Nottingham Forest prepare to visit Ipswich Town on Friday sitting inside the Premier League relegation zone after enduring three consecutive defeats. Despite an underwhelming start to the campaign, internal belief remains strong that manager Oliver Glasner has the team on the correct trajectory.
Internal belief amidst familiar slow start
Glasner arrived at the club in the summer following his departure from Crystal Palace, where he previously delivered silverware in the FA Cup, Community Shield, and Conference League. Despite recent narrow losses to Crystal Palace and Arsenal, the hierarchy retains faith in his methods, with Glasner highlighting that owner Evangelos Marinakis shares his deep ambition for success.
The Austrian manager has drawn comparisons to his tenure at Palace, noting that initial patience was required there as well. Glasner won only one of his opening six games after taking over from Roy Hodgson in February 2024, and subsequently went winless in his first eight matches of the 2024-25 season before ending that campaign with an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City.
Forest are seeking managerial stability following a turbulent period that saw short stints for recent predecessors. Postecoglou lasted just 39 days, Sean Dyche served little over 100 days, and Vitor Pereira was dismissed in June despite guiding the team to safety and a Europa League semi-final.
A set starting line-up is beginning to emerge under Glasner, with Matz Sels, Neco Williams, Dan Ndoye, Murillo, and James McAtee featuring from the start in every league fixture. Conversely, club captain Ryan Yates has yet to feature, Ibrahim Sangare has made a single start, and Ola Aina has surrendered his place to new wing-back Daniel Munoz.
Defender Murillo backed the manager’s approach following the home defeat to Arsenal, emphasizing that the squad is adapting to structural changes.
“We have a good manager and I think we are still getting his ideas,” Murillo said. “We changed everything in our system this season. It is difficult but after three or four months we keep improving and I think we are close to reaching our best.”
“Now we are building our confidence, I think. We have a very good team, experienced players as well. Now we keep going because we know how tough the Premier League is.”
Statistical struggles in front of goal
Forest’s primary difficulty this season has been converting opportunities into goals, particularly at the City Ground where they are yet to score in the Premier League. The team has managed just eight home league goals during 2026, half of which came during a single match against Burnley in April, leaving them on an eight-hour and 26-minute drought without a home goal.
Across the entire division, Forest have recorded 120 shots—trailing only Manchester United’s 138 and Brighton’s 125—but have hit the target on only 25 occasions. This has resulted in a conversion rate of 4.17%, which represents the lowest figure in the Premier League.
Additionally, Forest’s tally of five goals sits alongside a league-worst expected goals differential of -6.20 xG. Summer signing Rory Delap, who joined for £50m, has suffered from the team’s lack of clinical edge, having seen a close-range attempt saved by Walter Benitez against Palace and an injury-time shot blocked by Ezri Konsa against Arsenal.
“Every team in the Premier League has the quality to come back into a game to score a goal,” Glasner explained. “When you play the champions, you don’t have seven, eight or nine moments like we had at Palace. You have two or three or four, and if you don’t take it, you have always the chance to lose the game.”
Glasner maintained that the squad must rely on internal unity to navigate their current sequence of results.
“We are the only ones who can change it,” Glasner added. “I told the players this is a tough moment and in tough moments in life there’s just one way to go through it, you need your family, you need your your friends and you need to stick together and stay positive”
Source: BBC Sport
