Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been publicly urged by Premier League pundits to exercise rare managerial patience with Oliver Glasner, as the Austrian boss finds himself under mounting pressure following a third consecutive Premier League defeat that plunged the Reds into the relegation zone.
Sunday’s heartbreaking 1-0 home loss to Arsenal at the City Ground left Forest sitting 18th in the table with just five points from their opening seven matches.
With only a single victory in all competitions since Glasner’s summer arrival—a solitary 1-0 away win against Aston Villa last month—scrutiny is mounting over whether the notorious “trigger-happy” Greek tycoon will panic.
However, speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day, former Premier League stars Shay Given and Dion Dublin delivered a firm message to the Forest boardroom, insisting that sacking Glasner would be a disastrous mistake.
Pundits Issue Marinakis Plea: “Glasner Will Get It Right”
Reflecting on last season’s chaotic managerial carousel—which saw Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche, and Vítor Pereira all cycle through the City Ground hot seat—Shay Given warned that Glasner’s impressive credentials at Crystal Palace deserve real time to bear fruit:
“He’s a top manager, he proved that at Crystal Palace. But we know the owner, Marinakis, is trigger-happy at times when it comes to the manager, so he’ll be feeling the pressure.”
Former Villa striker Dion Dublin echoed Given’s sentiment, pointing out that Forest were forced to face the champions without injured talisman and chief creator Morgan Gibbs-White:
“He has to be patient this time. No Morgan Gibbs-White makes a massive difference because he’s their catalyst. You’ve got to be patient with a manager like this because he will get it right.”
Heartbreak Against Arsenal: Deflected Strike Seals Frustrating Loss
Despite missing Gibbs-White, Forest held Arsenal at bay for eighty minutes, limiting Mikel Arteta’s side to virtually zero clear-cut opportunities.
However, disaster struck ten minutes from time when Noni Madueke’s deflected effort trickled past Mads Hermansen, handing the visitors all three points despite Forest creating the clearer second-half chances.
Speaking after the final whistle, a visibly frustrated Glasner described the result as “unfair” while making a striking comparison to stock market volatility:
“It feels very harsh. It feels unfair, but we have to accept it. We are missing some bits. But I think the performance in many parts was really good. Defensively, it was very good, maybe on a top level. They had one shot on target, and this one is deflected and then we lose.
“For me personally, it’s a very frustrating result but it was another positive performance… In every single game we have our moments but then we don’t take them. Especially after half-time, we were creating many good situations. Of course, you need to score and take the lead—this is what we can’t do at the moment.”
High-Stakes Friday Night Clapper at Ipswich Town
With Marinakis watching closely, Glasner faces a defining fixture on Friday evening when Nottingham Forest travel to Portman Road to face Gary O’Neil’s Ipswich Town.
Having typically been a slow starter throughout his European coaching career, Glasner desperately needs his forwards to snap their goal drought in Suffolk to ensure Forest climb out of the bottom three before November.
