At the City Ground, Marcus Rashford’s goal in the second half was insufficient for Manchester United.
Man Utd player ratings vs Nottingham Forest: Two receive a 4/10 and one receives a 3/10 in the 2-1 loss.
Manchester United’s 2023 campaign came to an unfortunate end on Saturday when they were soundly defeated 2-1 by Nottingham Forest.
It was another instance of the Red Devils’ lack of inventiveness and aggressive drive against a Forest team that had only won twice at home this season. Four days after overcoming a two-goal deficit against Aston Villa, Marcus Rashford’s late strike had raised hopes for another spectacular comeback, but minutes later, Morgan Gibbs-White scored on the counter to steal the draw.
At the City Ground, there were only two shots in the first twenty-five minutes of play. However, Forest had more opportunities and, via Ola Aina and Nicolas Dominguez, posed a threat down the left. In the opening half hour, Chris Wood missed with his left, and Danilo and the latter both had two attempts blocked.
In the second half of United’s Boxing Day victory over Villa, their attackers were unstoppable, but in the East Midlands, they appeared to be suffering from a post-Christmas hangover. It was significant that Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s blocked shot in the 33rd minute was United’s first attempt at goal.
A cent for the opinions of Sir Dave Brailsford of Ineos, who was observing from the stands with Sir Alex Ferguson. The display served as an illustration of the amount of work that still needs to be done, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has agreed to pay a hefty sum for his minority interest in United.
Rashford was used in the middle of the field because the team lacked a genuine striker. In the first half, he got the fewest touches of any United player as the midfield moved the ball aimlessly from side to side instead of going behind the well-prepared home defense.
During halftime, Scott McTominay was added in an attempt to change the way the squad played build-up. His first meaningful contribution came when he nearly put the ball in his own goal after smacking it off Anthony Elanga.
But it didn’t take long for the energetic Dominguez to give the home team a well-earned advantage. Down Forest’s right, Elanga and Gonzalo Montiel combined to pick up the Argentine, who was given much too much room in the middle to finish with a sweeping shot.
This season, United has won so many away games that it has required a spurt of inspiration to prevail. Diogo Dalot found one at Bramall Lane in October, and he came dangerously close to adding another when his effort from outside the box struck the post moments before Dominguez’s goal. With a scissor kick goal against Everton, Alejandro Garnacho also stole the show; however, a similar attempt at the City Ground went horribly wrong.
The other method United has lost away from home is through mistakes. On minute 78, Garnacho intercepted a pass from Matt Turner in defense and squared it to the impatient Rashford, who calmly placed the ball past the disappointed Forest goalie to give the Red Devils an equalizer.
But in just four minutes, Gibbs-White scored the winning goal, ending that lead. Turner deflected Christian Eriksen’s strong strike to start the attack, and moments after, Forest’s number 10 sent the ball past Andre Onana. United went into overdrive as their midfield, which has been consistently exposed this season, was unable to come back and gave Gibbs-White plenty of time to choose his position.
During the ten minutes of stoppage time, United made significant progress. Turner made up for his earlier mistake by skillfully blocking a deflected Bruno Fernandes volley and Amad’s drive after the latter cut inside and attempted to score. However, Forest held on to earn the three points as United was unable to get past the American.
This was United’s 14th loss of the season, their highest number before the new year since 1930–1931—a season in which they finished last. This is our rating of the players…
1.Andre Onana—six
had very little to do and saw only two shots on goal the entire night.
2. (off 90) Aaron Wan-Bissaka-4
Defensively uncharacteristically bad, making multiple errors in the back.
3. Varane, Raphael (6)
Despite being at fault for the opening goal and playing Montiel onside, he was one of the better players at the center of defense.
4. Jonny Evans – 6
had a running spat with Wood and withheld a lot of information from him at the back.
5. Diogo Dalot – 5
Dalot didn’t do anything offensively, and Forest’s first goal went against him.
6. Mainoo Kobbie: 5 (off 46)
had less of an impact than other away games, and the midfield player was changed at halftime. At the end of the first half, Mainoo did need treatment, and it’s possible that she took a knock.
7. Eriksen, Christian (4)
lacked the same range of passing that he displayed against Villa and found it difficult to penetrate Forest’s defense.
8. Fernandes, Bruno (2005)
I saw a good deal of the ball, but I didn’t use it much. As usual, the midfield player worked hard to keep possession out of his hands, but he appeared to spend the entire second half berating the referees.
9. Antony—3 out of 54
offered very nothing in the future and, upon being removed, was ridiculed by the home crowd. Off the ball, Antony had his best moments.
Marcus Rashford (10).
found it challenging to participate from a center position and appeared irritated for the whole of the match. In the closing moments, the forward scored a goal with good finishing.
11. Five Alejandro Garnacho
attempted to gain ground down United’s left, but too frequently overran the ball. The winger’s superb interception and assist set up Rashford’s goal.
12. McTominay Scott: 5 (on 46)
didn’t contribute much following his introduction, either defensively or offensively.
13. Amad: 5 (on 54)
had a few lovely touches but other from the saved injury-time shot, didn’t really do anything.
14. On 90, Sergio Reguilon
Leave a Reply