Manchester United rescued a draw from an unpromising situation at Nottingham Forest in a game where they took the lead and fell behind – and still might have ended up winning it in injury time.
Ruben Amorim celebrated a year in charge of the club by naming, for the first time, an unchanged line-up. However, this was also Sean Dyche’s first home game as Forest manager in the league, so it was to be anticipated that the hosts would be buoyed by the occasion.
And why wouldn’t they? Forest had won the previous three league meetings between the teams, including the last two in a row at the City Ground. They were good value for those victories too. So when they started well, getting five shots away in the first quarter of an hour, it was no real surprise.
United had nice moments and Benjamin Sesko fired wide before Amad made the goalkeeper work for the first time in the 28th minute.
The game was finely poised when United were awarded a corner, with Nicola Savona adjudged to have pushed the ball over the line – replays proved that the ball was over, but the curve of the ball was hovering over the line. Forest conceded in similar circumstances at Bournemouth last week and mist have been too busy cursing their luck as Casemiro – one of the last players you want to give a free header from a corner – was happy to accept their negligent benevolence.
Forest responded after half-time with a barnstorming comeback. Gibbs White scored a fine header – although Amad might have done more to stop him – and within a minute of the restart, Savona was sure to have felt a sense of vengeance when he took advantage of poor defending to react quickest and fire past Lammens.
In truth, from that moment, Forest looked more territorially dominant. United, for their part, appeared to have progressed to a stage in their system where they can largely passive but no longer unfamiliar – and that may appear at first to be a slight, and perhaps is a criticism based on them being sluggish in the second half, but strangely enough it still felt a little like visible progress.
The chances were shared in similar fashion – Bruno Fernandes hit a post before Igor Jesus did the same for Forest.
With ten minutes to go, United won another corner – uncontested this time – and although Forest got the ball clear, Amad met the ball at the edge of the box with a fantastic volley which flew into the net. It was a fine time to make such a contribution, with the wing-back having been tormented for most of the second half.
Anderson and Casemiro both saw efforts deflected wide for their respective teams and from the latter, Amad almost scored from a corner again, but his drilled shot was cleared off the line.
United could not grumble at the result because their performance was not worthy of a win. It will be disappointing for Ruben Amorim that his side could not continue their impressive run against a team with an abysmal home record, but that’s football. And it’s part of the progression of United to not find themselves so susceptible to chaos.
That said, at one point in the live league table this afternoon, United were second. Considering the manager was favourite for the sack six weeks ago, it tells you how quickly can change, and also affirms the weakness of the league at the moment. Considering the recent rate of progress, though, this result can be seen as a positive, all things taken into account.
Ratings : Lammens 6, Yoro 6, De Ligt 7, Shaw 6, Amad 6, Casemiro 6, Fernandes 6, Dalot 6, Mbeumo 7, Sesko 5, Cunha 6
Subs : Dorgu 5, Mazraoui
