Ousmane Diomande: The missing piece of the puzzle for Glasner’s back three at Nottingham Forest?

Ousmane Diomande: The missing piece of the puzzle for Glasner’s back three at Nottingham Forest?

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Talk to people who watch Ousmane Diomande regularly and they will tell you he is a bigger fan of duels than Wild Bill Hickok — and that he has an equally impressive success rate.

In a similar mould to Nikola Milenkovic, he is a physical, combative and decisive figure. He is a defender who lives for defending.

Last season he was in the top percentile of players for his tackle success rate in Portugal’s Primeira Liga. Diomande has pace, strength and is comfortable on the ball — whether carrying it at his feet or passing it out from the back. But most of all he is a defender.

And he is the man who Oliver Glasner hopes can bring some of those qualities to Nottingham Forest.

Forest continue to work on a potential £35million ($48.1m) deal to bring the 22-year-old to the City Ground from Sporting CP. When Forest face the Portuguese giants in a friendly in the Algarve on Friday July 31, it is hoped he will have swapped allegiances long before.

The Ivory Coast international has experience of playing in a back four, with Sporting. But he is also very comfortable in a three.  Which is one of the reasons why Glasner has retained an interest in a player who was previously on the Austrian’s radar when he was head coach of Crystal Palace last season.

The message that Glasner has already delivered more than once to the media — that formation is less important than ethos — has been reflected in a far more important environment: within the Forest dressing room.

Glasner and his staff have put together lengthy video presentations to explain the identity he wants his Forest side to have. And it is one that, inescapably, starts with a back three.

Diomande may still be young but he has notched up 149 professional appearances, while collecting 16 international caps. He has won the league title twice with Sporting and was part of the Ivory Coast squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2023. At Forest, he is seen as a missing piece of the jigsaw.

Within the microcosm of a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in Forest’s second pre-season friendly, Glasner got to take a look at five of the six men who will fight it out for a place in his preferred back three.

Murillo was at the Estadio da Nora, but is still in the final stages of recovery from the hamstring problem that sidelined him at the end of last season. In the first half, Jair Cunha, Nikola Milenkovic and Morato formed the trio of central defenders. After the break, as Forest made 11 changes, it was Zach Abbott, Tyler Binden and Omar Richards. All impressed in different ways.

Jair contributed to the Forest goal, pressuring high up the pitch to help win back possession, before advancing purposefully right into the opposition penalty area, where he was tackled as he lined up to shoot. Morgan Gibbs-White was blocked in similar fashion before the ball rebounded for Igor Jesus, who slotted home.

“That was one of the things we have been working on — organising the defence so that we can get pressure on the ball,” said Glasner afterwards, in an interview with journalists.  “In that situation it was exactly what we want. Getting in the right area to win the ball… we do not just do it to defend, we also do it to score a goal.

“Honestly, it (defence) is where we have most of our work to do: the habits. In 60 per cent of the situations, we do well, but in other situations we fall into other habits. We need to work on our consistency and show them in training, so that they get used to how we want to defend.”

Forest regularly used a back three to see out games under Nuno Espirito Santo, but Steve Cooper, the man who led them to promotion in 2022, was the last to frequently use it as a starting point. But academy product Abbott says that, for the players, it does not represent as much of an adjustment as you might imagine.

“There are loads of different tactical bits,” he says. “But formations are all very similar. When you are out there, you are constantly rotating. There are not always clear positions. Even in videos he (Glasner) says to us, ‘Yes, you are playing in a back three — but look at this situation…’ and it is now a back four. It is about how we want to go about playing; about our ethos.

“We just want to play in a way where we dominate the ball and, when we lose possession, we step up and read the game, so that we can get pressure on the ball.”

Abbott does not believe that it will be difficult for the established duo of Murillo and Milenkovic to adapt.  “They read the game so well. It does not matter what the formation is. They are top players,” says Abbott. “These are people I am looking up to and trying to learn from. But it is the reading of the game that is as important as anything else.”

If Diomande signs, he would naturally slot into the right-sided role, next to Milenkovic and Murillo. Then Forest would have Morato and the young trio of Jair, Abbott and Binden — if he does not head out on loan again.

Diomande was spotted when Midtjylland sporting director Kristian Kjaer found himself watching Ivorian league football and thought he saw raw talent. Diomande arrived for a trial without any boots but still impressed, in borrowed footwear, in a friendly against the Greenland national team. He signed for the Danish club in January 2022.

“I have a picture on my phone, it was snowing and he was wearing a big leather jacket and some slippers. One year later, we sold him to Sporting. It was like a fairytale,” said Kjaer in a previous interview with The Athletic.

Forest will hope that fairytale is about to get a fresh chapter at the City Ground.



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