Nottingham Forest 0 United 2: Things we noticed
Manchester United produced an accomplished performance to beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at The City Ground and climb back into the top three in the Premier League.
Goals from Antony and Diogo Dalot secured a valuable three points for Erik ten Hag's men, as we stretched our unbeaten record in all competitions to four games in the process.
With both Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane missing following their injuries against Sevilla in midweek, Ten Hag's enforced changes were highly successful, as the previously familiar centre-back pairing of Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire helped the Reds to keep a clean sheet with another solid defensive display.
Following impressive performances from many players and plenty else to dissect, we bring you the main talking points after another superb victory on the road.
Nottingham Forest 0 United 2
ArticleThe Reds move up to third in the Premier League with a deserved win at The City Ground.
MARTIAL'S INFLUENCE
Although it was his near-namesake Antony who opened the scoring at The City Ground, it was Anthony Martial who put in the hard yards to create the goal. Firstly chasing down Felipe to nick the ball from him, Martial's effort forced Keylor Navas to parry the ball into the path of the Brazilian, who gratefully made it 1-0. It has been refreshing to see Martial shine following his return to first-team action in recent weeks and his all-around performance against Steve Cooper's side showed his willingness to work hard for the cause.We all know how much Erik admires the French and with strong back-to-back showings under his belt, let's hope Tony can continue to flourish for the Reds.
ERIKSEN'S RETURN
Starting his first game for the Reds since 28 January, Christian Eriksen's late inclusion into the team came as a surprise, given Marcel Sabitzer was originally selected - the Austrian had to be withdrawn after he was injured during the warm-up. Operating in a deeper midfield role alongside Casemiro, the Dane's vision and creative spark were highly useful weapons for Ten Hag's men and we'll be looking for them to be utilised again over the next few weeks, as our busy schedule in Europe and domestically continues.
An interesting battle throughout the 90 minutes was that of Jadon Sancho vs Neco Williams on United's left-hand side, with Forest's former Liverpool man often being a tricky customer to come up against. Jadon's trickery and exemplary vision helped the Reds countless times across the afternoon and it's also worth noting his recent influence in the team. Marcus Rashford's injury has opened the door for the ex-Dortmund man to put together a run of games - starting our last four in succession. Our no.25 is another player who is growing in confidence and Sancho at his very best is something no defender in the Premier League or beyond will want to come up against.
MAGUIRE AND LINDELOF
With both Martinez and Varane missing after their respective setbacks against Sevilla on Thursday evening, the familiar duo of Lindelof and Maguire returned to our starting XI. Both were prepared to step up and bring the ball out of the defence, and both performed superbly to help keep Forest's attacking trio of Brennan Johnson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi quiet. With Licha now out until the end of our 2022/23 campaign, it is a positive sign of our strength in depth that Erik can rely on two players who have over 350 Premier League appearances between them when needed.
Operating in the opposite full-back role to where he's usually found, Dalot certainly made his mark as he clocked up his 100th appearance. Primarily on the pitch to deputise for both Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the left side of our defence, he emerged at the other end of the field to seal the win with his third goal for the club. Latching on to a stunning through ball from Antony, the Portugal international slotted the ball past Keylor Navas to register his first-ever Premier League strike. No wonder he celebrated wildly in front of our travelling supporters.
AMAZING ANTONY
With a goal and assist to his name at The City Ground, summer signing Antony enjoyed arguably his best Premier League game for United. Weaving his way past three Forest players as Scott McKenna's lunging tackle opened the door for our no.21 to drive into, his perfectly weighted pass fell kindly to Dalot, who in turn smashed home from inside the area. It was some showing from the former Ajax man, once again showing his worth in his debut season in English football.
Why Malacia's missing the Forest match
ArticleTyrell's absence from our squad at The City Ground has been explained by Erik ten Hag.
Following Newcastle United's defeat at Villa Park in Saturday's early fixture, the Reds only needed a single point to climb back into the Premier League's top three, but collected the maximum instead as we recorded our seventh domestic away win of the season so far. Leapfrogging the Magpies and thus going clear of Eddie Howe's side by three points, Erik insisted after Thursday's setback against Sevilla that all his focus was on this game and he will be more than content with the outcome his side achieved, after a thoroughly professional performance on a tough ground to visit.
SPAIN AWAITS
The message from the boss all season has been that his players must tackle the schedule 'game by game' and a huge one in Seville now awaits as we chase down further silverware this season. Achieving a superb level of consistency, no matter the competition, seems top of Ten Hag's wishlist and his side have chalked up a whopping 28 wins domestically so far. Having also won eight times in the Europa League, our highly confident squad will now seek number nine and a coveted spot in the competition's semi-finals.