Nottingham Forest 2, Manchester United 1
Manchester United slumped to a fourth successive Premier League away defeat after they were beaten at Nottingham Forest.
The Reds thought they had earned a point after Marcus Rashford had cancelled out Nicolas Dominguez’ opener but Morgan Gibbs-White popped in a late winner as United’s poor organisation let them down again.
It was new manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s second consecutive win for Forest – and his first at the City Ground.
It was Forest’s first win against United at the City Ground since 1992 and despite a terrible run by the Reds they remain in 7th place.
Embed from Getty ImagesErik Ten Hag blamed inconsistency but promised that United would be better once players returned from injury.
“We are not consistent. We can beat the best teams in the league but we also lose to teams we should beat.
“It’s below our standards but we are looking forward to players returning [from injury] and our team will be stronger.”
“[Rasmus] Hojlund was ill and we had to swap our front line.
Hojlund’s illness meant that Marcus Rashford had to play at centre forward with Antony on the right wing and Alejandro Garnacho pushed back to the left wing despite an excellent performance on the right against Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
That one change seemed to unbalance the fragile Reds who also lost the quiet Kobbie Mainoo for ’tactical reasons’ to Scott McTominay by half time – and the loss of a holding midfielder left United vulnerable to the counter attack in the second half.
The Reds have now lost 14 games in all competitions this term – the highest number of defeats at this stage in a season since 1930/31 season.
And with just nine Premier League wins out of 20 this term they have never had fewer points – or scored fewer goals – at this stage in a Premier League season.
After an interminably dull first half in which there was only one shot on target – by Aaron Wan-Bissaka – the home side took the lead through Nicolas Dominguez after he was sent up by Gonzalo Montiel in the 64th minute from 12 yards out.
United rallied and Alejandro Garnacho intercepted a poor pass out from the back by Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner, the Argentine quickly found Marcus Rashford who scored only his third goal of a wretched season in the 78th minute from 16 yards out.
United piled on the pressure – looking for the winner as Forest quickly tried to shut-up shop.
Christian Eriksen had a long range effort saved but United failed to get back into defensive positions to stop Forest’s counter attack, leaving gaping holes in midfield.
And with eight minutes to go, it was the home side who retook the lead as Morgan Gibbs-White drilled home a goal from the edge of the area after the holes in the United midfield were exploited by Forest on the break – ex-Red Anthony Elanga squared it for his team mate in plenty of space to retake the lead.
Turner tipped over a desperate Bruno Fernandes shot in 10 minutes of added time while Eriksen fired wide in yet another disappointing United defeat.