Manchester United (H) 01/11/25

Nottingham Forest 2-2 Manchester United

Gibbs-White 48'                            Casemiro 34'

Savona 50'                                     Amad 81'

Sean Dyche got off to a mixed start as Forest boss after beating FC Porto and then losing to Bournemouth. His next test was Manchester United. Forest haven’t won since the opening day and they find themselves in 18^th position. Their opponents were on their best winning run in a season since February 2024 as they had won their last three Premier League fixtures. However, in recent meetings between the two sides, the Reds have won the last three league meetings as they did the double over the Red Devils last season. The last time they won four consecutive league games against United was in the 1909/10 season.

Both managers named unchanged starting elevens from their previous game. Forest had gone four league games in a row without scoring but they hadn’t suffered five consecutive league defeats without a goal since January 2004 when they were in the second tier.

The visitors started the game the brighter side, however it was Forest who tested a goalkeeper first. Dan Ndoye received the ball on the right before cutting inside to shoot from 25 yards but it was straight at Lammens who tipped it over the bar. Next, it was Sels called into action to make a good save. Bruno Fernandes found Amad out on the right who cut inside before unleashing a curling effort from around 20 yards which Sels was equal to.

For the second week in a row, the Reds found themselves conceding from a corner that shouldn’t have been given. Nicolo Savona controlled the ball on the byline but the assistant referee decided that the ball had gone out. On replay, it is clear that the whole ball didn’t cross the line. Forest still needed to switch on and defend the set-piece which once again they failed to do. Fernandes whipped in the corner from the left which was met by Casemiro who headed down into the bottom left corner from six yards out. The question Forest fans are now asking is why isn’t there a rule where VAR can intervene and disallow goals from corners that aren’t actually corners?

The task was looking difficult for Forest now. They have conceded the opening goal in seven league matches this season and they have lost six and drawn one of these. On the other hand, United have avoided defeat when going ahead in their last seven games. Forest hoped to turn this around in the second half and oh did they! Just three minutes after kick-off for the second 45, Ndoye passed back to Yates on the right just outside the box. He took a touch before crossing the ball into the danger area where it was met by Gibbs-White. His header curled past Lammens and into the bottom right corner. This was Forest’s first goal in 536 minutes of Premier League football.

Things went from good to brilliant for the Reds as just two minutes after their equaliser, they were ahead. From the right, Ndoye fired in a cross into the six-yard box. After a battle to win the first header, the ball seemed to be dropping to Dalot to clear. However, behind him was Nicolo Savona who just got there first before taking a brilliant touch and calmly finishing past Lammens. That’s his first goal in the Garibaldi and he is the first Italian to score a league goal at the City Ground.

The game started to feel frantic and quite end-to-end with neither team getting a real foothold. Fernandes received the ball from around 25 yards out before turning to shoot as no red shirt was there to block the shot. The effort looked to have beaten Sels but luckily for the Forest ‘keeper the left post was there to his rescue. Up the other end, Forest hit the woodwork. At the back post, Igor Jesus got above Shaw but his header just clipped the outside of the post.

The chances to increase their lead just kept falling for Forest. That second goal just seemed to give them more confidence and more fight. Hudson-Odoi picked up the ball from 40 yards out and drove towards goal. He decided to shoot from the edge of the ‘d’ but his attempt bounced agonisingly wide of the left post. Despite being the more dominant side in the second half, Forest were pegged back late on. Mbeumo whipped in the corner from the right and after a scramble, Milenkovic headed clear. His clearance was only as far as Amad on the edge of the box who hit the ball sweetly on the volley to bring the scores level. Forest have now conceded eight goals in the closing 15 minutes of the Premier League this season.

The drama did not stop there. Amad received another corner short out on the left before crossing towards the back post. De Ligt rose up at the back post but Sels scrambled back across goal to punch the ball away. His parry wasn’t far and it fell to Amad on a tight angle from five yards out. He hit the effort first time which had Sels beaten but the hero on the line was Murillo who cleared away. The Reds had stopped their losing streak in the league.

That was a much improved performance from the Bournemouth game. I think the poor performance from last week was mainly due to fatigue as yesterday the lads worked so hard. They were chasing every ball, doing the dirty work and really making sure we didn’t concede from open play. We didn’t but it is so frustrating that yet again teams score against us via set-pieces. If we can sort that out, we will be absolutely fine because we have rarely conceded from open play this season. Although their first goal shouldn’t have been a corner, instead of arguing with the referee, we need to just switch on and keep focused. I do think that there needs to be a new rule that VAR can intervene in situations like that because two weeks in a row it has happened. One key difference I saw was we were having more shots and putting a lot more balls in the box once we had men in there. This clearly worked as that’s how we scored our two goals. My standout player was Anderson and he yet again proved why he is getting his plaudits this season. Once again when Awoniyi came on he played well and he looks much sharper. We do sit in the relegation zone but it is definitely a point in the right direction.

Forest: Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Ndoye, Luiz (Yates 14’), Anderson, Hudson-Odoi (Sangare 90’); Gibbs-White; Igor Jesus (Awoniyi 78’)

Manchester United: Lammens; Yoro (Mazraoui 77’), De Ligt, Shaw; Amad, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dalot (Dorgu 68’); Mbeumo, Sesko, Cunha