Collection by Nuno Espirito Santo and Ruben Amorim. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, Nottingham Forest won at Old Trafford, and their performance not only showed once again that Nuno Espirito Santo is the right man for the job at the City Ground, but it also highlighted the incredible amount of work Ruben Amorim has to do if he is to succeed. He wants Manchester United to be a real title contender again.
In 1994, Stan Collymore was on the scoresheet for Forest as they won 2-1 over the Red Devils, and was full of praise for the work Nuno had already done at his old club that season.
Collymore says Forest's win exposes United's fatal flaws
He told CaughtOffside of his goal: “Nuno Espirito Santo deserves credit for leading the win, shortly after getting the three points at Anfield.” Exclusive column.
“Don't forget the talk around the manager was that he wasn't good enough. After being bombed from Tottenham, his move to Saudi Arabia meant he was out of sight and therefore out of mind, but with players like Morgan Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi there. And Chris Woods is in position, he has players who can score goals and help achieve goals in his attacking playing philosophy.
“What's more, they defend well too, putting their bodies behind the ball with as much determination as Nuno did when he was at Wolves. Perhaps unfairly, he has been labeled as acting as an old friend with the agent, Jorge Mendes, who is also Portuguese and makes use of his black book to help with Team building.
“It took away from the fact that they were actually a very good team. The deep defending and playing on the counter-attack, which has become Nuno's hallmark at Wolves, is ideal for Forest, because they have a number of players who are very good at getting quickly into the opposition half.
It may have been the season that defined Forest's victory, but the controversy that followed the match focused on how much Ruben Amorim must do to make Manchester United challenge for silverware again.
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The Portuguese clearly believes he can bring the glory days back to the club, but Collymore believes United's level of form reinforces the belief that every player in the squad could be put up for sale. Including Marcus Rashford.
step to Joshua Zirkzy is replaced by Arguably it can't come soon enough either.
He added: “From Ruben Amorim's point of view after that defeat, it goes back to what I said in this column two weeks ago: everyone is for sale.”
“Marcus Rashford just needs to move on and if you look at the players he can build on, there's no one in a Manchester United shirt that Amorim can count on to be nine out of 10 every week. No one gets through six or seven games to get United into the title race.” .
“Nobody stands out as a top-class player, and I would say 90% of this squad you could sell, but they won't play for better or bigger clubs than Manchester United – which tells you how weak their squad is.” The team is really at this stage.”
