1 April 2025
Nott’m Forest 1 Man Utd 0
Nottingham Forest have their game faces on now as they look to secure a top four finish and bring some silverware back to the City Ground also. They welcomed Man Utd, who were looking to win back-to-back league games for the first time this season. It was an intimidating atmosphere for this crucial match for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
It was all a bit scrappy in the middle of the park early on. The visitors managed to win the ball and it was played into the path of the advancing Fernandes. He got a shot away that was dipping right in front of the keeper and causing some problems. Fortunately for the hosts, Sels managed to scramble it wide of the target.
As the Man Utd skipper came over to take the resulting corner, it was half-cleared by Forest and dropped to Elanga outside the box. The former Man Utd winger ran some sixty yards, holding off challenges from defenders, before getting into the box and slotting it into the bottom corner. It was some goal and had the City Ground bouncing.
It was one of those goals that would have had Man Utd fans having a mental breakdown watching, screaming for players to just chop him down. It was like watching one of your mates shark someone in FIFA on the PlayStation. What will have infuriated Amorim was that his side had made by far the better start to this game and the goal was very much against the run of play.
The irony being that Elanga was a Man Utd player from the age of twelve. Now he was running at their defence, making them look like they were still that age. Everyone seemed scared to put a challenge in and allowed him to cover so much ground. All from a corner kick for the visitors, which makes it seem that much worse.
Despite falling behind, Man Utd continued to look the better team. Firstly Fernandes had a chance as he rose to meet a cross with a free header. It was somewhat disappointing that it was straight at Sels in the Forest goal. You felt that either side of him, it would have been a goal. A big let off for the hosts almost getting pegged back immediately.
They continued to search for that goal before the break. A looping header from Dalot at the back post had the keeper beaten, who was relieved to see it come back off his crossbar. He reacted quickly to claw the ball away before the visitors could convert. The Red Devils were knocking on the door but still went in at the break trailing.
After the interval, Ruben Amorim’s side continued to force Forest onto the back foot. The ball was played to Garnacho in a wide position, who immediately looked to cut inside onto his right foot. He aimed for the far corner but his effort went narrowly over, hitting the stanchion behind the goal. The visitors seemed unable to capitalise on any of these brief glimpses of goal.
The Argentine was looking hungry to get involved more and more. It was his twisting and turning out wide that stretched the hosts’ defence, he then squared a pass to substitute Mount. He shifted it onto his right foot and looked to bend one in the far corner. His effort had a full-stretch Sels beaten but it missed the far post by a cat’s whisker. What an introduction that would have been for their forgotten man.
Try as they might, Amorim’s side were struggling to create clear-cut chances. While it was backs against the wall time for Nott’m Forest, they looked fairly comfortable in doing so. When you have a keeper like Sels behind you, seeing your opponents trying shots from outside the box seems of no concern. It would take some effort to beat the Belgian from there.
Such was the desperation of the Man Utd manager that he brought on Harry Maguire to play up front, not that he could do any worse than Rasmus no-goals. As Forest struggled to clear their lines, a cross dropped to Maguire at the back post. It was a collection of legs swiping at the ball until the defender come striker manged to poke it towards goal.
Maguire’s effort had the keeper beaten but Murillo got back to clear off the line. The Nott’m Forest players celebrated it like they had scored a goal themselves. Espirito Santo’s side held on for a big three points which took them a step closer to Champions League qualification. It had been a decent performance from the Red Devils but they are really lacking in attack.
Hojlund is never going to be a prolific scorer while he continues to drop deep and go wide, spending so little time in the box. Even when he is in there, he does not have that instinct or hunger to make a darting run away from his marker to look to score. Zirkzee was never signed as that sort of player, more a link between midfield and attack.
The wingers do not get amongst the goals enough either and Fernandes has really been carrying this team with his goal contributions. It will take some money to get this squad to where it needs to be and you wonder if that exists now after the announcement to build a new stadium that looks like a replica of Minehead Butlins.
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