Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 at Old Trafford, but Roy Keane spent much of his post-match reaction picking apart the defending that nearly let the game slip away. Luke Shaw had put United ahead in the fifth minute, yet Forest levelled shortly after half-time through Morato before Matheus Cunha restored the home side’s lead moments later.
The game turned again in the 76th minute when Bruno Fernandes set up Bryan Mbeumo, who scored to make it 3-1 and equal the all-time Premier League record of 20 goals in a single season. Forest were not finished, though, and Morgan Gibbs-White’s late goal cut the deficit to 3-2 before United saw out the closing stages. For the hosts, the result confirmed a strong finish to the league campaign and kept them on course to end the season in third place, with Brighton away at the Amex Stadium still to come.
It was the kind of match that left more than one pundit shaking his head. Keane praised Elliot Anderson’s delivery before Forest’s equaliser, saying it was “fantastic, absolutely amazing,” but he was far less impressed by what came after. “Really poor from United here. Amad Diallo, like a child, getting knocked off the ball,” he said, adding that United showed “really good attacking play” but “really poor defending” again.
The former United captain also zeroed in on the build-up to Gibbs-White’s goal, arguing that the team had “the bodies back” but nobody was “actually making a decision” as Forest found space to score. The criticism came after referee Michael Salisbury stuck with his original call on a possible handball following a VAR check from Matthew Donohue, a decision that drew a sharp on-air verdict from Gary Neville, who called it “ridiculous.”
For United, the night brought the same split-screen story that has followed them for much of the season: goals at one end, uncertainty at the other. Mbeumo’s milestone added gloss to the scoreline, but the late wobble ensured the performance ended with Keane’s warning echoing louder than the celebration.
