It wasn’t the defeat itself which meant Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper cut a frustrated figure at full-time on Wednesday night.
Losing to a Manchester United side on the up under Erik ten Hag is no disgrace. Indeed, this season has already shown there is a significant gap between the teams at the top end of the Premier League and the rest.
But the Reds didn’t help themselves at times in this Carabao Cup clash. Against teams like United, with in-form players like Marcus Rashford, that’s asking for trouble.
