O'Neil: Forest Better Than Their Points Tally Suggests

O'Neil: Forest Better Than Their Points Tally SuggestsThursday, 22nd Oct 2026 18:35

Town manager Gary O’Neil believes Nottingham Forest, who visit Portman Road for Friday evening’s live-on-Sky Premier League clash, are a better side than their position or points tally might currently suggest.

Forest, with former Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner having taken charge in the summer, are currently second-bottom of the table with just five points from seven games.

The Midlanders, who finished 16th last season, four points off the relegation zone, have won one - 2-1 at Aston Villa at the start of September - drawn two and lost four so far during 2026/27, scoring only five goals.

The Tricky Trees have lost their last three, a 1-0 home defeat to Coventry before the international break, a 3-1 loss at Palace on the resumption and a 1-0 reverse to Arsenal at the City Ground on Sunday when they may well have taken something from the match.

And O’Neil says that display was typical of Forest’s season up to now.

“I’ve watched all of their games and they’ve performed far better than their points tally would suggest,” he said.

“They’ve managed to lose football matches on scorelines, but I think if you watch them as if it was a boxing match, you definitely wouldn’t have them as the loser in it.

“They always seem to be the ones that are creating chances. So, I think it’ll be a real big test for us tomorrow evening at home against Nottingham Forest.”

He says Friday’s visitors are very much like new boss Glasner’s previous team, who he took to FA Cup and UEFA Conference League glory.

“I think it’s like watching Crystal Palace, really,” O’Neil added. “They’re literally exactly the same. And it was always a very, very difficult game, you saw the success he had there.

“Obviously, he hasn’t been with the group as long, so they won’t know it as well as the group that he left.

“But just an incredibly difficult style to play against. They’re very low risk, they don’t make loads of short, intricate passes, they’re direct. They defend pretty low with a back five but can jump really aggressively, transition really well.

“It’s been an interesting watch for me this week, trying to get some ideas on how we best go about stopping them from looking like they’re the most dangerous team in the match, even though we will probably have some ball.

“They still find a way, even against Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. They still found a way in all of those games without the ball to still look like a very threatening side.

“So, it will be an interesting challenge for us, one that we feel ready for. Boys are excited, Friday night at Portman Road, under the lights, opportunity to put more points on the table. As we do with every weekend at the moment, we see it as an opportunity.

“But it is a game that is going to take a real good performance from us. So, we’re getting ready for that.”

O’Neil says Town will have to go into the game with an entirely changed approach from the one employed at the Etihad a week ago against Manchester City.

“It’ll be different,” he continued. “I think we’ll still need to be resolute and together and have a good understanding.

“But we won’t be defending low in the pitch as much. It won’t be as dominant from the opposition ball-wise.

“It is really a pretty opposite end of the spectrum game-wise for us. From one preparation where you’re preparing to defend low, keep bodies in the way and try and be the transition team, to facing a very, very direct team, who play forward almost instantly when they regain the ball. The opposite to Manchester City, pretty much. Really, really direct on transition.

“It’s interesting. You only have to watch Oliver on the sidelines because as soon as they win the ball back, his pointing finger comes up and he points straight to the top of the pitch. Literally every clip I’ve watched.

“So it’s obviously something that they work on hard. As soon as they win the ball back, they try and transition to the goal really, really quickly. And it can be difficult to stop.

“So we’re prepped for it, but we need to also go and carry it out and execute. And that is the most difficult bit of the Premier League.”

O’Neil was very impressed with Glasner’s time at Selhurst Park: “He did an excellent job at Crystal Palace. He had some fantastic players, had that football club at a very good moment.

“I remember facing that team. [Eberechi] Eze, [Michael] Olise, [Marc] Guéhi, [Adam] Wharton, [Maxence] Lacroix, some top players in there, you don’t get success without that.

“But the way that he made it look, the way the team played, the success he had in Europe, something that that club hasn’t done before, so an incredible success.

“You can see why I’m sure he’ll be able to take this style that he uses to many, many clubs and be successful because it does look like a well-rounded style that he knows very well.

“Seems like he can get his players to understand it fairly quickly. So a good coach and a good test for me and the team tomorrow.”

