Man Utd v Nottingham Forest LIVE: Result and reaction after Andre Onana howler costs Ruben Amorim’s side

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The Independent

·7 December 2024

Man Utd v Nottingham Forest LIVE: Result and reaction after Andre Onana howler costs Ruben Amorim’s side

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Ruben Amorim urges Manchester United to 'manage expectations' ahead of Nottingham Forest clash

Manchester United crashed to a 3-2 home defeat against Nottingham Forest as the size of the task facing new boss Ruben Amorim was laid bare.

Goals from Nikola Milenkovic - who headed home inside 90 seconds - Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood secured Forest‘s first win at Old Trafford since 1994.

In what has been a memorable campaign for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, it is also the first time Forest have won league games at Anfield and Old Trafford in the same season. Rasmus Hojlund equalised in the first half and captain Bruno Fernandes reduced the deficit with an excellent strike.

But United were undone by individual errors from goalkeeper Andre Onana and centre-back Lisandro Martinez. After Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Arsenal, United have now lost their last two games and are 13th in the Premier League table.

Manchester United v Nottingham Forest - live updates

Man Utd XI: Onana; Martinez, De Ligt, Yoro; Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amad; Garnacho, Fernandes; Hojlund
Nottingham Forest XI: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Yates, Anderson; Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Jota; Wood
2’ GOAL! A thumping head from Milenkovic hands the visitors the lead [MUN 0-1 NFO]
18’ GOAL! Hojlund with a poacher’s goal to bring United level [MUN 1-1 NFO]
40’ OFF THE BAR! Fernandes with a superb free-kick and perhaps the thinnest of touches from Sels before it crashes off the woodwork [MUN 1-1 NFO]
47’ GOAL! Onana with a howler to let Gibbs-White’s strike through his gloves [MUN 1-2 NFO]
53’ GOAL! Wood’s looping header goes in after a horrid judgement from Martinez [MUN 1-3 NFO]
60’ GOAL! Fernandes slams home from outside the box to give United hope [MUN 2-3 NFO]

Man Utd discover a painful lesson as Ruben Amorim’s honeymoon period ends

A historic victory for a catalytic Portuguese manager at Old Trafford. Just what Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the powerbrokers who headhunted Ruben Amorim imagined, but for one minor detail. The winner was the unfashionable figure of Nuno Espirito Santo, who has steered Nottingham Forest to heights few dared to think they could touch, not their glamorous newcomer. As for Amorim, his honeymoon period seems fleeting. The problems at Manchester United, it appears, could only be concealed for three matches.

Since then, Amorim has suffered back-to-back defeats. If losing at Arsenal had a logic, being beaten by Forest at Old Trafford was the sort of chastening setback that happened all too often in Erik ten Hag’s final 14 months in charge. Amorim’s United displayed familiar flaws and new shortcomings, contributing to their own downfall with individual errors, slow starts and set-piece failings. Much as in Ten Hag’s unravelling, United were too open, too liable to be counter-attacked and left the midfield too empty. Some of this was Ten Hag-style chaos.

Yet while the Dutchman’s team had a multitude of failings, defending dead-ball situations was not a marked weakness. Yet Nikola Milenkovic’s early opener was a third goal United conceded from corners in barely 40 minutes of football, following Arsenal’s double; when Jota Silva headed against the bar and Murillo shot wide after a free kick and a corner respectively, it underlined United have an issue. Meanwhile, Andre Onana had gone from problem to solution, from weak link last autumn to arguably United’s player of this season so far. Then came an unwelcome return to his awful start to his United career, an almost inexplicable blunder for Forest’s second goal. Factor in a similarly needless misjudgement by Lisandro Martinez for the third and United could trace defeat to themselves.

Man Utd discover a painful lesson as Amorim’s honeymoon period ends

Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest: Nuno Espirito Santo’s side capitalised on two blunders from Andre Onana and Lisandro Martinez to condemn the Red Devils to back-to-back defeats

Jack Rathborn7 December 2024 21:00

Ruben Amorim explains decision to substitute Bruno Fernandes

“Bruno was too tired,” Ruben Amorim has explained after the curious decision to remove the Portuguese after his fine goal to spark a comeback.

“I wanted Mason Mount to play that position, Josh to play inside with Rasmus, to have some combinations.

“Leny had to go off in that moment. Then we put Maguire for the set-pieces, to control better, Wood was winning all the first balls.

“We had to win the second ball and Harry in the game he won all the first balls. Sometimes if you want to attack it’s not just strikers.”

Jack Rathborn7 December 2024 20:28

Ruben Amorim reacts to Man Utd loss to Nottingham Forest

"It was a tough game, we started the two halves really bad, it's bad in this context, to pass some calm to the players to do the game we should do. Not a lot of quality, heart, we tried. Not the best way, we suffered but tried to continue our game.

“After half-time, we tried, it's really hard, they scored one with strikers inside the box, we couldn't do it in the end. It's a low block, we need more time to put in the positions, our first goal was a good combination, after the first goal we had a good moment, a lot of players creating chances. We suffered two goals and then went forward without a lot of thinking. We have to address that, but it's a long journey.

“It’s not individual, it’s all the team, we suffered three goals in two games from set-pieces, we spent a lot of time there, but we have to do better. We have to do better in all of these matches.”

Jack Rathborn7 December 2024 20:09