Manchester United’s weakness from set pieces was exploited again as they suffered a 3-2 Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Saturday, continuing a rocky start to new head coach Ruben Amorim’s tenure.

Forest’s first win at Old Trafford in 30 years takes them to fifth in the table with 25 points, while the scale of the challenge facing the recently appointed United manager is evident as his side are left with a few points after a mixed performance in 13th place with 19 points is a blatant defensive error.

After conceding two corners in a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in midweek, United fell behind from another corner within two minutes when Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic effortlessly beat Lisandro Martínez to score his first goal for the club .

United equalized in the 18th minute when Alejandro Garnacho’s initial shot was parried, but Danish striker Rasmus Højlund pounced and pushed the rebound home to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

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The hosts started the second half equally poorly and conceded again within two minutes as Fernandes lost the ball. The ball was quickly passed to Morgan Gibbs-White, whose low shot somehow surprised André Onana and flew past him and into the net.

Seven minutes later the United keeper was at fault again as Forest scored after a weak attack. Chris Wood sent a header over him and into the net, leaving Onana and Martínez looking at each other in frustration after another sloppy goal.

Just after the hour, Fernandes returned the favor with an excellent shot from the edge of the box, but despite being United’s best player for most of the game, he was replaced by Mason Mount in the 76th minute.

United continued to look confused until Marcus Rashford’s injury-time volley was deflected for a corner and Martinez whistled another volley over the bar from the resulting set-piece.

That was as close as they could get as Forest were determined to get all three points.