1
Rasmus Hojlund has insisted that Manchester United’s momentum was killed by Nottingham Forest, who scored very early goals in either half of their 3-2 win over Ruben Amorim’s men on Saturday.
Nikola Milenkovic broke the deadlock just 91 seconds after kick-off, as he towered over Lisandro Martinez to head the ball into the back of the net.
Hojlund equalised on the rebound following excellent work by Manuel Ugarte, and United came close to taking the lead before halftime when Bruno Fernandes struck the crossbar with a powerful free-kick.
The Red Devils made another terrible start after the restart as Morgan Gibbs-White restored Forest’s lead after feeble goalkeeping from Onana, who was culpable once again when Chris Wood made it 3-1.
Fernandes’ brilliant strike gave United some hope of mounting a comeback but Forest managed to hold on for all three points.
After the final whistle, Hojlund spoke to MUTV and was asked whether the result was what he and his teammates wanted.
He responded, “No, not at all. [It is] annoying to concede three at home against Forest. We sort of knew if they should get something and [we conceded] some irritating goals, you could say.”
“Then again, we need to do better, all of us. It is all of us and we need to do better. Today, it could have been much, much better.”
“It is a bit annoying, as they scored early in the second half and also early in the first half, which is sort of killing the momentum a little bit and the confidence as well.”
“I think we played alright in the first half after we get the first goal. It killed the game a little bit that they got their two goals but, then again when we play at home, when we still have 35 minutes left, we have to do more to see if we could have at least got a point.”
On his goal, Hojlund remarked, “Yeah, it is my job to sort of be in these positions, then again, I am not really thinking about that too much right now. I am, to be honest, quite devastated because we know we need the points.”
“We play [again] in what three or four days, so we need to prepare for that and [we have] an important derby next week [at the Etihad Stadium].”
Hojlund now has two Premier League goals to his name this season and five in 16 appearances across all competitions.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social