United View: Still work to be done in the transfer market

After scraping past Wolves in their first game and losing in disappointing circumstances away at Spurs in their second, Manchester United had to respond in front of the Old Trafford faithful in their next game, against Nottingham Forest.

The opening two games highlighted several issues that manager Erik ten Hag needed to address. One of those was the midfield imbalance, United were ran through far too easily against both Wolves and Spurs with Casemiro finding himself isolated on too many occasions due to Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount taking up extremely high positions off the ball.

Ten Hag had no choice but to change things against Forest regardless, as Mount picked up an injury which will see him sidelined for a number of weeks. In his absence Christan Eriksen was given his first start of the campaign, as was Anthony Martial, who was preferred to youngster Alejandro Garnacho, who has been fairly poor so far this season. Crucially, this change allowed United’s star man Marcus Rashford to return to his favoured position on the left-hand side of the front three, with Martial filling the number nine slot. Another change for the Reds came at left-back, with Diogo Dalot replacing Luke Shaw, who picked up an injury earlier in the week.

It was a nightmare start for United, conceding after just two minutes from a lightning quick Forest counter attack. Forest headed away a poor United corner and turned defence into attack in seconds. Forward Taiwo Awoniyi found himself 1v1 on the halfway line with Marcus Rashford of all people, who he burst past and raced in on goal. The Nigerian made no mistake with the finish, slotting the ball past Andre Onana in the United goal to give Forest the lead.

The away side doubled their lead moments later after Diogo Dalot gave away a cheap free kick on the edge of the box, which gave Morgan Gibbs-White the opportunity to swing in a pinpoint cross towards the head of Willy Boly, with the ball ricocheting off the Ivorian and leaving Onana rooted to the spot as the ball flew past him.

Things were looking bleak for the home side who found themselves two nil down after just four minutes. The Red Devils responded ten minutes later with Christian Eriksen repaying the manager’s faith in him when he turned in Marcus Rashford’s drilled cross from the left.

Steve Cooper’s men managed to hold firm and went into the break leading by a goal to nil.

This would change just seven minutes into the second half when Casemiro turned in a wonderfully worked set piece to draw United level.

Visitors Forest were reduced to ten men minutes later when Joe Worrall brought down Bruno Fernandes on the edge of the box. He was adjudged to have denied Fernandes of a goalscoring opportunity and was given his marching orders.

Forest’s woes were compounded moments later when United were awarded a penalty after Marcus Rashford was brought down in the box by Danilo. Bruno Fernandes took responsibility and fired the ball into the bottom left corner to give his team the lead. The Reds managed to hold on despite the eyebrow-raising eleven minutes of added time and took all three points. 

A crucial win for ten Hag’s men, who had to respond after the disappointing defeat a week prior. United’s attention now turns to Sunday, when they travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal. Erik ten Hag will be hopeful new signing Rasmus Hojlund is ready for this one, after a short while out with a back issue.

Despite the impressive business that has been done so far, United still need to act, with less than two days remaining before the summer transfer window closes for good. A combative midfielder should be at the top of their list, having still not replaced Fred, who left for Fenerbahce earlier this month. The club have long been admirers of Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat, who was impressive at last year’s World Cup for Morocco, and we could see him brought in by the end of the window. As well as this United need reinforcements at left-back, following reports that Luke Shaw could be sidelined until November with a knee issue. Shaw’s deputy in this area, Tyrell Malacia, is also out injured so United need cover desperately. One man the Reds could look to sign in this area is Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella, who has fallen out of favour at the club in recent months. Any deal for a left-back is likely to be a loan with United reportedly encountering financial fair play issues. Whatever United are looking to do, they will have to be quick about it, with only a matter of hours left before the transfer window shuts, at 11pm on Friday.