Forest’s form on their travels has been better than at home for the last two seasons and that’s been even more the case this term with four points, the Villa win and a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, and all five goals having come on the road with only one point claimed at the City Ground.

That doesn’t surprise O’Neil: “They’re a transition team. As soon as you lose the ball, they go straight into the front three. Their main ways of hurting the opposition are direct play into Liam [Delap] and then trying to launch attacks from there.

“Or, as soon as you lose the ball, they try and get to your goal really, really quickly, which is difficult to stop because you’re going to have the ball and you’re going to lose it at times.

“We’ve had a lot of discussion, a few practises on how we try and deal with that this week, but it won’t be easy. They’re a tough team to stop on transition and from direct play, so it will take a real good performance from us to manage their strengths well.”

Forest are set to have Morgan Gibbs-White back in their squad following a knock and O’Neil says Glasner will be pleased to have him available once again.

“He’s an England international and a top player, always causes problems in every game he plays,” the Blues manager continued.

“He’s bright, physically very good, good tactical understanding, so I’m sure his manager will be delighted to have him back.

“But they’ve got lots of good players. They’ve been in the Premier League for a while now, managed to keep adding each window, spent a good amount of money on good players. Well spent. Spent good money on a new coach.

“We expect Nottingham Forest to be a big challenge for us tomorrow, regardless of who plays and who starts.

“But we also know, as we’ve shown, that we can cause teams problems ourselves. We have our own good players, we have a strong bench. We have a way that we go about it and we’re hopeful that we can be the ones that come out on top tomorrow night.”

Given their start to the season, Glasner might be viewed as the manager under greater pressure going into the game and it was put to O’Neil that he might have the easier team-talk.

“It depends, really,” he reflected. “I guess external pressure and noise from outside, maybe, because you guys, not that you’re all the same, but the media and people outside, supporters, will talk about teams that haven’t started so well.

“But internally, me, I am under pressure every weekend from myself, from trying to do the best for this football club.

“And pressure doesn’t mean you’re worried about your job, it’s just we have to do well. We have to do well, it’s my job to do well.

“Every day I turn up at this place, there’s a pressure on me to make sure that I do well, and that’s where I want to be. That’s exactly why I’m here.

“If I lose tomorrow, I’ll be equally as disappointed as Oliver will if he loses. Regardless of the start we’ve had, regardless of what situation you guys think both camps are in, we need to win tomorrow, the same as we do the week after.

“I’m ready to get us going and I’m looking forward to it. I love doing this, I love doing it, especially here. It’s an incredible place, incredible club, fantastic owners. [CEO and chairman] Mark Ashton, all the guys have been excellent, the players.

“So, just under pressure to do my best for them, really. Just want to make sure that I represent them well each weekend and put a team out there everyone can be proud of.”

O’Neil dismissed the suggestion there is additional pressure on the Blues to pick up another home win having already won twice at Portman Road this term.

“No, there’s excitement,” he insisted. “We know we’re under pressure every week, that’s why we’re here. That’s the nature of what we do. It’s where we want to be.

“Pressure, I hear it used as a negative word or term sometimes and I see it as completely the opposite.

“I think having to manage or play in matches with no pressure probably is more of a negative. To have the privilege to be under pressure every week, be responsible for trying to keep this club up in the Premier League and try and finish as high as we can is where we want to be.

“So it’s a privilege to have that pressure on us each weekend and we’re ready to go tomorrow.

“And it won’t just be us, it won’t just be me, the staff and the players. It’ll be the full force of Portman Road again. So looking forward to having them with us.”

O’Neil is looking for his team to get up and running better than in their last Friday night home game when they found themselves 2-0 behind to Liverpool after nine minutes.

“I think we have to be ready for everything,” he said. “We understand that we want to be ready from the start. We want to start fast, of course we do.

“But if Nottingham Forest score, I’m confident we can come back. And if we score, I’m confident that they’re going to try and come back.

“The start is important and we want to keep the fans with us, and we want to keep them engaged.

“But you can’t guarantee anything. All you can guarantee is that you’re ready to perform, so the lads are ready to perform, I know they are.

