 3-4-2-1 and recruits who fit it. The Leeds opener should test the connections, not trigger another rush to judgment.
A formation is only the opening promise
Oliver Glasner will begin his first competitive match as Nottingham Forest head coach against Leeds United on Saturday with a 3-4-2-1 that finally gives the squad one clear set of reference points. After a season containing four permanent managers, that coherence is the most important summer signing. It is also the one Forest can ruin fastest if every awkward August passage becomes another referendum on the coach.
Glasner's shape fits the available centre-backs and gives Morgan Gibbs-White two close attacking lanes rather than asking him to invent the entire route to goal. The Guardian's season preview noted positive preseason signs and a strong three-man defensive base. That is encouragement, not a guarantee. Players who spent last season jumping between instructions now have to learn when the outside centre-back advances, when a wing-back releases and who protects the space left behind.
Those connections will occasionally look late. Good systems often do before they become boring, and boring is a compliment here. Forest have supplied enough managerial plot twists for several streaming seasons. The useful drama now should happen near the opposition penalty area.
The recruitment suggests an actual idea
The arrival of Ousmane Diomande for a reported £34 million is more persuasive than a generic promise to be ambitious. He is expected to start in the back three against Leeds, while Xaver Schlager, who worked with Glasner at Wolfsburg, could make his debut in midfield. One adds speed and aerial power to the defensive line; the other already understands the coach's demands. Forest are not merely handing a manager the previous squad and a motivational mug.
That alignment matters because last season's instability was tactical as well as emotional. Forest finished 16th, and the Guardian reported that none of their four permanent coaches left with a positive expected-goal difference. Changing the person on the touchline did not cure the underlying imbalance. It changed the vocabulary while the problem kept speaking.
Glasner therefore deserves to be judged on whether the structure improves repeatable actions. Can Forest press without leaving the midfield detached? Can the back three move possession forward without inviting a desperate recovery run? Can Gibbs-White receive between lines with runners on both sides? A new formation earns credibility when those answers become visible week after week.
Patience is not immunity
The strongest counterargument is obvious: Premier League points are not awarded for architectural sincerity. Forest spent heavily on Diomande, hired a coach who won the FA Cup and Conference League with Crystal Palace, and open at home against a Leeds side they should believe they can beat. Supporters are entitled to expect more than an extended workshop.
Correct. Patience should not protect bad selection, passive pressing or repeated mistakes that the staff refuses to address. Glasner's record and contract do not turn him into a protected landmark. But the club must distinguish between evidence that an idea is wrong and the ordinary friction of installing it. Forest's recent habit has been to treat the second category as if it were the first.
That distinction belongs to the hierarchy as much as the crowd. Glasner previously clashed with decision-makers at Palace over recruitment, and Forest's ownership is famous for urgency. The board recruited players suited to this coach. It should now give those choices enough continuity to reveal whether they were intelligent. Otherwise the project is just expensive speed dating in a tracksuit.
Leeds can test the links, not settle the verdict
Saturday's opener at the City Ground offers a clean first audit. Watch the distances when Forest lose the ball, the timing of Diomande's steps into midfield and whether the two attacking midfielders stay connected to the striker. Those details will say more about Glasner's progress than the novelty of seeing three centre-backs on a lineup graphic.
A win would buy calm, and calm has real value for a club that exhausted itself last season. A draw or defeat would not automatically invalidate the work. The response would matter: does the staff identify the broken connection and repair it for the next match, or does the team retreat into a different idea at the first sign of pressure?
Forest hired Glasner because his football has an identity. The first responsibility is his: make that identity functional. The second belongs to the club: allow a system enough time to become familiar before demanding another rescue. Leeds should begin that measurement, not end it.
2026-2027 season
Premier League standings
| # | Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Brighton and Hove Albion |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 3 | W |
| 2 |  Arsenal |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 3 | W |
| 3 |  Brentford |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 3 | W |
| 4 |  Everton |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 3 | W |
| 5 |  Hull City |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 3 | W |
| 6 |  Manchester City |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 | W |
| 7 |  Ipswich Town |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 | W |
| 8 |  Leeds United |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 | W |
| 9 |  Liverpool |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | D |
| 10 |  Newcastle United |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | D |
| 11 |  Chelsea |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 12 |  Fulham |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 13 |  Sunderland |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | L |
| 14 |  Bournemouth |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | L |
| 15 |  Nottingham Forest |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | L |
| 16 |  Manchester United |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | L |
| 17 |  Crystal Palace |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | L |
| 18 |  Tottenham Hotspur |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 | L |
| 19 |  Coventry City |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 | L |
| 20 |  Aston Villa |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 0 | L |
