Rúben Amorim has agreed with Rio Ferdinand’s assessment of three Manchester United players following the side’s 1-0 loss against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening.
Manchester United were stung fiercely in their pursuit to avoid their worst ever Premier League campaign by former United academy graduate Anthony Elanga at the City Ground.
The 22-year-old winger opened the scoring with the only goal of the game in the fifth minute to snatch up the three points.
Elanga’s burst of pace allowed him to skip through the United spine with ease. The Sweden international then found the bottom right corner with a neat finish past a hapless Andre Onana.
United responded positively, controlling large portions of the game. However, the Reds’ weakness in front of goal proved to be yet another main talking point. The Forest goal was unscathed, as United’s five shots on target were all wasteful.
The second half saw a return for Mason Mount, who had been sidelined with a hamstring injury since December. Harry Maguire also saw a return and had a close-range shot dramatically cleared off the line in injury time by Murillo.
The win handed Nottingham Forest their first league double over United in 33 years, but most importantly drives them one step closer to Champions League football as they remain comfortably in third place, eight points clear of fourth place Chelsea.
Rio Ferdinand rips into United’s attacking threat
Former United captain Rio Ferdinand was vocal on United’s attackers amidst another lacklustre scoring display.
Speaking on TNT Sports he said: “I watched them at Goodison Park, and I said it was one of the most wonderful performances I’ve seen for Man Utd in many years, especially in them areas.
I think there’s been an improvement in that sense. But they were toothless, still. They had no kind of cutting edge to the team. There was nothing in the box.
“The goalkeeper, I’m sure, was really untested in the whole game today.”
Amorim agrees with Ferdinand’s frank assessment
Speaking to TNT Sports after the fixture, United boss Amorim agreed with the assessment the United legend gave regarding his side’s lack of potency in front of a goal.
“We had a lot of shots on goal, we pushed the opponent to the last third, but in the last third we had a lack of quality,” Amorim explained.
“We need to win games, and we deserved more in this game, that is clear, but it is our fault, and we need to be better in the last third. We should have won this game, not even drawn, but in the end, we have lost three points.”
Too often this season, United has relied on captain Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese has scored eight this season from midfield. Ivorian Amad has scored six but has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Alejandro Garnacho has outscored United’s strikers with four, while Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund, who are expected to lead the line, have three goals each. Strikers not fulfilling their duty is a massive concern for United.
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