Man Utd analysis: Ruben Amorim faces ‘massive’ task to revitalise Red Devils

Manchester United suffered back-to-back defeats under Ruben Amorim after Nottingham Forest pocketed all three points under Saturday night lights at Old Trafford.

Sports News Blitz writer and Man Utd fan Robert Bore is not a huge fan of the constant selection changes under the new Portuguese boss.

And he feels the problems at the club remain massive ahead of the hectic festive fortnight…

‘Not a massive team’

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

From corner calamity to individual error, United contrived to shoot themselves in the foot with the accuracy of Cheddar Bob in 8 Mile.

Ruben Amorim's men then took 'Lose Yourself' far too literally.

"We are a massive club but we are not a massive team," Amorim pointed out pre-match.

Tell me something I don't know Ruben, my friend.

He rang the changes again in a further attempt to get to grips with how the cards in his deck play.

Not an ideal scenario by any stretch, with Leny Yoro handed a full debut at the back and Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo joining him in the starting line-up after their suspensions midweek. Amad was back in at wing-back.

The players wore black armbands and paid a fitting tribute to long-time receptionist Kath Phipps, who died earlier this week, with a touching banner in her honour before kick-off, while social media was awash with tributes from players past and present showing just what she meant to the club.

Poor start for hosts

A quick start was needed. Forest won an early corner and I was already twitching after Wednesday night. Surely not again, right? Wrong!

Elliot Anderson might have failed to drop the ball under Andre Onana's crossbar but it didn't matter as Nikola Milenkovic bulleted a header home from six yards out to stun the home faithful - and earn the Reds a league-leading seventh goal conceded from a set piece this season.

The immediate question was not just "What?" but "Why?", why the f*ck Martinez was tasked with picking up the tall Serbian.

It wasn't quite Ivan Drago-Apollo Creed in terms of a match-up but it wasn't far off...

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Response from Red Devils

There was almost an instant riposte but Rasmus Hojlund failed to reach Alejandro Garnacho's cross and to be fair, the hosts looked lively after the initial shock.

Mainoo did well to turn the B-Tec Jack Grealish (Jota Silva) to win a dangerous free-kick that was pulled back cleverly to Amad - but his shot was blocked and Martinez's header back across goal was tipped over by Matz Sels.

United levelled after 18 minutes. Matthijs De ligt fed Bruno Fernandes on halfway and his little flick inside was collected by Manuel Ugarte.

The Uruguayan held his pass momentarily before playing a lovely throughball into Garnacho who, despite a heavy initial touch as he strode into the box, saw his second stabbed effort come back off Sels and into the path of Hojlund to roll home.

It was no more than they deserved after pretty-much constant pressure on Forest since falling behind.

In terms of omens, it was a good one, United never losing in the 11 matches where their Danish frontman had either equalised or put his side ahead.

Grealish 0.5 was desperately unlucky with a header that came back off the crossbar but maybe the Aliceband got in the way.

He'd copped one in the chops just before and then ended up with a yellow card soon after as his luck refused to turn.

Forest pressed again as Jota saw his next effort deflect over off De Ligt and Murillo should arguably have scored but shanked wide as the shot stats began to even up.

United could have been ahead before the break when Fernandes crashed a free-kick off the crossbar that nicked off the wall but also had slight fingertips on it from Sels.

Bamboozling and Bovril

Half-time gave everyone time to catch a breath.

But the Bovril wasn't even cold when Morgan Gibbs-White bamboozled Onana to put Forest back ahead.

The Cameroonian has, to be fair, been superb this season but the midfielder's shot looked to be going straight at the wrong-footed stopper until a little late swerve saw it nestle in the back of the net.

Chris Wood should have done better at the far post as Forest came again and United were looking wobblier than a seven-year-old's baby teeth.

But Wood made no mistake minutes later as he looped a tepid-looking header over Onana which somehow bounced inside the far post as Martinez dallied.

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Bench press

Amorim looked to the bench for salvation and Marcus Rashford as Garnacho departed with just over half an hour left to sort themselves out.

But it was Fernandes who handed his side a lifeline.

His initial ball was swept out to Amad who darted into the box, checked and composed himself enough to pass back square to his skipper who then swept the ball past Sels.

Game on

It was game on again and a fourth assist in his last three home games for the youngster.

Diallo miscued at the far post from Dalot's low cross and Amorim went again, Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui on for De Ligt and Yoro.

Forest naturally retreated slightly and were working hard to keep their shape and hopefully hit United again on the counter.

It wasn't long before Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount were being readied and the clock was starting to tick a little bit faster it seemed.

Fernandes, in a bit of a head-scratcher, made way alongside Ugarte and it was do or die time.

And then it wasn't, as the officials lost comms and everyone had to stand around in the cold while IT turned it off and back on again.

But as the seconds raced by, the momentum was gone. United needed a shot in the arm and quick.

Diallo's strike was blocked as Forest massed in their box but there was no real pressure as eyes started to turn to the amount of added time there may be.

There would be seven, which would be just about the time needed for Dalot's wild effort to come back through the earth's atmosphere after it was sent into orbit.

Rashford's volley was deflected wide and Martinez scissor-kicked over from the resulting corner before Onana, already not in the good books, wasted a good minute of his own time messing around with the position of a late free-kick which was then wasted.

Hojlund's run as a good luck charm over and same old, same old from the hosts.

For poor Amorim, he needs to figure out his best XI pretty quickly as the amount of change is surely not helping - but with a busy winter fixture list to navigate his problems remain massive!

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