It was quality over quantity as Anthony Elanga scored one of the goals of the season, against his former club no less, to hand Nottingham Forest a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at the City Ground on Tuesday.
WATCH –Nottingham Forest v Manchester United full match replay
Elanga scored after just five minutes, carrying the ball 70 yards from a failed Man United corner kick and sticking it in the bottom corner after splitting three defenders on his own, upping his tally to 6 goals (to go with 8 assists) in the Premier League this season.
The victory represents another massive step toward UEFA Champions League qualification for Forest (3rd place - 57 points), who are now 10 points clear of Newcastle in the race for the top-five, though the Magpies do have two games in hand now. With just eight Premier League games left to play, the Red Devils (13th - 37 points) are eight points off the top half of the table and exactly half of their 10 wins have come against the three sides all but mathematically destined for relegation. Even to someone who predicted, "It's going to get worse before it gets better," this is bad.
Is this the bottom? Probably not
What is even left to be said about Man United at this point? The rebuild required is so vast and runs so deep that it is unlikely (m)any from the first-team squad, let alone this manager (or perhaps the next one), will still be at the club when (if) they finally get "back on top." Heck, Sir Jim Ratcliffe might just give up and move on to something else by then. Nothing could possibly highlight this point more than the midfield pairing of Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro, two players who only differ from one another by the 10 years that separate them, in front of a three-man backline equally devoid of pace to recover defensively and ability to bring the ball forward. That's a whole lot of responsibility to put on [checks notes] Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu out wide. Can you believe it didn't work? Sure, blame it on Amorim for his unwillingness to change tactics to better suit the squad if you want, but it's not easy to win in the Premier League when you only have one or two genuine PL-caliber players (down from three or four before injuries hit).
Player ratings - Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United
What’s next?
- Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest — Saturday, 12:30 pm ET
- Manchester United vs Manchester City — Sunday, 11:30 am ET
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United live updates - by Andy Edwards
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United final score: 1-0
Goalscorers: Anthony Elanga (5')
