Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest
Nuno Espírito Santo’s Nottingham Forest secured a memorable victory at Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday evening, consigning Rúben Amorim’s side to consecutive defeats.
Having beaten Liverpool at Anfield already this season, Forest added another scalp at Old Trafford thanks to quick starts to both halves. Meanwhile, Amorim admitted United paid for their mistakes and insists there is much work ahead as he settles into a huge job to turn the Red Devils’ fortunes around.
United dominated possession at 72% and had control for large spells of the match, while their expected goals (XG) of 1.55 compared favourably to Forest’s 0.69, but the visitors benefitted from striking early in each half, while United’s new Portuguese boss was left to count the cost of some woeful individual errors.
Nikola Milenković gave Forest the lead in the 2nd minute, adding to United’s recent issues with set pieces by outjumping Lisandro Martinez to power his header past Andre Onana. United responded well and Rasmus Hojlund’s equaliser (18’) saw the home side go into half time level, with many expecting a big push from Amorim’s men after the re-start.
However, in just the 2nd minute of the second period, Bruno Fernandes ceded possession before Onana completely misjudged a tame long-range effort from Morgan Gibbs-White, which found the net with the United keeper floundering. By the 54th minute it was 3-1, with defender Martinez inexplicably allowing Chris Woods’ looping header to drop inside the far post.
United attempted to rally, but in truth Amorim’s side created little other than a consolation from Fernandes, which the captain started and finished in splendid style. Fernandes was substituted not long after his goal as Amorim explored all options to change the game, but United lost without much of the expected onslaught.
For Nuno’s Forest, who issued Jota Silva a rare Premier League start, the victory moved them up into 5th place to continue a fantastic start to the campaign. United, meanwhile, find themselves in the embarrassing depths of 13th place as the season nears the halfway point. A Manchester derby away at City awaits next weekend, beginning a tough run of fixtures over the next month.
Reaction:
Nuno Espírito Santo:
“There are not too many things to be upset about, the boys did amazing. We had luck in the game, scoring with the first action makes everything different. And after that I think we played good, we were together. We felt United would respond. But I’m happy of course.
“The beginning of the second half was very good for us, the way we recovered the ball so high, achieving the goals, the composure. It was good. The team is growing, improving. We still have things to address. But the road we are going on together is nice.
“Half time was about trying to get the details right. In the first half we were organised, but we were allowed United to break through the middle and immediately go to the wide areas. It has to be the other way around, so it was about adjusting details. After that it’s the players work, belief and quality.”
Rúben Amorim:
“Tough game, we started really bad. In the first play we suffered a goal and it’s hard in this context to fight that. But we then controlled the game, had a lot of situations, improved the movement in the last third. We managed to draw the game, then in half time we were ready to go for the win. Then started again really bad, two goals, then we tried everything, with not a lot of quality. But we tried. We lost the game. Tough game, tough moment but we have to continue the job.
“Onana already saved us a lot of times. When this happens [to Onana] we have to find a way to turn it around and score two goals to help our goalkeeper, the same way that he saved us for example in Ipswich. So we have to continue, we lose as a team, we have to improve in all aspects of the game.
“The corners? When this happens it’s more my fault because I’m responsible and we try to do it in the best way. We did a lot of work in this area because we saw it in Arsenal. It was really hard in this context. When you suffer in the beginning of the game in the first play, it’s really hard to put energy into the team. But we managed to do it, we drew the game and then in the second half, the same thing [happened]..
“It will be a long journey. But we want to win. Because this is a massive club and you feel it that when you lose one game it’s really hard for everybody. I can understand that and I could feel it in the stadium after the first goal. So we understand the context, but we have to keep going and focus on what we need to do and continue doing the same things tomorrow in training.
“I had this and worse in Sporting in the beginning. The feeling for me is the same. For the world it’s completely different because you know Sporting in Portugal but Manchester have a lot more attention. But for me it’s the same. I had this period in Sporting and if you are a little bit experienced in football, this happened with a lot of clubs. And we have to manage to continue to do the same things to improve the team, because this will turn around.
“Subbing Bruno? I understand that Bruno is really dangerous near the box, he scored a goal, but he was tired. I felt Mason Mount is also good in set pieces, he can score also because he’s very technical and we needed fresh legs. If you see the game it was about transitions, if you lose the ball we could suffer another goal and it’s over. So I used all the substitutions. I felt Bruno was a little tired so I tried something near the end.”
By @SeanGillen9
