Oliver Glasner will lead Nottingham Forest out at the City Ground for the first time on Wednesday, when Bayer Leverkusen visit for a pre-season meeting that doubles as one of the club's final tests before the Premier League begins. It is the first chance for supporters to see him take charge at home, and it comes after Forest have spent the whole summer playing away from the City Ground.
That is why the fixture has drawn fresh attention. Forest have already played seven pre-season friendlies, all of them away from home, including one near Meadow Lane, four in Portugal and two in Italy at the weekend. The City Ground is finally about to enter the picture, first against Bayer Leverkusen and then again on Sunday against Stade Brestois, with the opening league game against Leeds United less than two weeks away.
Glasner said in Udine after the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup that he was excited by what he has seen, especially the work on the training ground and the progress the squad has made. He also asked for patience, saying the team is still at the beginning and that the results have not yet reflected the work. That is the hard edge of this run of games: the atmosphere, he said, is excellent, but the scoreboard has not caught up with the effort.
The head coach pointed to the reasons. Dan Ndoye had only been with the group for five days, while Ibrahim Sangare had been away for 12 or 13 days, and he said it can take three to six months for players to adapt to such a major change in system. That leaves Forest with a clear task in the next few days: use Wednesday's home debut and Sunday's meeting with Stade Brestois to sharpen the side before the Premier League opener against Leeds United.
For Forest, the timing matters because this is the first home glimpse of Glasner's team under real match pressure. For Glasner, it is a chance to see whether the training-ground standards he keeps praising can finally show themselves at the City Ground, where the next two matches should tell a more honest story than the friendlies have so far.
