Exclusive: Why Nuno is “perfect for Forest” and Old Trafford win shows “everybody’s up for sale” at Man United | OneFootball

For the first time in almost 30 years, Nottingham Forest won at Old Trafford, and not only did their performance once again show that Nuno Espirito Santo is the right man for the job at the City Ground, but it also highlighted the incredible amount of work that Ruben Amorim is going to have to do if he wants Man United to be genuine title challengers again.

Back in 1994, Stan Collymore was on the score sheet for Forest as they plundered a 2-1 win against the Red Devils, and he was full of praise for the job that Nuno has already done at his old club this season.

Forest win exposes United’s fatal flaws says Collymore

“Nuno Espírito Santo deserves the plaudits for masterminding the victory, coming not long after taking all three points at Anfield,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Don’t forget that the narrative around the manager was that he wasn’t good enough. Bombed out of Spurs, a move to Saudi meant he was out of sight and therefore out of mind, but with players like Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Woods in situ, he has players who can score goals and help bring his attacking philosophy into play.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 07: Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United clashes with Ryan Yates of Nottingham Forest during the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Nottingham Forest FC at Old Trafford on December 07, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“What’s more, they defend well too, doggedly getting bodies behind the ball like Nuno did when at Wolves. Probably unfairly, he got tagged as that job being an old pals act with agent, Jorge Mendes, also being Portuguese and making use of his black book to help build the team.

“That took away from the fact that they were actually a very good team. Defending deep and playing on the counter attack, which became Nuno’s hallmark at Wolves, is perfect for Forest, because they’ve got a number of players that are very good at quickly getting into the opponent’s half.”

A season defining win for Forest it may have been, but post-match debate focused on how much Ruben Amorim has to do to have Man United challenging for titles once more.

The Portuguese clearly believes he can bring the glory days back to the club, but Collymore believes the standard of the United performance only reinforces the belief that every player in the squad could be put up for sale – including Marcus Rashford.

“From Ruben Amorim’s perspective after that defeat, it goes back to what I said in this column a couple of weeks ago: Everybody’s up for sale,” he added.

“Marcus Rashford just needs to move on, and if you look at players to build around, there’s nobody in a Manchester United shirt that Amorim could rely upon to be a nine out of 10 every week. No one duking it out over six or seven games to get United into a title race.

“There’s nobody there that sticks out as a top tier player and I would say 90% of that squad you could sell, but they’re not going to play for better or bigger clubs than Manchester United – which kind of tells you how poor their squad really is at this point.”