Oliver Glasner's Nottingham Forest Faces Tough Start Against Leeds

Oliver Glasner stepped out first. New season, new face, same restless club. Nottingham Forest’s fifth head coach in less than a year took in the City Ground from the home technical area, hands in pockets, eyes scanning a squad he hopes to steady.

By the end, he was watching Leeds celebrate in his penalty area.

Anton Stach, quiet for most of the evening, chose his moment with ruthless clarity. With the game drifting towards a goalless stalemate and only a couple of minutes of normal time left, Nikola Milenkovic clipped him on the edge of the box. It was a daft challenge in a dangerous place, the sort of decision that ruins tidy opening-day narratives.

Stach put his laces through the free-kick, whipping it towards Matz Sels’s near post. The Forest goalkeeper read it, got something on it, but not enough. Sels ended up tangled in his right upright, the ball in the net and the Leeds end behind him exploding in noise and limbs.

So much for the smooth start to the Glasner era.

Leeds had carried the greater threat all evening, without ever turning it into a procession. They were compact, aggressive and confident enough in possession to keep Forest at arm’s length for long spells. Clear chances were rare; control was not.

Harry Wilson thought he had announced himself with a debut goal in the first half, darting in behind to finish after latching on to a clever pass from Jayden Bogle. The away fans roared, Wilson wheeled away, but the assistant’s flag went up. Offside. Forest escaped, but the warning was obvious: this Leeds side, backed by ambitious summer business, had the tools to hurt them.

The pattern barely shifted after the break. Leeds’ new £34m defender Tarik Muharemovic almost marked his first appearance with a towering header, climbing highest to meet a cross and sending it towards the top corner. Sels, again, responded, flinging out a strong left hand to tip it away. It was a big save on a tough night, but it only delayed the punishment.

Glasner, who left fellow £34m signing Ousmane Diomande and midfielder Xaver Schlager out of his starting XI, could only puff out his cheeks as Stach’s free-kick finally broke Forest’s resistance and every outfield Leeds player sprinted to celebrate in front of their travelling support. By the time the final whistle blew, the away end, bathed in late-summer sun, was still bouncing. Large swathes of the home sections had already emptied.

Forest’s response across the 90 minutes never truly matched the occasion. Leeds rationed them to half-moments and hopeful crosses in an opener that never quite caught fire for the hosts. Muharemovic, alongside Joe Rodon and Jaka Bijol in a three-man defence, looked assured and unfazed, part of a unit that kept James Trafford largely untroubled.

There was one genuine flicker. Just before the interval, Ola Aina swung in a cross from the right and Neco Williams attacked it, drawing applause from Glasner on the touchline. From the resulting phase, Milenkovic and Jair Cunha combined to head against Trafford’s post after James McAtee recycled the ball back into the box. For a few seconds, Leeds wobbled. Forest couldn’t turn that into anything more.

The pressure, in the end, told at the other end of the pitch.

Glasner will not have long to dwell on the manner of the defeat or the late sting that ruined his first competitive outing. Leeds are back here on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup. Same stadium. Same opponents. A chance, already, to find out how quickly this new Forest era can learn.