Goals from Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Fred were enough for Man Utd as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils were far and away the better team throughout the contest and probably should’ve won by five or six.
As expected, it was all Man Utd in the early proceedings and the home side came close to opening the scoring inside the opening five minutes.
After some neat interplay between Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes in and around the penalty area, the ball was played to the onrushing Aaron Wan-Bissaka who was able to find fellow full-back Tyrell Malacia with his subsequent cross to the back post. Malacia’s effort on goal, however, was well saved by Wayne Hennessey at his near post.
In the 20th minute the home side deservedly got their goal, and it would come from a training ground routine corner kick. The set piece was taken by Eriksen who drilled the ball low toward the penalty spot where Marcus Rashford was on hand to sweep the ball into the top left corner of the net with a first time finish.
Nottingham Forest’s efforts to grab an equaliser in the immediate aftermath of going 1-0 down would leave them too open at the back and 2-0 goals down by the 23rd minute mark. After Casemiro stole the ball off former United man Jesse Lingard, the Red Devils surge up the pitch in numbers with Rashford cutting in from the left and squaring to Anthony Martial, whose side-footed effort from the edge of the box squirmed under Hennessey in the Forest goal and into the net.
Against the run of play, Forest thought they’d managed to bag their second away goal of the season to get themselves back into the game just before half-time. After a lengthy VAR check, however, the goal was ruled out for offside as Ryan Yates’ header from a set piece was adjudged to have deflected off of the offside Willy Boly and into the net.
The visitors looked much livelier at the start of the second half, particularly down the right flank where Brennan Johnson was causing the young Malacia some issues. Despite their best efforts though, Man Utd continued to catch Forest on the break when they committed a few too many players forward.
One such counter attack led by Fernandes culminated in Antony being played clean through on goal on the right of the penalty area. The Brazilian international was unable to curl his side-footed strike on goal past Hennessey however, who was able to comfortably save the effort on goal.
Rashford was next to test Hennessey, with his volleyed strike from a low Donny van de Beek cross forcing the Forest goalkeeper into a save with his feet.
Man Utd finally got their third goal in the 86th minute when Casemiro – who was fantastic all evening – won the ball back and threaded a lovely ball through to substitute Fred, who was able to curl the ball casually into the side-netting.
GK – David de Gea – 5/10 – He had literally nothing to do.
RB – Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 7/10 – Back to his best on Tuesday evening. Dynamic runner in the final third and did his bit defensively too.
CB – Raphael Varane – 6/10 – Played 75 minutes despite making the World Cup final. A nice easy game to bed back into club football with.
CB – Luke Shaw – 6/10 – He wasn’t tested at all in an unfamiliar role.
LB – Tyrell Malacia – 6/10 – Looked very competent in the final third.
CM – Casemiro – 9/10 – Combative off the ball and composed on it. Got a deserved assist.
CM – Christian Eriksen – 7/10 – His wonderful corner kick led to the opener. A classy performance as per.
RM – Antony – 6/10 – Lively but lacked a bit of quality on the ball at times.
AM – Bruno Fernandes – 7/10 – Controlled the game with his vision and brilliant use of the ball in and around the penalty area.
LM – Marcus Rashford – 9/10 – Scored the first in fantastic fashion and then set up the second a few minutes later.
ST – Anthony Martial – 8/10 – Back to full fitness and back in the goals.
SUB – Alejandro Garnacho – 6/10 – Showed some flashes of brilliance. He’s a serious little player.
SUB – Donny van de Beek – 6/10 – Lively when introduced.
SUB – Fred – 7/10 – Came on and scored a nice goal.
SUB – Harry Maguire – N/A.
GK – Wayne Hennessey – 4/10 – Really should have stopped Martial from scoring United’s second. Made a few decent saves aside from that though.
RB – Serge Aurier – 2/10 – Really struggled to defend and attack. Which is bad.
CB – Joe Worrall – 2/10 – Martial’s pace in behind cause him a lot of problems.
CB – Willy Boly – 2/10 – Fell asleep at a set piece to allow Rashford to open the scoring.
LB – Renan Lodi – 2/10 – Really struggled to keep pace with Antony.
CM – Orel Mangala – 3/10 – Put a shift in but, honestly, he was just up against footballers who are better than in the middle of the park.
CM – Remo Freuler – 3/10 – Chased shadows all game.
CM – Ryan Yates – 4/10 – Put himself about a bit.
RW – Brennan Johnson – 6/10 – Forest’s only decent performer. Cause Malacia the odd problem on the right flank.
ST – Taiwo Awoniyi – 4/10 – Worked hard up top but didn’t show any semblance of quality when in possession.
LW – Jesse Lingard – 2/10 – He didn’t do a whole lot, then was subbed off with an injury early in the second half.
SUB – Lewis O’Brien – N/A – Came on and did zero.
SUB – Sam Surridge – N/A – See above.
SUB – Emmanuel Dennis – N/A – See above, above.
SUB – Harry Toffolo – N/A – See above, above, above.
Credit: 90min.com
