When Glasner took over at Selhurst Park in February 2024, 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 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.
“Get to know the players and find the right system but the patterns and the habits will be the same as at previous clubs.”
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.
Nuno toyed with a back three on occasion but it is not something this squad has regularly played.
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%.