“We know exactly what we’re doing tomorrow. Tactically, we know exactly where we are. We know what the start of the game is going to look and feel like. So let’s see what we can do.

“I need us to be really good for all 90, really. So the start is important, but when we get to 80, I’m pretty sure 80 to 95 will be important as well. So just trying to have the group ready for all of it.”

The game looks likely to be played in less than ideal conditions with Storm Austen set to hit Suffolk on Friday.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for strong winds from 10am until 9pm on Friday with wind chill taking temperatures down to -7° overnight in some areas and gale-force gusts of up to 50mph.

O’Neil says he gets given an assessment of the conditions to expect during a match.

“I do get a weather report,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve had it yet for tomorrow. No, well, I wouldn’t have thought so.

“I think it will make the game more difficult in terms of trying to tidy things up and trying to play some nice stuff and it might make it a little bit more hustle and bustle, I guess.

“It’s generally what happens when there’s a bit of bad weather around. But no, no real plans for it, hopefully everyone gets in and out safely and we leave with three points.”

O’Neil seems likely to return to a back four having fielded a three-man defensive line at Manchester City.

Christian Walton will again be in goal with Abdoul Ouattara and Leif Davis the full-backs, and Issa Diop and skipper Dara O’Shea the central defenders with Jacob Greaves dropping out.

Florentino Luis will continue in central midfield alongside Exequiel Palacios with Sasa Lukic still out with his groin injury.

Ahead of them, Abdul Fatawu looks set to return on the right with Julio Enciso the number 10 and Daizen Maeda perhaps getting the nod over Jack Clarke and Jaden Philogene on the left having scored his first goal for the club at the Etihad. Emersonn seems likely to continue as the number nine.

Nottingham Forest have England midfielder Gibbs-White available again after missing the Arsenal match with a knock.

Gibbs-White has trained all week along with central defender Nikola Milenkovic, who was back on the bench against the Gunners, now considered ready to start. One-time Blues target Igor Jesus and Nicolo Savona remain sidelined.

Head coach Glasner insists he’s not too concerned by the lack of goals with his team having plenty of chances.

“I don’t see it as a massive problem because we’re creating enough situations,” he said. “When we look back to last season, we had Morgan, who scored 15 goals, and he scored regularly from March onwards.

“Our second-highest goalscorer was Igor with six goals, everyone else had maybe two or three goals.

“This is why we brought Liam Delap into the attack, but we have to consider that he didn’t play regularly for an entire season.

“I’ve said before, we had three chances in the final 10 minutes [against Arsenal] from three different players, which is positive.

“But yes, on the other side, we need to be more relentless and just take the chances. We can see how close it is.

“Liam scored at Villa Park and against Palace, he hit the ball so perfectly, but it hit the keeper. In this situation, it maybe wasn’t best to have a ‘wow’ shot.

“There are things we need to improve and the players are working hard, but I have no doubts we have enough finishing quality in the team to get goals from the chances we’re creating.

“We need to get Liam and Morgan into those attacking positions, but we also have Dan Ndoye, who is a threat, James McAtee in midfield and Chris Wood. For attackers, you get this goal and things seem to be easier.”

Regarding Town, he added: “Clubs come up now and invest, which it seems you have to do to be competitive in the Premier League.

“Sunderland did it last year and qualified for Europe, but this season they have had a difficult start.

“Ipswich are a good team. They were relegated but came straight back up. They have players with Premier League experience and they have brought in some good new players.

“They’re intense, run a lot and have a very attacking style. Like every team in the Premier League, they’re a good side with a good manager.”

Historically, Forest very much have the upper hand, winning 40 of the games between the two sides (37 in the league), with 20 (18) ending in draws and Town winning 22 (21).

Town have won only one of the last nine games between the clubs, a 4-2 victory at Portman Road in December 2017.

The teams last met at Portman Road in March 2025 when the visitors won 4-2 to push the Blues closer to relegation.

After an even first half hour, three goals in six minutes gave Forest a 3-0 half-time lead, Milenkovic opening the scoring before Anthony Elanga netted twice.

Jens Cajuste pulled one back on 82 with his first goal for the club, Jota Silva grabbed a fourth for the visitors on 87, prior to George Hirst bagging Town’s second in the dying moments.

