The Oliver Glasner volcano could not contain the emotional lava of an impending first home Premier League victory any longer.
Nottingham Forest‘s opening goal from Jair Cunha against Manchester City had drawn polite applause and a sedate thumbs-up from the Austrian manager.
Glasner was bubbling below the surface after Liam Delap’s strike went in – dancing a merry jig in his technical area and hoisting his fists in the air.
When Delap rattled in Forest’s third goal there was an eruption of joy from the 52-year-old.
Glasner sprinted down the touchline (well, as best a man in his early fifties can sprint) to join Forest’s players as they mobbed the striker.
“One of my best running stats, I guess,” Glasner joked to BBC Match of the Day after Forest’s 3-1 win over City.
“I will be fatigued tomorrow but I can be because it’s the international break so I can have a rest.”
Forest’s victory was their first in the league at the City Ground this season as Glasner’s philosophy finally translated into that most precious of football commodities: goals.
Perhaps he was on to something when he said his side cannot survive on “flower power”, choosing a left-field comparison of the Woodstock music festival in the 1960s.
Up to this Saturday it had been a tale of frustration.
Despite having the second-most shots in the Premier League this season (152), they had scored the fewest goals (six).
They also had the lowest shot conversion rate (4%) and biggest negative xG (-8.3).
It was telling that at full-time in this match they had scored more goals against City (three) than they had in their previous six home league games combined (two).
It was reflected in their lowly standing in the table.
Forest had the biggest negative difference between points (six) and expected points (15.49), and also the biggest positional difference based on that (19th versus third).
“I think we’ve had better performances in possession because today we rarely had the ball. Regarding the team spirit, the energy, I think it was our best game,” Glasner said.
“The way we play football I think we’ve had many better games but how we defended, how passionately we defended, how tactically smart we defended, it was one of our better games.”
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said the result was a “huge moment in the season” for Forest.
“Glasner’s actually been unlucky in the first part of his Forest tenure in terms of points they’ve got with the performances they’ve had,” Murphy said.
“So that’s a huge deal for him and the club.”
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