Coach Erik Ten Hag’s team was unable to close 2023 with a victory against a weaker opponent.
Entering the final match of 2023, Manchester United has a trip to Nottingham Forest’s stadium.
Although the home team at City Ground just defeated Newcastle United in the previous round, of course Man Utd is still rated higher – especially when they showed positive signs with the win over Aston Villa.
However, coach Erik Ten Hag’s team soon had to suffer a big loss, when Rasmus Hojlund could not play due to physical problems.
Losing their main striker, Man Utd appeared completely harmless in the first half with only 1 shot. On the other side of the front line, Nottingham had a total of 6 shots at Andre Onana’s goal.
Entering the second half, the situation did not change much, and the score opened for Nottingham in the 64th minute when Nicolas Dominguez ended the home team’s quick аttаck with a classy finish. causing Onana to stand still.
After the loss, Man Utd proactively pushed the team up and looked for an equalizer. By the 78th minute, they were able to bring the match back to the starting line thanks to Marcus Rashford’s shining moment.
Starting from Garnacho’s impressive ball recovery situation right in front of the Nottingham penalty area, Rashford quickly put his nаme on the scoreboard with a one-touch shot after receiving a pass from Garnacho.
However, instead of repeating the scenario against Aston Villa, Man Utd let Nottingham get the second goal thanks to Morgan Gibbs-White in the 82nd minute.
Despite great efforts and up to 10 minutes of extra time to find an equalizer, Man Utd squandered a series of opportunities and had to leave empty-handed.
With this defeat, the Red Devils are still ranked 7th with a gap of 9 points compared to the Top 4, while Nottingham has risen to 15th place with 5 points more than the group holding the red light.