Manchester United (A) 07/12/24

 

Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest 

Hojlund 18'                                     Milenkovic 2'

Fernandes 61'                                Gibbs-White 47'

                                                          Wood 54'

 

Forest hadn’t won at Old Trafford in 30 years. Forest had never won at both Anfield and Old Trafford in the same season in their history. A Forest manager hadn’t beaten Man United in their first 2 league games against them in 114 years. All of this was about to change.

The Reds were heading back to Manchester just 4 days after their 3-0 defeat to the blue side of the city. As for United, their previous game saw them lose 2-0 away at Arsenal but the Red Devils’ fans remained optimistic as new manager, Ruben Amorim, looked to make his mark. As for the Forest faithful, they were silently confident after the 2 sides last meeting ended in a 2-1 win for the Reds. History was on the hosts’ side as in 6 of the last 7 meetings between both sides at ‘The Theatre of Dreams’, United have ended victorious.

Nuno and his men had been doing their research when it came to exploiting United’s poor set piece defending. Both of Arsenal’s goals, just days ago, came from corners and yet again, United were picking the ball out of their own net because of their dire defending from a dead ball situation. Forest won a corner just a minute in on the right. Elliot Anderson crossed in a delightful ball and Milenkovic leapt up to head it past a helpless Onana. Lisandro Martinez was supposed to marking the Serb but could only slide down him instead. This was Milenkovic’s first goal for the Reds and the fastest goal scored by an away team at Old Trafford since… Forest last season!

United reacted well, creating their best chances through Hojlund and Martinez. Forest stayed in their shape, not allowing them to have any real opportunities but the equaliser did come just before the 20^th minute mark. Ugarte drove the hosts up the pitch and played the ball into Alejandro Garnacho who slipped into a gap between Ola Aina and Milenkovic. Aina was too slow to react and allowed the Argentine to be one on one with Sels. The Forest ‘keeper made himself big to deny Garnacho but unfortunately the rebound landed at the feet of Hojlund who passed into an empty net. It was coming as United had been creating half chances and had 79% possession since they went behind. As Forest looked to regain the lead, United continued to look vulnerable from set pieces. Murillo sent a free kick towards the back post from around 40 yards out, where Ryan Yates rose up and headed back into the danger area. We all know Jota Silva can jump and he showed this again as he got up well only to be denied by the crossbar.

The first half drama was still far from over. Anderson put in a corner from the left this time which was flicked on at the near post by Milenkovic. The rest of the light blue shirts missed the ball but Jota Silva collected at the back post and passed to Murillo in a more central position near the edge of the 6 yard box. His first time hit went just wide of the post. United finished the half with a chance of their own. Bruno Fernandes stood over a free kick from 25 yards out. He fired the ball towards the top left corner but his deflected effort found an inform Sels who did well to get a small touch on it and send it onto the crossbar.

People were still getting to their seats as the chaos continued into the second half. Morgan Gibbs-White had restored Forest’s lead. Fernandes didn’t look when passing back to Yoro so Callum Hudson-Odoi latched onto the ball. He drove forward before passing to a more central Gibbs-White who took a touch before firing goalwards. It looked to be straight at Onana but the ball curved slightly in its path and ended up in the back of the net. The visitors are the first side to score inside the opening two minutes of both the first and second half in a Premier League game against Man United. Looking to increase the deficit, Forest controlled the ball well in midfield before playing it out to Aina down the right in space. He bolted forward and as he reached the edge of the box, he crossed a low ball which was missed by everyone but landed for Chris Wood at the back post. He tried to side foot it into the bottom left corner but the ball only bobbled wide.

The birthday boy wanted a goal and following another defensive mix up, he got one. Forest won the ball back on the edge of their own area and broke forward quickly but once Gibbs-White put the cross in, United cleared. Anderson won the ball back well on the edge of the box and it was collected by Jota Silva who passed out wide to Gibbs-White. He had time to look up and see Wood at the back post to aim for. The striker got up above his marker looking to head the ball back into the danger area but it crept into the far corner of the goal. I have no idea how it went in; there were 3 United players on the line just watching it go in and the tight angle was against the striker. He didn’t care though as he became Forest’s all time Premier League top goal scorer. Absolute limbs.

Just to create an exciting end to the game, Fernandes pulled one back to decrease the deficit. Forest struggled to control a bouncing ball in midfield and it landed to United’s number 8 who played a beautiful pass on the half volley out to Diallo on the right. He dribbled into the box and avoided a tackle from Neco Williams. All the Forest shirts went to the ball, leaving Fernandes in space on the edge of the box following good movement. Diallo managed to find his captain who finished first time beyond Sels and gave the crowd a lift. Forest made more defensive substitutions as they tried to see the game out and slow the game down. United had one more chance late in stoppage time. Rashford’s effort on the volley was deflected out for a corner by Milenkovic. The resulting corner was delivered in towards the back post and met by Martinez whose acrobatic effort went narrowly over the crossbar.

All those in the away end could only bite their fingernails and feel their leg shaking as they waited for the full-time whistle. Just 2 minutes left. United had a free kick just into their own half. Onana tried to roll it forward but the referee told him to move it back. Every time Onana re-placed the ball he was told to move it further back and after wasting a minute, the free kick came to nothing. Then that whistle went and just pure joy. Hugging, chanting, clapping, smiling. Oh, we’ve waited so long to see our club come back and maybe this might just be our year.

On Saturday, we were so deserving of the 3 points. Everyone gave it everything and there wasn’t a single bad performance. For me, Elliot was the man of the match but Morgan looked more like himself, getting a goal and an assist. We were helped by United’s mistakes but you do need a bit of luck when you go away to these big 6 sides. We could’ve scored 5 or 6 and I think our attacking play is getting better. We can now see games out which is what we usually struggled with but we’ve not let the pressure get to us and we believe in ourselves a bit more. Let’s hope to replicate the performance against Villa on Saturday. COYR!

 

Manchester United: Onana; Martinez, De Ligt (Maguire 65'), Yoro (Mazraoui 66'); Dalot, Mainoo, Ugarte (Mount 76'), Amad; Garnacho (Rashford 59'), Fernandes (Zirkee 76'); Hojlund

 

Forest: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Yates, Anderson; Jota Silva (Morato 68'), Gibbs-White (Dominguez 79'), Hudson-Odoi (Awoniyi 90'); Wood (Elanga 79')