 "Manchester United's Amad Diallo celebrates with teammates after scoring the equaliser for his team in the 81st minute of their Premier League away game against Nottingham Forest. AP")
Just when Manchester United’s stocks were beginning to rise, they were served a reality check by Nottingham Forest, a team that’s currently struggling to move out of the Premier League relegation zone. United were riding high on confidence after completing a hat-trick of wins, which included a thrilling victory over Liverpool at Anfield.
Forest, on the other hand, found themselves in the drop zone after losing each of their last four outings, firing manager Ange Postecoglou and hiring former Everton boss Sean Dyche as his replacement along the way.
The ‘Tricky Trees’, however, put their disappointing run behind them and dished out a solid performance against the ‘Red Devils’, nearly defeating the 20-time English top-flight champions 2-1 despite trailing them a goal at halftime.
Casemiro’s 34th minute header boosted United’s hopes of collecting a fourth victory on the trot and moving to the second spot on the table.
Forest, however, staged an incredible comeback after halftime thanks to Morgan Gibbs-White and Nicolo Savona, who scored within five minutes of restart, much to the delight of the home fans at the City Ground that have had little reason to cheer so far this season.
Diallo to the rescue for United
Both United and Forest kept creating several chances in the remainder of the second half, leading to a flurry of close shaves. One of those chances led to United’s Ivorian winger Amad Diallo helping his side finish level and retain a point with a left-footed screamer from the edge of the penalty area in the 81st minute.
Diallo nearly fired a stoppage-time winner that was cleared off the goal line by Brazilian defender Murillo which ensured Forest did not succumb to a fifth consecutive league defeat.
Diallo, however, ended up becoming the toast of United fans and other football accounts on social media after his eye-catching strike to rescue a point for manager Ruben Amorim, who had completed a year as United boss.
Here are some of the reactions:
Despite United fighting back late in the game and ultimately rescuing a point, Amorim expressed his unhappiness over his team switching off for a bit after restart, which greatly hampered their chances of maintaining their winning run.
Amorim, however, added that the way his team responded from 1-2 down is something that was missing earlier in the season, and is a sign of United’s new-found belief.
“I feel in the recent past if we had had this situation (from 1-0 up to 2-1 down) we would have struggled so much more than today,” Amorim said after the match.
“My feeling is we played well but we dropped a little bit of energy. When we have the full energy we are the better team,” he added.
Forest will next be seen in action in their away Europa League fixture against Austrian club SK Sturm Graz on Thursday. United, who are not playing any European football this season after finishing 15th in the last Premier League season, will be traveling south as they face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.