Manchester United put themselves in control of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie with Nottingham Forest with a 3-0 win at the City Ground.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring early on for United by bursting past Joe Worrall and hitting a powerful effort to the left of Wayne Hennessey.
In the 22nd minute, Forest thought they had equalised after Morgan Gibbs-White burst through the United midfield and weighted his ball perfectly into Sam Surridge who placed it low and into the bottom corner. Unfortunately for Forest, the goal was disallowed by VAR and the score remained 1-0.
The lead was doubled on the stroke of halftime after Antony's dipping effort from outside the area was parried into the path of Wout Weghorst who provided the finish from close range to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
The final goal came in the form of a Bruno Fernandes volley from just outside the area. The goal, which came in the 89th minute has given Forest an insurmountable task going into the second leg at Old Trafford as they must now overcome a 3-goal deficit away from home.
Height isn't everything...
Upon arrival in England, Lisandro Martinez was met with doubts surrounding his height and ability to deal with traditional target men.
Pundits were quick to blame the Argentine for United's 4-0 loss to Brentford with Jamie Carragher saying he's "convinced this cant work" in reference to his height.
Since then Martinez has proved the doubters wrong and against Forest he continued to do so. Martinez was awarded the man of the match award by Sky Sports completing 95 passes (a match-high) and putting his body on the line by dipping his head into crowded areas and as always being aggressive in the challenge. They don't call him "the butcher" for nothing.
Weghorst can lead the line
The signing of Weghorst was met with disappointment by some sections of the United fanbase. How can a Burnley player come in and lead the line for United? Was a question surrounding the move.
Against Forest, Weghorst impressed with his excellent back to goal play. He was an excellent outlet for the red devils throughout the game and consistently helped United get up the pitch.
His control and weight of pass was excellent and it was clear to see why Erik Ten Hag has put his faith in the Dutchman. Despite not necessarily being on the pitch for his goal scoring ability he still finished the one real opportunity that came his way to put United 2-0 up on the halftime.
Poor transition defence
All 3 of United's goals came on the break against Forest which was down to how poor Forest were set up to defend these situations. Time after time Forest were found with only one man in Danilo covering the defence leaving them unprotected.
Forest were not proactive enough off the ball consistently backing off the United attackers appearing scared. The biggest example of this was the opening goal which saw Worrall keep backing off u and giving Rashford the space to knock it past him. As the saying goes "schoolboy defending".
Defending deep is fine but when in your block you must press out of it and not make it easy for your opposition. Forest looked unprepared, disorganised and nervous.
Onto the next leg
As poor as Forest were against United the game could've gone a lot differently had Surridge's goal not been disallowed.
Despite being on the end of a heavy defeat Forest still seemed to dominate for short periods of the match and with the 2nd leg being played at the "Theatre of Dreams" a dramatic comeback might just be on the cards.