Manchester United looked to get back to winning ways and put their previous 2-1 loss against Fulham behind them, when they travelled to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Before the match, it was confirmed that United would face the winner of the clash between Liverpool and Southampton if they got past Forest to advance to the quarter-final.
Faced with a number of injuries to key players, Erik ten Hag made a few personnel changes.
Andre Onana started in goal with a defensive four of Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Sofyan Amrabat ahead of him.
Casemiro, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes were tasked with patrolling the midfield.
Marcus Rashford led the line with Antony and Alejandro Garnacho on either wing. Here are four things we learned from Manchester United’s 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest.
Amrabat not up to the standard at left-back
One of the surprise inclusions in the starting XI was Amrabat but under the circumstances, Ten Hag was likely forced into starting him.
It was recently confirmed that Luke Shaw re-joined Tyrell Malacia on the injury list. There are fears the Englishman could miss the rest of the season due to the physical setback.
In Shaw’s absence, Ten Hag often deployed Lindelof at left-back but on Tuesday, it was confirmed that Harry Maguire was ruled out of the clash vs. Forest. As such, Ten Hag put Lindelof next to Varane at the heart of United’s defence.
The only other player who could play in the left full-back position was Amrabat.
However, the Moroccan was poor and Ten Hag may ultimately be best served by finding an alternative as opposed to fielding him in that part of the pitch.
Amrabat’s touches were loose and on more than one occasion, seemed to find it difficult to bring the ball under his spell.
Even some of his passes were heavy and inaccurate. In one instance, Amrabat made a poor pass to Varane and inadvertently put Taiwo Awoniyi through on goal. Luckily, Awoniyi’s ensuing shot was saved by Onana who got a strong hand to it.
Amrabat seemed to struggle with the pace of the Forest attackers. In particular, Divock Origi gave the Fiorentina loanee a troubling time. Origi kept engaging in a foot race with Amrabat and mostly emerged on top.
The United man constantly inverted from left-back into midfield whenever the Red Devils crossed the halfway line. The issue is that this tactic barely helped at all and Forest still found it relatively easy to exploit the midfield spaces on the counter. This was not all down to Amrabat. His teammates in midfield – McTominay, Casemiro and Fernandes ultimately bear the biggest share of responsibility for how open and exposed the team was.
On Tuesday, Ten Hag said that Amrabat is one of the players who could force themselves into becoming a regular starter but against Forest, the 27-year-old didn’t make a convincing case. He certainly left a lot to be desired.
If Amrabat is to continue playing, then it should almost certainly be in the middle of the park rather than at left-back. In the backline, he offers very little if anything at all.
Rashford not fit for purpose in the number nine position
Amrabat wasn’t the only player who struggled in a largely unfamiliar position. Rashford was equally below-par and unimpactful.
In the opening 45 minutes, the forward had very few touches of the ball –Â a testament to how little he was involved in proceedings. This was also the case in the second half.
Rashford cut a very frustrated and lonely figure upfront. He was unable to really get into the game and offered none of the positives usually provided by the far more effective Rasmus Hojlund, such as: holding up the ball, linking up play and getting shots off. Even his pressing was not very good and the Forest defenders weren’t really troubled by his presence.
The 26-year-old had a chance to score in the early stages of the match when McTominay set him up with a sublime low cross, but he skied his effort.
It’s no secret that Rashford prefers playing on the left of attack but in the absence of a fit and available striker within the ranks, it certainly falls on his shoulders to heed his manager’s call and do a job to the best of his ability.
Even worse against Forest was just how irritated Rashford appeared. Over and over he kept flailing his arms. This was also noted by Alan Shearer in commentary and Wayne Rooney who was on punditry duty.
Shearer said about Rashford, “I don’t like his body language. As an individual he has to take responsibility for his actions. He has to do better, hold the ball up, stop waving his arms around. He’s telling the fans that it’s not his fault he lost the ball.”
Rooney further stated, “Marcus Rashford is better on the left but he has to want to score. He doesn’t put himself in the best positions.”
The Carrington academy graduate’s woeful display carried on into the second half. He had a shout for a penalty when he thought he was illegally brought down while marking a charge for the Forest goal, but the referee didn’t agree.
He had another sight of goal in the 81st minute when Fernandes put him through but he couldn’t hit the target. His shot went wide and didn’t even require the Forest goalkeeper to swing into action.
Like in the case of Amrabat, Rashford’s stints as the number nine seem to be a waste of time. He’s not fit for purpose in that role and it’s hardly surprising why United are understood to be on the market for a striker when the summer transfer window commences.
His partners in the forward line – Garnacho and Antony – certainly didn’t do him any favours but as suggested by Rooney, Rashford could have done more to help himself and the situation.
Still not good enough from Antony
A lot of the talk after the loss against Fulham was about Antony’s place in Ten Hag’s thinking and just how far he has fallen in the pecking order.
Last weekend, Ten Hag started Omari Forson ahead of Antony. Even Amad Diallo was brought on before the Brazilian, who was substituted with just seconds left on the clock.
Afterwards, Ten Hag emphasised that Antony needed to do better to earn his spot back.
The United boss elected to start with the former Ajax star but yet again, the 24-year-old didn’t justify his selection.
He hit the woodwork in the early stages but from there, didn’t offer much else. His defensive work rate was commendable and helped out Dalot but going forward, Antony didn’t do what was expected of him.
Antony was taken off in the 72nd minute and replaced by Diallo.
He didn’t look happy on the bench but he has no one to blame but himself. Shearer said after Antony was substituted, “Antony hasn’t done anywhere near enough to warrant staying on the pitch tonight. Same old, same old, he cuts inside and gives the ball to someone else. Nowhere near enough from someone who cost that much money.”
Antony still has a lot of work to do.
United through to the FA Cup quarter-final
United left it late but ultimately shed first blood courtesy of Casemiro. The defensive midfielder headed in a cross from Fernandes beyond the reach of Matt Turner.
Casemiro suffered some damage and could be seen bleeding. However, the five-time Champions League will not care too much about it considering his was the winning goal.
The 20-time English champions are now through to the quarter-final of the competition. Ten Hag’s men were set to face the winner of the clash between Liverpool and Southampton. Both sides were also in action.
By the time United were confirmed winners against Forest, Liverpool were two goals up vs. the Saints.
It promises to be a mouth-watering home tie when United face their bitter rivals and aim to spoil Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour.
