Nottingham Forest were beaten 1-0 by both Udinese and Barcelona in the Friuli Venezia Giulia tournament in Italy, but there were more positives than negatives for Oliver Glasner to consider as the pre-season preparations continued.
Glasner fielded different teams in both 45-minute games, with the team that faced the Spanish side looking more like his strongest XI.
But there were talking points to consider from both fixtures as Forest look to get themselves ready for the visit of Leeds United for the Premier League kick-off on Saturday, August 22, as The Athletic outlines here.
The artist vs the soldier
In his first interviews as a Nottingham Forest player, Xaver Schlager was reluctant to talk about his own qualities.
But in his first public appearance for the club – he had previously scored in the behind-closed-doors 2-1 victory over Portimonense – he firmly underlined everything he had been cajoled into saying about himself.
“I’m a hard-working player,” he said last month. “I also want to play football. I don’t like to kick and rush. Maybe I’m not as skilful as some, dribbling all the time… but I want to play smart, I want to play fast, I want to be quick in my head. The most important thing is I want to make my teammates around me better.”
Schlager already feels like the kind of player that Forest fans will love — and opposition sides will be less keen on, for all the right reasons.
The Austrian was a whirl of energy from start to finish in the 45 minutes he played against Udinese, when it felt as though he almost covered the kind of ground that many midfielders would expect to cover in a full 90.
Glasner may have a choice to make in the centre of the pitch, with James McAtee again starting in a deeper role, alongside Ibrahim Sangare, in the second game.
The former Manchester City man offers a different skill set to Schlager and repeatedly picked out some incisive, dangerous passes. He had real moments of quality but he was not the same kind of destructive pest as the former RB Leipzig player.
It will be interesting to see whether Glasner will prefer the graft of Schlager or the guile of McAtee when the season kicks off — or could it be that some games suit an artist and others a soldier?
A goal that highlights why Forest want Diomande
Forest made significant progress off the pitch on Saturday as a deal was finally secured to sign defender Ousmane Diomande from Sporting CP prior to kick-off. Glasner views the Ivory Coast international as being a potentially key addition to his squad.
And, in the game against Udinese in particular, it was easy to see exactly why.
Glasner believes the 6ft 3in central defender will bring some much-needed physical presence and stature to the Forest ranks. The former Palace manager has been concerned about Forest’s potential fragility from set pieces, with Nikola Milenkovic, Chris Wood, Taiwo Awoniyi, Jair Cunha and Sangare the only players with any substantial height in the dressing room.
Forest have agreed a deal to sign Ousmane Diomande, left, from Sporting CP (Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)
And Glasner may have felt a little additional joy at the prospect of Diomande completing his move to the City Ground in a €40 million deal, following the Udinese goal just before the half-hour mark.
When Callum Hudson-Odoi did not fully track Oumar Solet’s driving run into the box, the Udinese man was able to rise high above Luca Netz in the air to powerfully connect with Nicolo Zaniolo’s corner, delivered towards the far post.
It would be naive to claim that Diomande’s presence alone will immediately stop such goals. But he might be a player who can make them less of a regular occurrence.
Ndoye catches the eye in a No. 10 role
Swiss forward Dan Ndoye was given additional time off after helping his country to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, joining up with his team-mates at the start of the week.
Ndoye managed only one goal and one assist during his debut season with Forest, after joining from Bologna.
But his six appearances in the U.S. for his country – and the two goals he scored – have ensured he has returned looking relatively sharp and confident.
Ndoye played as one of two No 10s within Glasner’s preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, with Morgan Gibbs-White the other, the pair operating behind Igor Jesus. And it was a role that seemed to suit him very well, whether he drifted into wider areas on the right or came more narrowly.
Ndoye had two good chances to score — firing wide with one and seeing the other well saved — and was unlucky not to be awarded a clear-cut penalty.
It was Ndoye’s first Forest appearance in pre-season, and it would be unwise to read too much into it, but there were clear early signs that he could have a role to play in Glasner’s favoured system.
Forest’s Eric Moreira gets a shot away against Udinese (Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)
Forest’s leading light provides a reminder of his quality
Ndoye was not the only Forest forward to look bright.
Gibbs-White was, at times, a joy to watch amid 45 minutes of football in which he often performed more like a Barcelona player than many of the Spanish giants’ teams did.
He rattled the bar with one effort that would have been a goal worthy of gracing any stage and, while playing with swagger and verve, he also set up a fine chance for Igor Jesus. The Brazilian, who was a key figure as Forest reached the semi-final of the Europa League, looked lively in the central striker role, where his movement and work rate stood out.
Murillo challenges Barcelona’s Karim Adeyemi (Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)
Both were two of Forest’s most important players last season and, to add to that group, Neco Williams also cut a rampaging figure down the left. He has always had a significant degree of attacking ambition but it is hard to escape the notion that the wing-back role — and the even greater level of freedom it allows to push forward — might work in his favour. He conjured up some superb deliveries.
The Wales international also came close to scoring a spectacular goal, only to see his dipping volley drop just the wrong side of the post.
Forest were unlucky not to get more out of the Barcelona game but if their key figures can continue to play at the same level when the season starts, they will not be in a bad place.