Earlier the same month at the City Ground, Jack Taylor missed the decisive penalty as the Blues exited the FA Cup at the fifth round stage 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

Hirst gave Town the lead in the 53rd minute, but home skipper Ryan Yates levelled on 68 and neither team was able to find another goal in the remaining minutes and extra-time.

The penalty shootout had been note perfect from both teams until Taylor hit a weak effort to Matz Sels’s left and the keeper saved to set up a quarter-final tie at Brighton for Forest.

At the City Ground in the preceding December in the Premier League, former Town loanee Wood’s penalty four minutes after half-time was enough to give the home side a 1-0 victory.

After a first half in which both sides had efforts cleared off the line and the Blues had the other outstanding opportunity, Sammie Szmodics was controversially adjudged to have fouled Jota by referee Tony Harrington, a decision VAR upheld, and Wood netted confidently from the spot.

Town striker Chuba Akpom spent a month on loan with Forest in the second half of 2014/15, making five starts and two sub appearances without scoring.

Former Blues frontman Liam Delap joined the East Midlanders for an initial £45 million in the summer from Chelsea. Delap spent 2024/25 with Town before moving to the West Londoners for £30 million following relegation, scoring 12 goals in 32 starts and eight sub appearances during his time at Portman Road.

Striker Wood was on loan with the Blues from Leicester in the 2014/15 Championship play-off season but never got fully fit before being recalled by the Foxes having made only three starts and five sub appearances without scoring.

Former Town U18s coach Sam Darlow is now working in the Tricky Trees’ youth set-up, coaching their U21s.

Friday’s referee is Tom Bramall, his assistants Tim Wood and Craig Taylor, and the fourth official Gavin Ward. The VAR official is Constantine Hatzidakis and his assistant James Mainwaring.

Sheffield-based Bramall has shown 20 yellow cards and one red in six games so far this season.

Bramall’s most recent Town match was the 3-0 pre-season friendly victory over Rayo Vallecano at Portman Road.

Prior to that, his last Blues fixture was as a sub referee in the 0-0 draw at Stoke on New Year’s Day 2024.

Having come on in the 31st minute, Bramall cautioned Sam Morsy and Harry Clarke as well as two Potters, one of whom, Jordan Thompson, had already been booked by the first referee, another Sheffield official, James Bell, and was subsequently shown a red card.

Bramall’s most recent full Town competitive match was the 3-1 victory over Millwall at Portman Road earlier that season in which he yellow-carded Massimo Luongo, Nathan Broadhead and three of the visitors.

Prior to that, he was in the middle for the 1-1 home draw with Sunderland in December 2021 in the match prior to Kieran McKenna taking over as boss when John McGreal was in interim charge.

During that match - in which James Norwood netted for Town before an on-loan Broadhead levelled for the Black Cats - he booked Wes Burns as well as three of the visitors.

Bramall was also the man in control of the 2-0 home defeat to Portsmouth in December 2020 in which he booked Mark McGuinness, Jack Lankester and Brett McGavin as well as three Pompey players.

Before that, his only previous Town match was the 2-0 victory over Wigan at Portman Road on the opening day of the 2020/21 League One season in which he booked skipper Luke Chambers and one Latic.

Walton, Scherpen, O’Shea (c), Furlong, Diop, Greaves, Kipre, Davis, Ouattara, Florentino, Palacios, Nunez, Matusiwa, Taylor, Fatawu, McAteer, Enciso, Walle Egeli, Clarke, Mehmeti, Maeda, Philogene, Emersonn, Flemming, Akpom.

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Another well thought out, sensible interview with a manager, Something we've grown accustomed to over recent years, in two different ways. I've not seen Forest play yet this season. I'm assuming OG still favours the " Red Bull " way of playing that he seems to take along with him. Look out for possibly a" box " midfield and most definitely a high speed transaction " vertical " style of play. If the weather doesn't ruin things should be a cracking game.

I fear the game will be ruined by very high winds ( 50mph reportedly ?) .... id be shooting on sight as theres no telling where it will end up.... if we can see it thtough the driving rain! Batton down the hatches guys.....

RetroBlue, if it's really that bad, the ball might be coming back at you :)