Nottingham Forest: Oliver Glasner on new challenge – ‘No one wants to get divorced’

When Glassner took over at Selhurst Park in February 2024, Palace were 15th, having lost 10 of their previous 17 games under Roy Hodgson.

Coming into the end of the season they finished in 10th place having won – lost six of their last seven games Liverpool, Manchester United And Aston Villa.

He used a back three, something he used with success in Frankfurt, but it wasn’t something Glasner immediately committed to in Forest.

“We’re not here to be Palace 2,” he said.

“Habits and patterns are important, how to attack and defend, the attitude you develop, to create a shared way of playing and understanding what we want to do.

“I told the players I don’t know if we’ll play a back four or a back three, we’ll get the players where they feel comfortable and it’s important they all play in their best positions.

“Get to know the players and find the right system but the patterns and habits will be the same as the previous clubs.”

It seems, though, that Glasner has the right players with Ola Aina and Neko Williams to suit up at wing-back, leaving Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic and Morato as senior central defensive options. Jack Abbott is highly thought of but lacks top-flight experience.

On occasion Nuno played with a back three but that is not something this squad has played regularly.

During the attack at Palace, Glasner inherited a forward line of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Ollis. This time he is joined by Chris Wood, Igor Jesus, Omari Hutchinson, Dan Nodiye and Dylan Bakwa.

Add to that Morgan Gibbs-White and James McAtee, and he has players to suit his style. Hopefully Glasner Forrest will be up the pitch quickly.

His Palace side attacked the fastest (2.00 m/s) of any team in the Premier League last season, with Forest 13th in that table (1.80).

Although Forest have scored more goals and taken more shots than Glasner’s Palace, they could still improve under him.

Both sides struggled to take chances as Forest produced the poor – only Burnley and Tottenham Made worse on average. Palace created good chances under Glassner but couldn’t take them, finishing the season with -17 xG.

Under four managers, Forest played the highest proportion of backwards passes in the Premier League last season, 17.1% of their total, while Palace had the lowest score on that front, with just 14% of their 14,920 passes.

There will be a clear change in the style and manner of attacking the forest. They placed 628 crosses – the second highest – with Palace managing just 417, third-lowest in the division, only above Manchester City and Burnley.

Palace don’t do much passing in the final third of the pitch – more than 500 passes less than Forest last season – but Glasner’s philosophy is not to waste time when his teams get close to goal.

The Eagles created 29 more big chances (98) than Forest (69). Forest still scored more, though, netting 32 to Palace’s 30. Their conversion rate was 43.5%, better than Palace’s 32.7%.