Erik ten Hag must take the blame for tactical change that cost Manchester United at Nottingham Forest

The only positive from Manchester United's first half performance at the City Ground was that they hadn't conceded, but then to be fair they had barely looked like conceding either.

They had been relatively secure defensively and Nottingham Forest's biggest chance came early on, when Kobbie Mainoo got his head in the way of Nicolas Dominguez's shot.

There were improvements needed going forward, but the decision to replace Mainoo with Scott McTominay looked a strange one. It was a return to the wide-open midfield that already had cost United this season and - unsurprisingly - the slight sense of control that United had in the first half evaporated.

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It was a poor change that had obvious consequences and it doesn't reflect well on the coaching staff and Erik ten Hag that they didn't see it coming. When Dominguez had acres of space around the penalty spot to put Forest ahead, it was the exact position Mainoo had been stood to make that first half block. This time, United's midfield was missing in action.

They took advantage of a gift to get back in the game but were then hit on the break once again. The midfield was once more absent and this time Morgan Gibbs-White was the beneficiary, finishing from the edge of the area from another pull-back. It was strikingly similar to the first goal and the kind of position you would expect a holding midfielder to be in. Unfortunately, he was sat on the bench.

A lack of creativity

The mood was buoyant around United after the Boxing Day win against Aston Villa, but this was one of the more predictable false dawns in a season full of them.

Villa played a game perfectly suited