Head coach Steve Cooper rued a lack of quality in key moments as Nottingham Forest were toppled 2-0 by Manchester United at the City Ground.
The Reds felt they should have had a penalty for a handball against Harry Maguire in the first half. But they finished the match having failed to register a single shot on target.
Taiwo Awoniyi, on his first start since returning from injury, had the hosts’ best chance just before the break but blazed an effort over the bar. Scott McKenna hit the post with a header and Felipe couldn’t convert from a corner, leaving goals from Antony and Diogo Dalot to clinch victory for the visitors and extend Forest’s winless run to 10 games.
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“United are a really, really good team; tactically well set up and test you,” said Cooper. “When they are set up like that, they’ve got good players in the positions they pull you into.
“We knew that was coming. We didn’t look after the first pass well enough in the first half. There were too many times where we gave it away when we could have done better. For as good as United are, they do give you spaces between the lines and down the sides as well - you saw a couple of times where T (Awoniyi) gave Maguire a couple of difficult moments.
“But we didn’t do that enough, in terms of making the first pass and setting up some real decent attacks. When we did make a pass or two, we did get into some decent areas. We looked a threat at set-pieces.
“The goals are two examples of when you turn it over sloppily like we did, you get punished on the first pass. We knew what the press needed to be like, and there were a lot of times when we got it right. But the times when you don’t, they can play, find those areas and have got really good players who can punish you. That’s what happened with the second goal.
“I’m talking about the, at times, lack of quality on the first pass. And also, when we did have some decent moments, we needed to do better.
“In the second half, there were a couple of flashes across goal, a couple of crossing areas and a couple of breakaways, but we’ve not been able to create that real good chance, apart from T’s where we put them under pressure and he should hit the target. They (United) do, they would have - and that’s why Keylor (Navas) has played as well as he has today.
“There’s no doubt that at this level everything has to be top. When they’ve got the ball and you don’t get it right, you get punished. You’ve got to do the same to the opponent when you’ve got it . We didn’t do that well enough.”
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