One of the few positives from the loss was the return of Amad Diallo. It was his first competitive appearance for Manchester United this season.
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Manchester United ended 2023 on a bad note after suffering a shock 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. It was a game of very few chances, with both defences coming on top during the 90 minutes. However, Forest made the most of the few opportunities that fell their way, while United struggled in the final third to create or finish those chances. The 2-1 defeat meant United’s inconsistent run of late continued.
One of the few positives from the loss was the return of Amad Diallo. It was his first competitive appearance for Manchester United this season. However, the winger took little time to settle on the pitch, as he instantly got involved in a lot of attacking situations. Referring to Amad, manager Erik ten Hag, quoted on the club’s website, told the official broadcasters after the game, “In the second half, they [the attackers] were in the match. I thought Amad Diallo came in really good, Alejandro Garnacho played a very good game, I think. How he fought for that all the time and prepared the goal, a good goal by Marcus Rashford.”
Overall, ten Hag was left disappointed with the result, as Man United failed to live up to the favourites tag heading into this game against Nottingham. “It’s clear the result is very disappointing, I’m also disappointed by the performance before half-time. We should have invested more in such moments. We created less before half-time and we should invest more there, by quicker play and by movements. In the final third, it was not good enough, and we did not invest enough to create chances,” he explained.
He added: “So the first-half performance was not okay but the second half was better. In bad moments, we conceded the goals. In that moment, the game was ours and we went for 2-1, only to concede on the counter. Then we tried and had chances, as well at the end of the game, at the last whistle, with Christian Eriksen. So we had our moments but it wasn’t good enough to win it. We fought back and went for the win but, on the counter attack, we got hammered. That’s the explanation of this defeat.”
It is well known that United have sustained plenty of injuries so far this season. Even for this game, Rasmus Hojlund was unavailable, as Marcus Rashford played up front. “We haven’t played with, in a row, the same team. Today, again, we had to change as we lost Rasmus Hojlund. Every time, we have to swap our team and that doesn’t help support the routines in the team, therefore it’s also explainable as to why you are so inconsistent. We had also nine different partnerships in the back but I think to blame everything doesn’t matter to the fans. They don’t want to hear this. They want to have us winning and that is what we have to serve them,” he stated.
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