Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Nottingham Forest - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - December 7, 2024 Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo in action with Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson and Ryan Yates REUTERS/Scott Heppell
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester United's weakness from set pieces was exploited again as they fell to a 3-2 Premier League defeat by Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Saturday, continuing a rocky start to the reign of new head coach Ruben Amorim.
Forest's first win at Old Trafford in 30 years moves them up to fifth in the standings on 25 points, while the scale facing the recently-appointed United coach was apparent as his side languish in 13th place on 19 points after a disjointed display that featured some glaring defensive errors.
Having conceded from two corners to Arsenal in a 2-0 defeat in midweek, United went behind from another corner within two minutes as Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic easily out-jumped Lisandro Martinez to head his first goal for the club.
United levelled in the 18th minute when Alejandro Garnacho’s initial shot was saved, but Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund pounced to slot home the rebound to ignite the home crowd.
The hosts started the second half equally badly and again they conceded within two minutes as Fernandes lost the ball. It was quickly fed to Morgan Gibbs-White, whose low bouncing drive somehow took Andre Onana by surprise and flew past him into the net.
The United keeper was at fault again seven minutes later when Forest scored from a scrappy attack, Chris Wood sending a looping header over him and into the net to leave Onana and Martinez looking at each other in frustration after another sloppy goal.
Fernandes redeemed himself just after the hour mark, scoring with a superb shot from the edge of the box but despite being United’s best player for much of the game, he was replaced in the 76th minute by Mason Mount.
United continued to look disjointed until Marcus Rashford’s stoppage time volley was deflected behind for a corner, and Martinez sent another volley from the resulting set-piece whistling over the bar.
That was as close as they came as Forest stood firm to claim all three points.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
