Nottinghamshire

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Nottingham Forest recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Notts County with goals from Igor Jesus and Arnaud Kalimuendo in their first pre-season match.

New boss Oliver Glasner, who took charge at the start of this month, replacing Vitor Pereira, was pleased with what he saw from his side after four days of training.

Speaking to Forest TV after the victory, external, Glasner said: "It was a very good first test. It was a great atmosphere here against Notts County in front of 15,000 fans and 6,000 Forest fans. It's a fantastic opener for us after four days in training and I'm really pleased with the performance.

"We scored some lovely goals and we defended very well as a team. Some things did not work how we want them to in the future, but after only four days there were lots of positive aspects. I'm really pleased with what the players offered.

"All the details were perfect [for the first goal], Morgan [Gibbs-White's] pass, Igor's movement, Omari [Hutchinson] is in the pocket and tracks the opposition defender out.

"It was a fantastic goal, as was the second one. It's a fantastic cross and we had great runs into the box. It has been one of the topics this week, getting more players into dangerous areas, and I could see it in some parts.

"We've had a good start so now we will continue to work in training."

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Central defender Matt Baker has joined Notts County on a two-year contract with the option of another year in the club's favour.

The 23-year-old, who came through the Stoke City academy, spent three and a half years with Newport County before leaving as a free agent this summer.

"I think here is the perfect place for me," Baker said. "We can get a lot of success going forward in the future and I'm hoping to help towards that."

The Welshman turned down a new contract with Newport, where he was club captain, and the Magpies - newly-promoted to League One - have agreed an undisclosed compensation package with the Exiles due to his age.

When a player under the age of 24 rejects a new contract to move elsewhere, the two clubs must agree a compensation fee.

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

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When Oliver Glasner took over at Selhurst Park in February 2024, Crystal Palace were 15th, having lost 10 of their previous 17 games under Roy Hodgson.

Come the end of the season they finished 10th, winning six of their last seven games - beating Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa.

He utilised a back three, something he used with success at Frankfurt, but it is not something Glasner has immediately promised at Nottingham Forest.

"We are not here to be Palace 2," he said. "The habits and the patterns are important, how to attack and defend, the spirit you create, to create a shared way of playing and understanding of what we want to do.

"I told the players I don't know if we will play a back four or back three. We will get the players where they feel comfortable and it's important they all play in their best positions."

It feels, though, Glasner has the right players, with Ola Aina and Neco Williams a perfect fit for wing-backs, leaving Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic and Morato as the senior central defensive options. Zach Abbott is highly thought of but lacks top-flight experience.

In attack at Palace, Glasner inherited a forward line of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise. This time he has Chris Wood, Igor Jesus, Omari Hutchinson, Dan Nodye and Dilane Bakwa.

Add to that Morgan Gibbs-White and James McAtee, and he has the players to suit his style. Expect Glasner's Forest to get up the pitch quicker.

His Palace side attacked the fastest (2.00 m/s) of any side in the Premier League last season, with Forest 13th in that table (1.80).

Although Forest scored more goals and had more shots than Glasner's Palace, they can still improve under him.

Both sides struggled to take chances as Forest created poor ones - only Burnley and Tottenham created worse on average. Palace created good chances under Glasner but could not take them, ending the season with -17 xG.

Under four managers, Forest played the highest ratio of backwards passes in the Premier League last season, with 17.1% of their total, while Palace had the lowest score on that front, with just 14% of their 14,920 passes.

There will be a clear change in style and the way Forest attack. They put in 628 crosses - the second highest - with Palace managing only 417, the third-lowest in the division, only above Manchester City and Burnley.

Palace did not do much passing in the final third of the pitch - more than 500 passes fewer than Forest last season - but Glasner's philosophy is not to waste time when his teams get close to goal.

The Eagles created 29 more big chances (98) than Forest (69). Forest still scored more, though, netting 32 to Palace's 30. Their conversion rate was 43.5%, better than Palace's 32.7%.

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