Manchester United returned to Premier League action with a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Tuesday.
The home side did the double over the Red Devils for the first time with former Carrington graduate Anthony Elanga scoring the winner.
The visitors created a lot of chances, had three times as many shots as Forest with Diogo Dalot hitting the post while Harry Maguire’s effort was scrambled off the line but it was not to be on the night.
The lack of cutting-edge up top was to blame while Ruben Amorim’s decision to switch things up by overlooking in-form stars made zero sense.
Indecisive from Mazraoui
While the head coach will likely point to his team’s deficiencies in attack, his bizarre decision to play Noussair Mazraoui as the left-sided centre-back instead of Leny Yoro ultimately cost the 20-time English league champions the game.
The Moroccan, who was the last man standing for many of Forest’s counter-attacks, kept backing off and allowed Elanga a free run at goal.
He was indecisive many of the times and he lacked the pace Yoro has and the Frenchman was a revelation on the left before his injury. In fact, Yoro should how it was done with a brilliant last-ditch tackle to stop the pacey Swede.
And after a brilliant last few weeks, the former Bayern Munich man looked a liability as he allowed Forest attackers to dribble past him four times.
His mistake led to the goal
The 27-year-old won only 40 percent of his duels, winning only seven out of 15 ground duels and one of five aerial battles. He also lost possession a mammoth 12 times.
The ex-Ajax ace gave away two fouls and completed only 50 percent of his long-ball attempts. He made three clearances, and completed two interceptions.
On the ball, the Morocco international ended the game with a 89 percent passing accuracy and had one key pass and completed one out of three dribbles (all stats via sofascore).
Hopefully, Amorim will not unnecessarily change things in the games to come and allow Mazraoui to play as the right-sided centre-back, a position in which he is far more comfortable.
Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
