Following Ruben Amorim’s recent buzzwords of ‘suffer’ and ‘storm,’ Manchester United’s manager can now add ‘defending’ to the list, after a rearguard horror show led to all three Nottingham Forest goals. As Amorim had pointed out before kick-off, the blustery conditions were no excuse, given the protection offered by the Old Trafford stadium, and the fact that André Onana, Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martínez, and Leny Yoro are elite players. However, Amorim’s goalkeeper and three central defenders made critical errors that left United struggling to catch up throughout the match. Despite a strong finish, the finesse needed to engineer a late equalizer was lacking—Martínez’s flashing volley being their closest attempt.
Amorim’s acknowledgment that United are not currently a ‘massive team’ seemed to prepare for performances like this. Judging by Forest’s success, England’s 20-times record champions may remain relatively small for some time longer. Amorim has also spoken about learning more about his players. After both goals in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss at Arsenal were scored from corners, Martínez and De Ligt failed to impress by losing Nikola Milenkovic for Elliot Anderson’s second-minute delivery from the right quadrant. The defender rose for a free header, easily beating the stationary Onana.
The head coach is also at fault for this, as his responsibilities include drilling set-piece resistance. For someone of his stature to oversee three successive goals from corners is a significant mark against him. His selection in midweek was also questionable. After each scoring twice in United’s last home game, a 4-0 trouncing of Everton, Amorim left out Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee at Arsenal and did the same here. Instead, Rasmus Højlund and Alejandro Garnacho were retained in the frontline. Højlund, in for Zirkzee at No 9, missed a golden chance when Bruno Fernandes sprinted forward and tapped to Garnacho, who floated the ball in where the Dane would want. However, jumping, he completely missed a point-blank header, allowing Forest to escape.
As in the opening period at Arsenal, United controlled the ball, pushing their opponents around, and the equalizer came from this. De Ligt found Fernandes, who recycled the ball to Manuel Ugarte. He threaded Garnacho in behind a dawdling rearguard, the Argentinian overran the ball, Matz Sels blocked his effort, and Højlund’s finish hit a gaping goal. However, Leny Yoro then became the last of Amorim’s three centre-backs to be beaten aerially at a set piece, on his full debut. This was a Murillo free-kick spiraled into United’s area: the Frenchman was bested by Ryan Yates, who turned the ball back over. Jota Silva’s header hit the bar.
Inches lower and Amorim would have faced more questions about yet another concession at a dead ball, and there was a further close call when Murillo missed after a delivery from the right. Towards the end of the half, Garnacho fluffed a shot and Fernandes crashed a free-kick off the bar, but these were mere moments, their earlier control now just a memory. Forest’s second goal came in the second minute of the second half and was due to the haplessness of Fernandes and Onana. Aiming for Yoro, United’s captain located Callum Hudson-Odoi instead. The winger passed to Morgan Gibbs-White, and though there was some curl on his shot, this was marginal, yet Onana still allowed the ball through. Two-one soon became 3-1 to the impressive visitors, and this time Yoro, De Ligt, Martínez, and Onana all made mistakes.
It was too simple: Gibbs-White stood the ball up to the far post, Yoro failed to challenge Chris Wood, and his steered header was missed—farcically by De Ligt, Martínez, and Onana, who all looked to blame each other. Amorim, surely disgusted, hauled off Garnacho for Rashford. Just over half an hour remained for United to pull this from the fire, and the change worked instantly. A sublime Fernandes volleyed pass took Amad Diallo into Forest’s area. He waited, returned possession to the Portuguese, and a pirouette and finish into the left corner was admirable. By the end, Zirkzee, Rashford, and Højlund were the front three, but to no avail. It left one wondering why Amorim dropped the first two following their game-winning performances against Everton. Since then, United have lost twice.
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