Oliver Glasner's New Era Begins with Tough Loss for Nottingham Forest

Oliver Glasner stepped out first. Before a ball was kicked, before the noise properly rose, Nottingham Forest’s fifth head coach in less than a year walked into the light of the City Ground and took it all in from the home technical area. A new face, a new voice, a new start.

The script did not survive the final minutes.

With the game drifting towards a stalemate, Anton Stach seized it. A clumsy nibble from Nikola Milenkovic on the edge of the area handed Leeds a late free-kick and Stach, tired of half-chances and half-moments, whipped his effort towards the near post. Matz Sels read it, got something on it, but not enough. The Forest goalkeeper ended up tangled around his right upright as the ball squirmed in and the away end behind him exploded.

Leeds had been the sharper, more dangerous side for most of the afternoon. They did not flood the game with chances, but they controlled the key ones. In the first half, Harry Wilson thought he had marked his debut with a goal, racing on to Jayden Bogle’s clever pass and finishing, only for the assistant’s flag to cut his celebration short. The offside call kept Forest level, but it did not change the pattern.

The visitors kept pushing. After the break, another newcomer, Tarik Muharemovic, almost announced himself in emphatic style. The £34m signing from Sassuolo climbed highest and thumped a header towards the top corner, only for Sels to throw up a strong left hand and claw it away. It was a superb save, the kind that usually anchors a solid opening-day point.

Instead, it merely delayed the blow.

Glasner had already made big calls before kick-off. There was no place in his starting XI for Ousmane Diomande, another £34m recruit, or for Xaver Schlager. As Stach disappeared under a pile of white shirts by the corner flag, every outfield Leeds player joining in, the Forest head coach exhaled hard on the touchline. The away section, bathed in late sun, bounced and roared. Large pockets of red seats elsewhere told their own story; many home fans had seen enough before the final whistle.

Forest’s threat arrived in flashes rather than sustained pressure. Muharemovic, so assured at the other end alongside Joe Rodon and Jaka Bijol in Leeds’s three-man defence, helped keep the hosts largely at arm’s length. When a chance finally did open up, Glasner’s reaction said everything. He applauded sharply as Neco Williams met Ola Aina’s cross from the right just before half-time, one of the rare moments Forest stretched Leeds.

That attack sparked their best spell. From the second phase, James McAtee recycled the ball and swung in another cross. Milenkovic and Jair Cunha rose, the ball crashing against James Trafford’s post with the Leeds goalkeeper beaten. It was as close as Forest came. Trafford, otherwise, had a quiet evening for a man making his own statement at a new club.

Leeds, by contrast, managed the game with the assurance of a side that knows exactly what it wants this season. They restricted Forest to scraps, leaned on the authority of their new signings and, when the opportunity finally appeared, trusted Stach to finish the job.

For Glasner, the new era began not with fireworks but with a grim reminder of how unforgiving this league can be. The turnaround will have to be quick. Leeds are back here on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup, and Forest cannot afford to let the same story play out twice in four days.