Nottingham Forest haven’t had the start to the 2026/27 season they were hoping for following the arrival of Oliver Glasner.
Five games in, Glasner’s side have just five points on the board, with the defeat at home to newly promoted Coventry City doing little to lift spirits heading into the international break.
Forest threw everything at the Sky Blues after Jay Dasilva’s goal and thought they had rescued a point late on through Igor Jesus, only for VAR to intervene.
“Very disappointing and very frustrating. But I think everyone could see the players tried everything until the final whistle to get the equaliser,” Glasner said after the game.
“Maybe for the first time I felt the heaviness of last year. It was quiet in the dressing room; everyone expected us to win after the good performance at Villa Park, and playing a promoted team at home in Coventry.
“I could see that we were not so free. We had a bit of weight on our shoulders, especially when we conceded the goal; it was completely unnecessary.
“The players got nervous, the City Ground was nervous. But the effort was there. The players tried and tried, but when you are in a rush, you can get nervous and you make wrong decisions.”
One bright spot for Forest this season has been the form of Morgan Gibbs-White, which has earned him a place in Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad.
Plenty of Forest supporters – and Three Lions fans nationwide for that matter – felt he deserved a spot at the World Cup this summer, but this is his first call-up since September 2025, when he came off the bench against Wales at Wembley.
He’s given Tuchel little choice this time, and the 26 year-old could even get his first start over the next three weeks, with England set to play four Nations League games in that time – a double header against Czechia, a trip to Croatia and a home game against world champions Spain.
Morgan Gibbs-White transfer update
His rising profile is creating a headache for Evangelos Marinakis, though. Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke reports that Gibbs-White is weighing up a push to leave the City Ground at the end of the season. The midfielder is demanding a chance to play Champions League football during his prime years, and there are doubts over whether Forest can offer that.
According to the report, he’d be happy to stay if Forest secure European football again, but is likely to look elsewhere if they don’t.
Several of the Premier League’s leading clubs are said to be ready to offer him a move within the next 12 months, and sources describe the chance to play at the elite European level as “hard to ignore” for the player.
Gibbs-White is already Forest’s highest-paid player, with his contract running until the summer of 2028. Football Insider adds that Forest are doing “everything they can” to keep him, including potentially offering another new deal.
Who could sign Morgan Gibbs-White?
Tottenham Hotspur are the obvious name. Spurs triggered the release clause in his previous contract ahead of last season, only for Gibbs-White to commit his future to Forest instead. Football Insider says their interest hasn’t gone away.
But if Champions League football is what Gibbs-White wants, Tottenham might not be the answer either. Spurs are still without a win after five games, and pundits are already talking about another season spent looking over their shoulders rather than towards the top four. If that doesn’t change, the door to N17 may already be closing, leaving the rest of the queue to battle it out.