MANCHESTER, England — Forget it weapon.
This game showed head coach Ruben Amorim just how big a job he has on his hands. Manchester United. It was almost expected that the UAE would go and to lose. They are, after all, two teams at very different stages in their development. on the other hand, Nottingham Forest i played EFL Championship As recently as 2022 and have arrived in Manchester and lost three of their last four games. They left with their first victory at Old Trafford in 30 years.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says United have become “mediocre”. Some of the defenses during 3-2 loss Nuno Espirito Santo’s team was far worse.
“We already knew. [it would be tough]Amorim said.
“It’s going to be a long journey, but we want to win because it’s a big club. When you lose a game you feel it, it’s really hard for everybody. I can understand that. I can feel the stadium after the first
“We understand the context, but we have to keep going the same way, keep doing the same things. The same words I have here. [the 4-0 win over] EvertonI have today. Focus on performance. We need to improve in many aspects of the game and will continue to do the same in training tomorrow.”
Amorim has spent much of his first three weeks on the job talking about his strategy. But formations and systems mean little when you have players making the most basic mistakes.
This is where the first mistake against the forest was made. Lisandro Martinez Within 90 seconds, Argentina failed to catch up with him. Nikola Melenkovicwhich gave strength. Elliot AndersonA corner past the goalkeeper Andre Ona. It was the third goal from a set piece in the last four days after Arsenal got two on Wednesday.
After an equalizer by United Rasmus Højlundthe next two errors were from him. Bruno Fernandes And Onana less than two minutes into the second half.
Fernandes’ effort Lenny Euro — making his full competitive debut — was easily clipped by the blue Forest shirt before working the ball over. Morgan Gibbs White. His shot from the edge of the area was speculative at best, but still somehow found its way past Onana. It was a scream from Cameron The goalkeeper recalled some of his worst mistakes last season.
It wasn’t the end of the disaster and if anything, Forest’s third goal was the worst of the lot.
first, Kobe menu And Diego Dalot Fought on the edge of their own territory. was then knocked out by Yoro Chris Wood On the previous post. Wood’s deflected header into the goal looked relatively innocuous, but Onana, Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt Everyone looked at each other, the ball stuck in the corner as Wood, celebrating his 33rd birthday, wheeled away to celebrate in front of the traveling Forest fans.
With fans who have now been treated to victories at Anfield and Old Trafford this season, the three culprits looked at each other in disbelief. They only had themselves to blame.
Fernandes pulled a goal back, but it was not enough to prevent Amorim losing back-to-back top-flight games for just the second time in his managerial career and the first time since August 2022. He said in the beginning. In the week when a “storm is coming” and the wind and rain that battered Manchester for most of the day, Forest proved him right.
“I had it worse at Sporting at the beginning,” Amorim said.
“For me the feeling is the same but for the world it’s completely different. You know the game in Portugal, but Manchester. [United] There’s a lot more focus but to me, it’s the same feeling.
“My time was at Sporting and if you are a bit experienced in football it happens with a lot of clubs, and we have to manage to continue the same things and improve the team because it will change. We need time. need and continue to do so every day.”
The storm may not be over yet. United is a UEFA Europa League Bind against FC Viktoria Plzen This is followed by Amory’s first Manchester derby on Thursday Manchester City Three days later at the Etihad Stadium. They have games against them. Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Liverpool And the weapons are due before the end of January.
Defeat to Forest left United 13th in the table with just 19 points – their lowest tally after 15 games since the 1986-87 season. Amorim is trying to lift the club from its lowest ebb in the modern era. He already knew the size of the task before Forrest brutally laid it out for all to see.