Nottingham Forest will begin the new Premier League season without Ryan Yates and Nicolo Savona.
Oliver Glasner has confirmed that neither player will be part of the matchday squad when Forest welcome Leeds United to the City Ground on Saturday. It will be Glasner’s first competitive game in charge, but he already has a couple of selection problems to deal with.
The Forest boss also admitted there is still plenty of work to do before his team reaches the level he wants.
Yates and Savona both miss out
Yates’ absence will be noticed. The Forest captain missed the final pre-season game against Brest, which ended in a 2-0 win for the Reds.
Glasner confirmed the midfielder has not recovered in time for the opening weekend.
“[The injury list is] Ryan Yates and [Nicolo] Savona,” Glasner said. “These two players won’t make the match day squad.”
Savona’s situation is slightly more complicated.
The defender has been out since undergoing surgery in March and had been expected to be getting closer to a return. That hasn’t happened as quickly as hoped.
Glasner explained that Savona suffered a setback during his recovery.
“To be honest, we thought he should be further along than he is now,” Glasner revealed. “He had a minor setback to be honest, his knee reacted on the load more than we wanted the knee to react.”
The setback has forced the Italian to take a step back in his rehabilitation. He is currently working in the gym again before he can return to outdoor training.
“So we had to make a step back, so now he’s working in the gym again, preparing his knee to go back on the grass. It will take a couple of weeks, I guess.”
Glasner faces a selection headache ahead of Leeds
The good news for Forest is that the injury list is otherwise short.
Glasner says he has 23 fit outfield players available for the Leeds game. That still leaves him with a difficult decision to make, though, because five players will have to miss out.
“We still have 23 fit, on-field players, and mathematics means that five more players can’t make the match day squad,” he admitted.
That’s where pre-season comes into the picture.
Forest have given their squad plenty of opportunities to impress during the summer, including a behind-closed-doors game against Coventry City last week before the Brest fixture.
Glasner now has to decide who has done enough to earn a place.
“We still have a very big squad, but everybody had the chance during pre-season to show that they can help the team win games, and then I have to take a decision tomorrow [about who will miss out].”
The Leeds game marks the beginning of a new chapter at the City Ground, with Glasner taking charge of Forest in a competitive match for the first time.
He will have wanted a fully fit squad for the occasion, but despite the absences of Yates and Savona, Forest still have plenty of options available as they look to start the season strongly.
