Two days out from the first whistle of the season, the biggest change at the City Ground is not a name on the teamsheet. It is the shape around it. The Nottingham Forest formation that will greet Leeds United on Saturday looks nothing like the one that scrambled the Reds to 16th place last season, and Oliver Glasner has spent his whole pre-season drilling it.
The Austrian, appointed in July after leaving Crystal Palace, has brought his 3-4-2-1 with him. The Guardian’s season preview, published on Thursday, reported that Glasner has introduced the same set-up that brought him success at Selhurst Park, and that there have been positive signs in pre-season even if his players will need time to adapt. That is Forest’s summer in a sentence: one settled idea, at last, after a campaign that burned through four head coaches.
Why the Nottingham Forest formation suits this squad
Will Unwin made the point that matters most in that preview — Forest have three high-quality centre-backs to form the foundation of Glasner’s plan. That is the load-bearing wall of a back three, and it is the part of the squad Evangelos Marinakis has spent on. Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo were already here. Ousmane Diomande arrived from Sporting for a reported £34.3m on 11 August as the window’s marquee signing, with Morato and Jair Cunha behind them. A head coach who wants three specialists rather than two has been handed them.
Further forward, the shape asks two wide midfielders to own an entire touchline, and it asks a pair of number 10s to live in the pockets between an opposition midfield and its back line. Morgan Gibbs-White has been Forest’s best player in exactly that space for three seasons, and the captain now has company: Callum Hudson-Odoi, Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee and Dilane Bakwa are all, in their own ways, auditioning for two shirts. The Guardian also noted that a more settled environment should benefit Dan Ndoye and Bakwa in particular after difficult first years in England.
The piece that is still missing
One striker. That is the job description at the top of a 3-4-2-1, and it is the position the Reds are still shopping for. Chris Wood lines up for the opener at 34, and the same preview was blunt about his injury record and the mileage raising questions over whether he can lead the line for a full campaign. Chelsea’s Liam Delap is of interest, per the Guardian, though the 23-year-old would not come cheap. Arnaud Kalimuendo and Igor Jesus are the in-house options while that plays out.
Glasner has not hidden from any of it. Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham on Thursday, he talked about the new season and the prospect of adding more players before the window shuts, and he sounded like a man enjoying the build-up. “I’m looking forward to a fantastic atmosphere,” he said. There is no European football to juggle this season, which the Guardian argued should help a squad learning a new system — and its writers landed on an average predicted finish of 11th, a long way from the relegation shouts a City Ground great dismissed this week.
Saturday is the first honest test
Pre-season tells a coach whether his players know where to stand. Daniel Farke’s Leeds will tell Glasner whether they know what to do when the plan comes under pressure — and the Tricky Trees go in with Ryan Yates a doubt, which bites harder in a two-man midfield than it would in a three. Kick-off is 15:00 on Saturday 22 August, and our full Forest v Leeds preview and team news has the rest of it.
Forest have not started a season with this much tactical clarity in years. Whether it survives contact is Saturday’s business. For Reds coverage every day, stay with NottinghamForest.Football.
