Oliver Glasner named his first Nottingham Forest starting XI on the afternoon of his managerial debut, and he did it with a line-up that looked closer to a statement than a gentle introduction. Forest faced Notts County in a 3pm friendly at Meadow Lane, giving supporters their first clear look at how the new head coach wants his team to look five weeks before the Premier League opener against Leeds United.
That first selection matters because Glasner has had only a short time on the training ground since officially beginning work earlier this week, yet he still went with Matz Sels in goal behind a back three of Jair Cunha, Nikola Milenkovic and Morato. Ola Aina and Neco Williams were pushed into wing-back roles, Ryan Yates and Morgan Gibbs-White were the likely midfield pair, and James McAtee and Omari Hutchinson were named to support Igor Jesus. It was a clear shape, and a strong one for a first outing.
The names on the bench told part of the story too. John Victor, Nicolas Dominguez, Taiwo Awoniyi, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Eric da Silva Moreira, Luca Netz, Omar Richards, Dilane Bakwa, Tyler Bindon and Zach Abbott were available as substitutes, while Chris Wood, Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare were not included in the squad. That left Glasner to work with a sizeable group, but not the full set of Forest attackers and midfield options one might have expected for a first public look at the side.
There is a reason the manager has gone in with intent. Forest are not easing into the summer; they are moving through a packed programme that is meant to harden the squad before the season starts on August 22. At the start of next week, the club is due to travel to Portugal for a 12-day training camp, where Blackburn Rovers, Vitoria and Sporting Lisbon are on the schedule, before further games against Bayer Leverkusen and Stade Brestois and a trip to Italy for the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia tournament with Udinese Calcio and Barcelona.
That broader schedule also explains the urgency around Glasner’s first call. Forest have already changed head coach repeatedly, and Glasner arrives as the club’s fifth in the space of a year after Vitor Pereira was dismissed earlier in the summer. Against that backdrop, a strong first XI is not just a team sheet. It is a message that the new regime intends to settle quickly, set a shape and make the next five weeks count.
