Manchester United were beaten 3-2 by Nottingham Forest as Ruben Amorim lost for the first time at Old Trafford.
Nikola Milenkovic headed Forest in front inside two minutes but United responded through Rasmus Hojlund only to gift the lead back to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side early in the second half following a bizarre piece of goalkeeping by Andre Onana.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s swerving shot completely wrong-footed him, finding its way into the net, and when Chris Wood doubled Forest’s advantage soon afterwards, the game looked like it was going away from Ruben Amorim and his players very quickly.
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Chris Wood slips a header past Andre Onana AND Lisandro Martinez at Old Trafford
Bruno Fernandes pulled one back for United with a neat finish but was then substituted and United subsequently lacked the creativity needed to find the equaliser against a resilient Forest team that clung on for their first win at Old Trafford in 30 years.
Nuno’s team are up to fifth in the Premier League table. As for United, they are down in 13th. Amorim had only ever lost back-to-back top-flight league games once before in his coaching career. It has not taken him long to experience that at Manchester United.
Analysing Onana’s huge mistake
Nottingham Forest goalscorer Morgan Gibbs White speaking to Sky Sports:
“I didn’t [think it was going in] at all, to be fair. I don’t want to discredit Onana, he’s an incredible goalkeeper, but when I had the shot, I thought he was going to pick it up.”
Former Man Utd defender Phil Jones to Sky Sports:
“What I will say is: he will be disappointed with that. It will be a tough watch. It’s one of the knuckleball ones, but he should be saving it.
“He’s made a mistake, but he has been one of the better goalkeepers this season.”
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Andre Onana dives completely the wrong way to allow Gibbs-White to put Forest ahead
Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp’s view on the error:
“You can’t defend him there. He’s falling backwards, his balance is wrong, he’s got his weight on his heels.
“I never played in goal, I didn’t even do it in training. But that is fundamentally really bad goalkeeping. You can talk about tactical tweaks all you like, but that goal changed everything. You’re on the back foot.”
Errors undermine Amorim’s plans
Amorim has certainly changed the style of play at United, switching the formation too. They are trying to be more patient but this defeat represents a real setback. There was a noticeable uncertainty, a lack of belief as they chased the game in the latter stages.
At Ipswich, much of the possession was inside their own half. Here, they were able to edge closer to the opposition goal, having 71.6 per cent of the ball. For context, they only had that much possession once under Erik ten Hag – in a defeat to Crystal Palace.
But the lack of creativity was alarming, particularly once Fernandes had been withdrawn. United were no doubt stifled by Nuno’s impressive game-management too. His cautious substitutions left Harry Maguire with time on the ball. He was unable to use it.
Amorim will want to turn United into a team that can dominate the ball with confidence and the example of the first goal – Matthijs de Ligt threading a pass through to prompt the move – will be one that he will point to as evidence that it can be effective.
But what followed was a reminder that this team is still too fragile, prone to inexplicable errors that can undermine the best laid plans. This job will take time to get right. And their next Premier League game is the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium, live on Sky Sports.
