Manchester United are on course to lose another league game. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Manchester United are battling to find a breakthrough after conceding inside five minutes at the City Ground.
Carrington graduate Anthony Elanga embarked on one of the most remarkable counter-attacks you’ll see this season before calmly slotting the ball past Andre Onana to give Nottingham Forest the lead.
In truth, Ruben Amorim’s men haven’t struggled as much as fans perhaps expected, given the scintillating form the hosts had been in prior to kick-off. Yet, a slightly promising display means very little if no points are added to the board.
The United boss raised eyebrows with his team selection by omitting Rasmus Hojlund from the starting XI entirely and instead deploying Joshua Zirkzee up front, with Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes in support.
Amorim corrects ‘illogical’ starting XI decision at half-time
When the attackers struggled to create any threat outside of corners or crosses, it became evident that at least one change would be necessary to try and ignite some spark in the second half.
Samuel Luckhurst echoed the sentiment, too, as he said on X/Twitter moments before the interval: “As promising as United’s play has been, they’re a one-man band in attack again. Garnacho meek that half and starting Zirkzee as the No.9 [is] illogical. Forest have the joint-most clean sheets and #mufc (still) have a minus goal difference. They will need to put their striker on.”
And that they did. Rasmus Hojlund was given the nod during the break, and Manuel Ugarte was subsequently sacrificed to make way for the out-and-out striker entering the fray ready for the second half of action.
Hojlund netted his first goal since last December when he opened the scoring away to Leicester City before the international break. Adding to his tally is now crucial with the side approaching a crunch run of fixtures in the Premier League and Europa League.
