100% aerial duels won, 2 key passes: United summer recruit shines in spite of disheartening loss vs Forest

Manchester United fell to a disheartening 2-3 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on a stormy day at Old Trafford.

The loss was Ruben Amorim’s second in a week in the Premier League and leaves nobody in any doubt about the size of the task he has taken on at Old Trafford.

It was an error strewn performance from the Red Devils with few players reaching their true ability but one player who can leave with his head held high is Manuel Ugarte.

The Uruguayan had a tough start to life at United but he has found his feet lately and has been one of United’s most consistent performers.

He played 76 minutes and was given a rating on Sofascore of 7.3 for his evening’s efforts.

He had 59 touches of the ball and a passing accuracy of 93%, completing 42 out of his 45 passes.

Ugarte also had two key passes as his beautiful defence splitting pass played a key role in Rasmus Hojlund scoring United’s opening goal of the game.

The Uruguay international was not brought in from Paris Saint-Germain for his ability on the ball but he is steadily growing into the role as a United player.

He won both of his aerial battles and five of his 10 attempted ground duels.

The 23 year old also got through some more defensive work as he blocked one shot, made one clearance and completed three tackles for his side.

He could not complete the full match after playing the entire 90 minutes in the defeat to Arsenal during the week but he will be pleased with his efforts despite the poor defeat.

Ugarte and United will next be in action on Thursday night when they travel to the Czech Republic to take on Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League.

Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images


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Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.

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