Manchester United were left to curse their defensive deficiencies as they suffered a crushing home defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Their weakness at set pieces was again exposed when Forest’s Nikola Milenkovic fired the ball into the goal from an early corner before Rasmus Hojlund equalized. Two minutes into the second half, Morgan Gibbs-White’s shot confused Andre Onana and then the United defense failed to keep out Chris Wood’s header at the back post.

Bruno Fernandes reduced the deficit but Ruben Amorim’s side were unable to find an equalizer as they lost for the second consecutive Premier League season.

Laurie Whitwell and Charlotte Harpur endure a disappointing evening for United at Old Trafford.

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Set pieces are becoming United’s Achilles heel

After feeling the full force of Arsenal’s corners on Wednesday, Nottingham Forest took less than 90 seconds to inflict more set-pieces on United.

From the forest’s perspective, it was so easy. Elliot Anderson rolled the ball into the six-yard box and Milenkovic easily jumped past his guard Lisandro Martinez and headed home. It was a strange duel, with Milenkovic standing 6ft 5in (196cm) and Martinez 5ft 9in (5ft 9in). To make matters worse, Martinez didn’t even jump up and decided it would be best to deter Milenkovic with a jab.

Matthijs de Ligt, who is strong in the air, was close but unable to challenge Milenkovic. United’s assistant head coach, Carlos Fernandes, who was in the technical area, turned away in frustration.

United have now conceded seven goals from corners in the Premier League this season and no team has conceded more. They have also conceded a higher percentage of goals from set pieces overall (50 percent) than any other team.

Fernandes, Amorim’s number 2, will be on the sidelines whenever there is a dead ball in a dangerous area, taking over from Andreas Georgson, who was appointed in the summer and focuses on set pieces. It is clear that there is still a lot to do.

Offensively, United went close with a clever free-kick when Bruno Fernandes picked out Amad, whose shot was blocked near the line, but defensively, Forest almost scored again from a corner. The ball flew to Jota Silva at the back post, who set up Murillo and his shot went just wide. Nuno Espirito Santo pumped his fist in celebration because he mistakenly thought the ball had gone in.

Laurie Whitwell

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How bad was United’s defense?

Amorim’s Sporting CP were known for their strong starts in Portugal, but his United side fell within two minutes here.

United conceded a needless corner – a recurring theme in the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal – and Milenkovic towered over Martinez, who was rooted to the ground.

The hosts reacted well and gained more control. Their equalizer was just reward for patient preparation as Fernandes made his way through the heart of Forest’s midfield.

But a misjudgment from goalkeeper Onana put United behind from the start of the second half when Gibbs-White’s shot took the Cameroonian, who had been in solid form of late, the wrong way. It should have been a routine save.

Likewise, the third part of Forest should have been able to be completed without any problems. Instead, United failed to clear Gibbs-White’s initial cross and Wood’s header, which flew back across goal, did not look overly threatening as two defenders, De Ligt and Martinez, dealt with the danger. But Martinez, positioned at the back post, allowed the ball to roll past him in an absurd manner.

Defensive errors were glaring, costly and ultimately unnecessary.

Charlotte Harpur

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Amorim’s “crazy dogs” need to find more bite

Before that game, Amorim urged his players to run like “mad dogs” if they ever wanted to have a chance of winning the Premier League.

“It is impossible to win the Premier League without a team like this: whoever runs backwards with every moment runs forwards,” he said. “Even with the best starting eleven in the world, they won’t win anything without racing. That is very clear. If we want to win the Premier League we have to run like crazy dogs.”

Those words came to mind midway through the first half when United were behind and De Ligt had the ball. There was barely any movement in front of him, causing Onana to dramatically wave his hands and beg someone to run away.

Finally Fernandes shot into space and De Ligt found him with a good pass. Fernandes shot the ball first to Manuel Ugarte and suddenly United had space. Ugarte advanced, found Alejandro Garnacho in the penalty area and his shot, which Matz Sels parried, landed at the feet of Hojlund, who was able to tuck it away.

The same burst of pace also led United to their second goal. Here too, Fernandes was the catalyst. Ugarte won the ball in midfield and Fernandes struck a pass to Amad, then raced up the pitch to arrive in the penalty area for the back pass.

His shot was great; The midfielder leans back but maintains power and direction. Fernandes has been the subject of criticism, but he undoubtedly subscribes to the ‘mad dog’ ethos – so much so that Amorim substituted him in the 75th minute to bring in fresh-legged Mason Mount.

But Amorim says United also need to run back with greater intensity, and there were a few moments when his instructions were obvious: notably on a Forest counterattack in the first half that ended with Martinez pushing Gibbs-White off balance brought.

Later, Hojlund sprinted back from center forward to intercept a Forest attack and then made it to the edge of the box when Garnacho fired a shot that flew tamely into Sels’ hands. Hojlund pointed his fingers to his temples, as if urging his teammate to think smarter next time.

Laurie Whitwell

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What did Ruben Amorim say?

We will let you know after he speaks at the post-match press conference.

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What’s next for Manchester United?

Thursday, December 12th: Viktoria Plzen (A), Europa League, 5:45 p.m. GMT, 12:45 p.m. ET

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(Top photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)