Nottingham Forest ‘ignoring reality’ in opening losses – Oliver Glasner

By Jonathan Veal, Press Association

Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner says the club have “ignored reality” after losing to Leeds for the second time in three days.

Forest followed up defeat in Saturday’s Premier League opener with a 2-0 Carabao Cup loss as things have yet to click under the new manager.

They are set to bring in Chelsea striker Liam Delap after agreeing a club-record £45million deal, but Glasner says he is not a “magician”.

“This is a little bit the assessment after six weeks here, that maybe – and not just in the team, it’s maybe in the club – that there’s a little bit of ignoring the reality,” Glasner said.

“Right now, we are far away from where we want to be, and what I’m really convinced in that where we will be.

“The fact is that this team had a relegation battle for nine months. Very turbulent season and it ended with a huge effort to stay in the league, and this is our starting point.

“It’s really very important not to blame anybody because sometimes I tell them facts and they say, ‘Oh, Glasner is complaining’.

“No, no, no. But then maybe your best midfielder (Elliot Anderson) leaves the club and now we expect we compete for European places because Oliver Glasner is in. Sorry, this is what I can’t deliver within six weeks.

“I’m no magician, no messiah, just hard work. That is what we have to do.

“It doesn’t make sense talking about seventh two years ago. It’s hard, it’s tough, but if you ignore the reality then you live in dreamland and this is never the best thing to do.”

On the imminent arrival of Delap, Glasner added: “I can’t talk about a player who is under contract at another team, so we didn’t announce any signings. So that’s why there’s no comment tonight.

“Maybe we have a signing, but I don’t know if they can be involved in Saturday’s game (at Liverpool).”

Before last Saturday, Leeds had not won at the City Ground since 1972, but now they have two victories in just over three days.

They snatched a late 1-0 success in Saturday’s Premier League opener, but were worthy winners on Tuesday after second-half goals from Dan James and James Justin.

Boss Daniel Farke said: “This is what we came for, and this was my main goal.

“You play a cup run to go through. Very happy with the level of the performance, because we had to wait very long for a win here at Nottingham and to do this two times within three days at such a tough ground, this remarkable level of performance was outstanding.

“Saturday was really a tight game, but today I think it’s not in doubt that it was a fully deserved win.”