Soccer Football - Premier League - Nottingham Forest v Manchester United - The City Ground, Nottingham, Britain - December 30, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes looks dejected after the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) -Manchester United suffered a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday as the home side piled more misery on their beleaguered visitors with goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White securing the points at a rocking City Ground.
Erik ten Hag's United are struggling in seventh place on 31 points from 20 games after their 14th defeat this term in all competitions. The last time they had more losses in a season by the turn of the year was way back in 1930-31.
"The result is clear. It's disappointing," Ten Hag told the BBC. "The loss was unnecessary. We lost it in the first half. We weren't energised enough or invested enough.
"In the second we were better. We know these results are below our standards."
It was Forest's first league win over United since 1994, and first at home in the Premier League era, to delight their newly appointed manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
"This season in general has been one step forward and two steps back and it felt like that today," said United midfielder Christian Eriksen. "Our aim was to get three points so it's definitely disappointing to come away with zero.
"Things will heal and get better. There's only one way forward and that's to work hard."
The visitors were coming off a 3-2 home win over Aston Villa on Boxing Day after going two goals down but inconsistency struck again on Saturday and they struggled in both attack and defence, sinking to another low in a calamitous season.
DEADLOCK BROKEN
Dominguez broke the deadlock in what had been a drab game after 64 minutes with a shot from the centre of the box.
Marcus Rashford equalised in the 78th when Alejandro Garnacho pounced on a poor clearance from goalkeeper Matt Turner and sent a precise pass across the edge of the 18-yard box to Rashford who fired into the bottom right corner.
United's celebrations were short-lived however as Gibbs-White curled a superb shot into the corner on the counter-attack after Turner had made a great save at the other end.
The victory means Forest, who won back-to-back games for the first time this season, are 15th on 20 points after 20 matches, five points clear of the drop zone.
The win was Forest's second under Nuno, who replaced fan favourite Steve Cooper on Dec. 20 and guided them to a 3-1 Boxing Day victory at Newcastle United last time out.
"We've had some good performances as a team and he (Nuno) just said thanks for trusting in the game plan. It makes you want to play for him even more," Gibbs-White told Sky Sports.
United striker Rasmus Hojlund, whose first league goal got the win against Villa, was missing through illness and Rashford -- whose goal was United's first on the road in a league game since a 3-0 win at Everton on Nov. 26 -- struggled up front.
United, who are out of Europe and the League Cup in what is proving to be a challenging season, spurned several last-gasp chances to equalise, including Eriksen's effort seconds before the final whistle that rolled just wide of the net.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
