Man Utd news: Anthony Elanga strike sees Nottingham Forest edge out Red Devils
Manchester United were edged out 1-0 by an industrious Nottingham Forest side at the City Ground on Tuesday night.
It was United old boy Anthony Elanga who did the damage with an early strike as Ruben Amorim’s charges simply could not find a breakthrough against Nuno Espírito Santo's well-drilled team.
With big games to come against Manchester City in the league and Lyon in the Europa League, Amorim has his work cut out to make something of what has been a horror campaign.
Sports News Blitz writer Robert Bore reports on yet another loss for the Red Devils.
Soft optimism ahead of kick-off
Maybe it was the clocks springing forward or maybe it was a bit of Tuesday afternoon northern sunshine – 17 whole degrees of it don't you know – but there was an air of optimism in the Bore household ahead of the trip to Nottingham.
Perhaps it was the fact that it had been two stress-free weeks without a Premier League fixture or FA Cup sadness to worry about.
Amorim had selected a decent starting line-up too, with a few big names back on the bench as the Red Devils eyed back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.
Leny Yoro and the impressive Patrick Dorgu returned alongside Joshua Zirkzee, while Casemiro was drafted into the engine room with Manuel Ugarte.
United were unbeaten across six competitive games this term when the latter pair had started, winning four of those, so it was food for thought and a tasty morsel at that.
Considering the hosts would be without Chris Wood and Nuno's side had won just one of their five Premier League games without the Kiwi, the odds were potentially swaying in United's favour.
And then I remembered Forest were third for a reason.
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Hosts take early lead through former Red
United had the first chance in anger, Alejandro Garnacho teeing up Bruno Fernandes, whose quick feet allowed him to get a shot away that was parried to safety.
However, reality tends to bite like a dog and just as the darkness settled outside the lights went out for Amorim's side before the game had really gotten started.
And of course it was former Red Elanga who struck the blow.
In Grand National week, he galloped away on the counter and just kept running and running and running as United failed to deal with him. Morgan Gibbs-White did his bit with an excellent supporting run to put Noussair Mazraoui in two minds, but Elanga didn't need him.
It was a glorious move from the Swede, slotting the ball past Andre Onana's flailing left hand after an 85-metre run in about nine seconds. United really needed Garnacho to hack him down 35 yards from goal and take one for the team.
The visitors, to be fair, responded well, with Fernandes heading into the ‘keeper's arms in search of an equaliser before Casemiro headed wide from a corner.
They pushed again by winning another couple of corners but also looked at sea on the transition and were fortunate when a Forest break fell flat.
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United respond well but lack bite
Forest, for their part, were booking pretty solid at the back and happy to soak up the pressure before springing into action.
It should have been 1-1, though, from yet another corner but Diogo Dalot's looping header came back off the crossbar and Matthijs de Ligt fluffed his lines with the follow-up.
Once again, United looked frustratingly decent but without any end product.
Forest made two changes before the break, one forced by an injury to Ola Aina and one tactical as Danilo was withdrawn for his compatriot Morato, who quickly saw a header saved under the crossbar by Onana.
What was very noticeable was Forest skipper Ryan Yates taking every opportunity to try and get Fernandes into trouble with the referee, at one stage dropping to the floor from a faint push before flopping during another 50-50.
The Portuguese ended up a paltry 4/6 to be carded going into half-time.
Casemiro then got it all wrong with the last chance of the half as he tried to smash one with the outside of his right foot, but the shot staggered away from goal like a drunk trying to find his way home from the pub.
In the end, Elanga's Usain Bolt impression aside, the away side were arguably the better of the two in the first half.
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Second half an even contest
Rasmus Hojlund replaced Ugarte at the break and caused problems immediately, winning a corner after a run in behind which Casemiro headed straight at Matz Sels.
At the other end, Onana saved brilliantly from Yates' header, but the midfielder was actually a yard or so offside.
Casemiro subsequently went into the book for a foul on the impressive Yates and the game was immediately back into the same flow and pace as the first half, albeit with Forest in more control in the early stages.
Soon after, Casemiro and Gibbs-White collided in the middle, the United man catching an elbow for his troubles, while Yates continued his sh*thousery by asking for more action against the former Real Madrid man.
Garnacho fired over before Amorim ended Casemiro's night and brought on Christian Eriksen for his 100th appearance in a United shirt.
Yates promptly gave away a foul after being nutmegged by Fernandes and catching him afterwards, and it was difficult to see those two not being flashed some yellow before the end of the game.
It was testament to my lack of betting prowess that both emerged from the game without!
The Forest captain later atoned when Garnacho looked to have earned a yard and got his shot away, but the block was timely and the youngster could only smash his shot wide from the resulting corner as the clock neared 70 minutes.
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Late push from Red Devils not enough
The lesser-spotted Mason Mount was thrown on for Zirkzee seconds after Eriksen did what Garnacho should have done and pulled Elanga down before he could get going on another breakaway.
And it was the former Chelsea man who almost levelled it up with what must have been his first touch, curling a shot just wide of the post while Gibbs-White and the giant Nikola Milenkovic argued over who was to blame.
Yoro did brilliantly with a last-gasp tackle on Elanga, which replays showed was clean, and was on hand again to block Taiwo Awoniyi's shot from the edge of the box.
The United coach made his final throw of the dice as Yoro came off for Harry Maguire, who was thrown up top in the hopes that his massive forehead would rescue the side with around six minutes to be added.
Forest then had a half-chance that Neco Williams smashed over before United came again via Dorgu crossing to the edge of the box, but Maguire couldn't get the right part of his head behind the ball properly and it diverted well wide.
Although it was a genuine chance missed, Maguire had caused more problems for the Forest defence in his late cameo than United's forwards had for most of the campaign.
He almost nicked a point as well, denied on the line by Murillo's last-ditch block with the ‘keeper beaten. And that was that.
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Improvements offer Amorim something to hold onto
The seasons may change but the results don't.
Although, if we are being honest, the performance did – things were still pretty toothless when it came to putting the ball in the back of the net, but everything in-between was improved.
This was a decent Forest side too, one that is probably Champions League–bound and boasts an excellent home record.
Yet, it was still a Forest side and therein lies the problem as the United of old would have rolled into town and left with three points having capitalised on chances created and dominated with the ball.
We are still far away from that but it feels a smidge closer than it did before.
However, the league campaign is a dead duck and the trip to Forest was mostly a good sharpener ahead of the visit of a Erling Haaland–less Manchester City on Sunday.
Beyond that is the all-important, all-eggs-in-one-basket Europa League quarter-final with Lyon next Thursday.
All things considered, Amorim might not be too unhappy with what his eyes saw on Tuesday, even if the darkness of poor results persists.
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