Manchester United returned from the international with their momentum punctured in a 0-1 loss to plucky Nottingham Forest.
Ruben Amorim’s team created more chances and dominated possession but Forest looked threatening on transitions.
Anthony Elanga tore through Man Utd early on to give them the lead, and Forest bunkered down and protected it in the face of incessant United attacks.
The lack of attacking quality will take the headlines, and rightly so, because it’s been a theme throughout the season, but an Amorim favourite finally broke down in the game.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Ruben Amorim favourite stretched beyond limit
During his time at Old Trafford so far, Amorim has been famously stingy with praise for his players, trying to balance it with the need to keep their feet on the ground.
Therefore, for him to call one player the “future of the club” early on in his tenure was a remarkable compliment.
In many ways, it was deserved as well since that player was effectively a one-size-fits-all superstar used by Amorim to plug gaps everywhere.
So far in his Man Utd career, Noussair Mazraoui has played –
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->Right centre-back
->Left centre-back
->Right wing-back
-> Left wing-back
-> Right-back
-> Left-back
-> Attacking midfielder
-> Central midfielder
All this for a player who was thought to be injury-prone when he arrived! Against Forest, one of those positions was added to the list as he played on the left side of the back three.
He was torn apart by Anthony Elanga time and again.
Noussair Mazraoui finally breaks down
It is a testament to Mazraoui’s footballing intelligence and quality that he’s taken to every position with extreme ease and taken it in his stride, sometimes changing position multiple times during a game!
However, regardless of how quality a player is, this sort of shuffling is never good for stability and against Forest, Mazraoui finally broke down.
Playing on his weaker side against a physical and pacy attacker, Mazraoui regularly found himself caught out on transitions and struggled to get going.
The change was stark when Amorim admitted his mistake and switched Yoro and Mazraoui, with the Frenchman dealing much more capably with Elanga.
With Patrick Dorgu’s return and hopefully Luke Shaw being an option again, Mazraoui can make the RCB place his own because he’s been a victim of his own versatility.