Manchester United and damning stat which sums up struggles for Erik ten Hag's side

Amad Diallo applauds the travelling fans after Manchester United's defeat to Nottingham Forest in December 2023.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Manchester United's slugglish season continued with a 2-1 defeat against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday.

Erik ten Hag's side came back from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Boxing Day, but were unable to follow up that win with a positive result on the road as goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White sealed victory for Forest.

A comeback had looked on as Marcus Rashford equalised for the Red Devils with 12 minutes left, but the visitors went on to concede shortly afterwards.

The defeat was United's ninth of the Premier League season, which is already as many as in the whole of the 2022/23 campaign.

Back then, Ten Hag's side were beaten in both of their first two matches but lost only seven more in their remaining 36 fixtures.

This term, United have lost nine of their 20 games, including four of their last eight in the competition and currently sit in seventh place.

On top of that, Ten Hag's men have been beaten in four of their six Champions League fixtures in 2023/24, crashing out in the group stages.

The Red Devils also lost 3-0 at home to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.

Saturday's defeat saw United end 2023 in disappointing fashion and Ten Hag's side kick off 2024 with an FA Cup third round clash at Wigan on January 8th.

In the Premier League, their next match is against Tottenham at Old Trafford six days later.

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Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.