Oliver Glasner sets his stall out with Nottingham Forest XI to face Notts County

New head coach Oliver Glasner has named his starting XI for his first match in charge of Nottingham Forest.

The Austrian officially started work as Reds boss earlier this week when the players reported for pre-season. He has had a few days on the training ground with his new charges and will now get to see them in action.

A friendly against neighbours Notts County at Meadow Lane this afternoon (3pm kick-off) will be Glasner’s managerial debut with Forest. He has five weeks to go before his side’s Premier League opener against Leeds United at the City Ground on August 22.

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Against the Magpies, Glasner has gone with a strong starting XI. A back three of Jair Cunha, Nikola Milenkovic and Morato will line up ahead of goalkeeper Matz Sels.

Ola Aina and Neco Williams will take up the wing-back roles, with Ryan Yates and Morgan Gibbs-White the likely midfield pairing. James McAtee and Omari Hutchinson will provide attacking support for forward Igor Jesus.

Glasner is likely to name a much-changed XI for the second half. John Victor, Nicolas Dominguez, Taiwo Awoniyi, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Eric da Silva Moreira, Luca Netz, Omar Richards, Dilane Bakwa, Tyler Bindon and Zach Abbott are among the substitutes.

Williams and Bindon were in action for their respective nations earlier this summer but have taken up Glasner’s request for those who have been international duty to return earlier than originally planned. Chris Wood, Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare are not named as part of the squad, having recently been in action at the World Cup.

Following today’s match, the Reds will head to Portugal at the start of next week for a 12-day training camp. During their time abroad, they will take on Blackburn Rovers, Vitoria and Sporting Lisbon in friendlies.

They will then be involved in the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia tournament, also featuring Udinese Calcio and Barcelona, in Italy. Games against Bayer Leverkusen and Stade Brestois will complete Forest’s summer programme. It is all with the aim of ensuring they are in peak condition to challenge for a return to European football when the 2026/27 campaign begins.

Glasner is the club’s fifth head coach in the space of a year. He follows in the footsteps of Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira - with the latter having been dismissed earlier in the summer.

Starting XI: Sels; Jair, Milenkovic, Morato; Aina, Yates, Gibbs-White, Williams; McAtee, Jesus, Hutchinson. Subs: John, Dominguez, Awoniyi, Kalimuendo, Moreira, Netz, Richards, Bakwa, Bindon, Abbott, McDonnell, Sinclair, Nwosu, Thompson

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