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Manchester United's 'little boy' slammed after Nottingham Forest defeat

Jamie Redknapp has criticised Lisandro Martinez for his weak defending in Manchester United's 3-2 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.

Martinez was at fault for Forest's opening goal, a powerful header from Nikola Milenkovic that gave the Reds a lead they would never lose. The centre back also made a mess of Chris Wood's second half header which was allowed to loop inside the back post as he stood and watched.

During the half-time analysis from Old Trafford, Redknapp said: "He's got to be stronger Martinez, he's like a little boy there, he just gets bullied. It's a towering header,"

Phil Jones, ex-United defender, also commented on the situation: "First of all it's a great header. You sense a bit of vulnerability from set-pieces. Martinez is too fixated on his man.

"Diogo Dalot takes a couple of steps towards the ball, maybe gets caught underneath the ball a little bit and almost gets sucked under the ball."

Despite goals from Rasmus Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes, United's loss marked their second consecutive defeat under manager Ruben Amorim. This was the first time Amorim dropped points at Old Trafford after previously securing wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton.

With United now sitting 13th in the Premier League, trailing fourth-placed rivals Manchester City by eight points, Amorim acknowledged the challenge ahead in his post-match comments: "We already know it's a big job so we have to continue," he said. "It will be a long journey but we want to win because this is a massive club. You feel it, when you lose one game it's really hard for everybody. I can understand that.", reports the Manchester Evening News.

"I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal. I had this and worse in Sporting in the beginning. The feeling for me is the same but for the world it's completely different. We need time and to continue to work in the same way every day."

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