31 touches, 1 big chance missed – Rúben Amorim’s next Manchester United axe is obvious

Rúben Amorim’s next axe at Manchester United is obvious following the club’s 3-2 Premier League loss against Nottingham Forest.

Manchester United were beaten 3-2 at Old Trafford as Nottingham Forest came away with all three Premier League points on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors struck early, with Nikola Milenkovic heading in from a corner just two minutes into the game. United responded through Rasmus Højlund, who tapped home a rebound from Alejandro Garnacho‘s shot in the 18th minute to bring the hosts level.

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After the break, Forest once again caught United off guard, retaking the lead within two minutes of the restart. Chris Wood then made it 3-1, giving Forest a commanding advantage. Bruno Fernandes pulled one back with 30 minutes remaining, sparking hopes of a comeback.

However, United couldn’t find the equaliser, and Rúben Amorim suffered his first home defeat as manager at Old Trafford.

Amorim’s next axe

While many performers have been criticised for their lacklustre displays against Forest, with those such as Lisandro Martínez and André Onana singled out for individual errors, another man failed to impress.

Garnacho started four of Amorim’s first five games at United but played 90 minutes just once. He was substituted in three of his four starts, lasting just shy of 60 minutes against Arsenal and Forest.

Garnacho had just 31 touches across his 59 minutes on Saturday, missing one big chance and having two shots on goal, both of which were saved.

He failed with his one attempted cross and won three of his five duels in the fixture. To his credit, he successfully completed the one long ball he attempted and got himself five touches in the opposition area, but overall, he failed to impress.

After starting the last few minutes, with Amorim employing a rotation policy, Garnacho is the most obvious choice to axe from the XI for the upcoming Europa League tie against Viktoria Plzeň in midweek.

None of Joshua Zirkzee, Mason Mount, Marcus Rashford, or Christian Eriksen started against Forest, all of which could replace Garnacho in the left attacking midfielder position this week.

Asked about having used 22 players in the five games since he took over the squad, Amorim said: “Of course, every day, you learn a lot. The best team also depends on the opposition.

“You have to understand the opposition to put the right players with the right characteristics for every game. I know better our players and that is most important.”

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