Manchester United endured its second Premier League defeat in four days after suffering a 3–2 loss at home against Nottingham Forest.
Old Trafford was stunned into silence when Forest took an early lead after two minutes when Elliot Anderson’s corner was met by the head of defender Nikola Milenkovicć to put the away side in front.
United rallied after going behind as Rasmus Højlund leveled the scoring before halftime when the Danish striker tapped in the rebound from Alejandro Garnacho’s close-range shot.
Morgan Gibbs-White restored the away side’s lead shortly after the break thanks to goalkeeper André Onana’s terrible mistake, before a marvelous Chris Wood header gave Forest its third goal and strengthened its hold on the match.
Despite a brilliant Bruno Fernandes strike curled in from the edge of the box, Forest held onto its advantage to gain a first away league victory at Old Trafford in 30 years.
Here are three things we learned from this five-goal encounter at Old Trafford:
United is vulnerable from set pieces
Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim saw his side concede two goals from corners in unceremonious fashion during Wednesday’s 2–0 defeat away at Arsenal. And any hopes their frailty from set pieces was an aberration against the league’s deadball experts were swiftly dashed after just two minutes with Milenković’s powerful header for Forest’s opener in which the Serbian leapt over United defender Lisandro Martínez with ease.
To make matters worse for the Red Devils, Forest forward Jota Silva was unlucky not to score another set-piece goal in the first half when the Portuguese’s header crashed onto the bar after the away side delivered a free kick into the box. Of all the struggles Amorim will experience in his first few months at the helm in Manchester, the 39-year-old may be required to instill some defensive robustness into his team when defending set pieces before other teams carry on exploiting this weakness.
Onana jitters have still not disappeared
Heading into this match against Forest, Onana was one of the few bright spots of Manchester United’s torrid season thus far, slowly rebuilding his reputation with some impressive performances in goal after an unconvincing first season at Old Trafford.
However, the 28-year-old may still have more work to do to completely convince his detractors after a disappointing error that contributed to Forest’s second goal, misreading the flight of the ball to let Gibbs-White’s long-range strike sail over his outstretched leg.
This proved to be the game’s turning point, and Onana almost gifted his opponents with another goal after playing a poor pass into the feet of an opposing attacker before United recovered to clear the ball. Onana perhaps deserves the benefit of the doubt after a strong start to this season, but United supporters may be lamenting another costly error from the Cameroonian international that has led to another defeat.
Forest is still capable of turning on style in attack
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side were very much good value for their 3–2 win at Old Trafford, and is now sitting in fifth with 25 points, just two points away from Arsenal in fourth. Forest had already secured a memorable away win against a big-six side this season after their surprise 1–0 victory against Liverpool in September, and its assured performance in this encounter was very noteworthy.
Gibbs-White, in particular was at the heart of the team’s attacking play, orchestrating some superb combination play in the second half, and his outstanding cross for Wood’s 10th league goal of the season capped off a fantastic display for the 24-year-old England international.
Forest is already seven points away from its entire points tally from last season, and if it continues its outstanding start to this campaign, European football could soon return at the City Ground in a remarkable turn of events for the east Midlands club.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Three Takeaways: Nottingham Forest Stuns Manchester United at Old Trafford.
