Forest Beat United At Old Trafford
Manchester United 2-3 Nottingham Forest (Premier League) 07.12.24
It was a huge night in Manchester, as Nottingham Forest took all three points, 10,300+ days since their last victory at Old Trafford. A real spectacle – Manchester is Red.
The first half
Forest started early, with an incredible goal. A wonderful header from Milenkovic opens the scoring, 91 seconds in – that’s all it took. The Serbian gets his first Forest & Premier League goal. Forest 1-0 up inside the first two minutes at Old Trafford.
The Sky Blue Forest, in this case, pressed higher up – United’s back line struggled at times under pressure, and Onana wasn’t at his sharpest, opportunities for Forest lay ahead because of this.
Soon though, Amorim’s style of play came into force. Breaking the lines with a ball to Ugarte, United got forward with resounding speed – soon, the Uruguayan orchestrator played a ball through Forest’s defence, who lapsed concentration, with Garnacho running 1v1 against Matz Sels. Sels did save it, but it fell to Hojlund who fired it into the back of the net. Equaliser at a good time, game on.
United’s 3-4-3 formation meant that Forest’s midfield had to be sharp – as Nuno said in his post-match review, and I echo, they struggled to adjust to facing that in the first half, but the foundations were there. Anderson did well often breaking the United attack down, and winning back possession, on many occasions.
Overall, a productive half from Forest, but I wouldn’t necessarily say the complete better side. Still work to be done in the final 45 minutes. Three points certainly for the taking, though.
The second half
Well once again, Forest saw the opportunity – the intensity on a different level to Wednesday, and doing exactly what they should’ve done to City: pressed higher, recovering possession better, and attacking with more conviction.
Because of these characteristics, Forest scored early. Gibbs-White broke forward, and fired it past Onana. Perhaps the wind caught the ball at the last moment, but it seemed like an almost guaranteed save from Onana – Gibbs-White fired it right at him, and he couldn’t save it. 2-0, the second scored by a boyhood United fan, turned Forest hero. 12 goals & 18 Assists for Forest in 30 Premier League games.
Forest didn’t stop there though, they wanted more. Gibbs-White was persistent, he wanted the assist – his first cross from the right wing was denied. Jota Silva recovered it and played him on again, this time the cross met the head of a Forest man – that man, the birthday boy, Chris Wood. His header comes from a leap over Leny Yoro, with the ball finding the net past the likes of Onana, De Ligt and even Martinez – defensive disaster class from United. Another goal for the in form Kiwi.
The two goal lead was huge, but it needed to stay that way – Morato came on to make it a back five, defending this lead.
United would score their second though, and it suddenly became very tense, edge of your seat stuff, if you will. Fernandes took a ball from Diallo, and shot it past Sels with ridiculous power, the score now 2-3.
Twenty minutes felt like hours, seven minutes added on just made it worse, but Forest rose up, defended well, and kept United at bay. Brilliant defending, once again Anderson instrumental – Milenkovic incredible too.
A wonderful second half performance from Forest, which sees them win at Old Trafford for the first time since 1994. The away end erupted with joy, the home fans mostly cleared before the whistle even went.
Energy, intensity & desire – all key components needed against City, and utilised against United. It makes that bitter taste of a loss go away. That, for Forest fans, was an incredibly sweet night in Manchester.
Now, Manchester is Red, Garibaldi Red.
*Article provided by Jamie Martin (Head Nottingham Forest Correspondent).
*Main image @NFFC celebrations during Forest’s win at United.
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