Nottingham Forest manager Oliver Glasner says he will not adapt his principles nor approach despite his side’s below-par start to the campaign.
Forest head to Ipswich Town on Friday night sitting second-bottom in the Premier League after just one win from their opening seven games. They head to an Ipswich side riding high in the top half of the table having enjoyed a fine start to life back at English football’s top table.
Glasner’s appointment was meant to bring to an end the revolving door policy at Forest with the club employing no fewer than four head coaches across last season. The Austrian was recruited after a hugely impressive and trophy-laden spell at Crystal Palace and was keen for everyone to keep a calm head despite the poor start.
Speaking on the eve of the Portman Road clash, Glasner admitted: “The results are not satisfying but I won’t change my principles in life or how I see football because this is why I’m sitting here as a Premier League manager.
“I was just told I am the manager with the most trophies won in the last 16, 17 months. Why is there now doubts?
“The feeling is that we deserve more points but the reality is that we don’t. So far the tactical approach has been quite OK in most games, but if things don’t work, you need to do something extra or ‘not on your to do list’ to get the result.”
In stark contrast, Gary O’Neil’s side are already on to three league wins from just seven games played. For context, they only recorded four victories in the entirety of their last stay in the Premier League two seasons ago.
That fast start has led to ample positivity in Suffolk and there is real belief that they can make a far better fist of things than their aforementioned last spell when they picked up just 22 points on their way to an immediate relegation straight back to the Championship.
Despite the excellent start, O’Neil remains cautious of the threat that Forest will pose them.
“I think it will be our toughest game so far, other than those against the biggest teams in the division,” O’Neil said.
“Obviously games against Manchester United, Liverpool, and Manchester City are always going to be tough. But Nottingham Forest, under Glasner, will be a really difficult test for us. They’re always hard to break down, they can frustrate a lot, and they’re dangerous in transition.
“They’re a team who find a way to look dangerous, even when they don’t have much of the ball. It’s a game that will take a really good performance from us to get the result we want.
“We’re going to need everyone bang on it. That’s me, the staff, the players, but also the 30,000 fans in the stadium. We need to keep pushing the whole way through, whether we have a flying start and we’re in front, or we have to dig in and push to the final whistle.
“I know the fans will be right there with us, and we want to put another positive result on the board.”
A win for Forest would propel them right up to 11th spot – albeit ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures – whilst another home victory would see Ipswich riding high in the heady heights of sixth level on points with Liverpool.
