When does a result like this stop as a surprise? It was the third against 13th in the Premier League and the team with all the points and all the credit of the bank played at home. Already this season, Liverpool and Arsenal had come here and had not won. Manchester City, the champions, had lost.
However, however, the change in the order of football things is strange. Nottingham Forest Battant Manchester United always feels big and it is because it is. Forest’s journey at the top of the scale remains a story of oppressed – a story of unity and collectivism that prevail over individualism – and here, it has been played in all its wonderful sporting glory.
The forest is a good side. We know it. But they still have to work diabolically for each point they get, especially the nights like this.
And that is why – a few moments after their defender Murillo erased Harry Maguire’s shot from the line in the 96th minute – at least three of their players fell to the ground hearing the referee’s final whistle.
Before after the fabulous length of Anthony Elaga from the field in the fourth minute, the forest had to feel each of the 120 minutes of the FA Cup on Saturday in their legs while they hung on at the end of another magical night by the Trent.
United was better than they were sometimes this season. Ruben Amorim’s team was a little more consistent. But you have to be better than that – you have to bring more than that – to beat the side of Nuno Espirito Santo on their own land and ultimately United did not quite.
Nottingham Forest beaten Manchester United 1-0 to bring them closer to the Champions League
Anthony Elaga’s astonishing goal in the fifth minute against his former club was the difference
The forest is now at nine points at the fifth place of Man City as they continue the dream season
This trend did not initially continue the second half. The forest emerged with a renewed intention while United was slow, sloppy and useless. In addition, they allowed themselves to be attracted more and more in a piece of midfielder with the forest. It was the one they were on the wrong side for too long.
Onana made a super weak backup of a Yates header in the 48th-although the forest man could have been offside-before Morgan Gibbs-White, the space to shoot with his left foot.
Yates continued to be a nuisance. Casemiro suddenly defeated him and seemed offended that the referee spotted him. The Brazilian was quickly removed by his manager while the red mist refused to go up. Then Yates faced Fernandes again and this time it was the Red player who was the attacker.
There was a great tempo in the game, but United was not as composed as they had been before. Garnacho was reserved for expelling the ball, then pulled a wide shot from the nearby post after the ball reached him a corner. United was not short of efforts and had two attackers on the ground after the half-time introduction of Rasmus Hojlund for Manuel Ugarte. But what they missed in the last third was a real quality. Gibbs-White has a lot and he broke out with 15 minutes on the left only to trip under pressure. The crowd called for a penalty but it did not.
Statistics can be misleading in football, but the main ones around Elaga’s goal have not been. The former united player ran 85 meters in nine seconds by bursting the field to give Forest’s advances in the fourth minute.
It was a surprising race and a superb finish and, assembled, added to one of the goals of the season. The City Ground has witnessed many special things this season and this goal was up there with the best.
United and their manager will undoubtedly be irritated that the goal came directly to their own corner kick and the fact that he has almost reproduced-with Morgan Gibbs-White, the ball this time-later in half-time, he may have suggested that they may not have learned their lesson.
Nevertheless, Elaga was fast while he was driving his own to let the players rush behind him and panic in front of him. Alejandro Garnacho – No respect himself – was closest to make him make him rush from behind. The central defenders of United, on the other hand, did not know if he had to stick or to twist because Elaga had players who joined him on overlapping.
United had a large part of the room but wasted several chances and could not find a path through
The forest defended themselves brilliantly as they moved to nine points away from the fifth place of Manchester City
It was a frustrating evening for Ruben Amorim, whose team was taken on the counter early
The forest pushed a lot of pressure from United and seemed a threat to the counter throughout
Harry Maguire missed a huge chance in additional time after coming as an emergency attack
It was a fiery evening on the city’s ground while both sides left everything on the ground
Elaga, who joined Forest for 15 million pounds sterling in the summer of 2023, achieved a superb performance
The Nuno Espirito Santo team kept its 13th white leaf from the Premier League season
In the end, while Ussair Mazraoui decided to back down, Elaga reached the edge of the penalty area and pulled low to the left of Andena in the lower corner. Once again, this famous old stadium on the banks of the Trent was alive.
United was shaken but they stirred. It is early but there seems to be a little more substance for them under Amorim for the moment. Finally, there was a little improvement.
Here, the visiting team has managed to get me a certain possession and pass the ball fairly well through the forest press sometimes. There was a certain cohesion about them that so many covers since thatMorim replaced Erik Ten Hag.
United was still late at halftime. Bruno Fernandes – engaged in a racing battle with the captain of the forest Ryan Yates – brought a weak safeguard of Matz Salts and led a Dalot Diogo cross in the belly of the goalkeeper. Then, Casemiro went widely from a corner before Dalot himself met another room with a loop head against the bar. Matthijs de Ligt followed the distant post, but he was not powerful enough to really disturb the goalkeeper.
Forest had a surprising amount of energy after their FA Cup victory nearby in Brighton on Saturday and was generally dangerous on the counter. When they arrived at the United backwards three, they looked dangerous. It was a uni that had most of the ball, however.