In spite of the ludicrous awarding of Manchester United’s second goal by Michael Salisbury as they beat Nottingham Forest 3-2, Vitor Pereira’s position as manager looked cemented following the full-time scene of vindication in the away corner of Old Trafford. George Edwards was at the match
As they stood there, defeated — unjustly — by Manchester United, it looked evident that the applauding Vitor Pereira was the present and the future of Nottingham Forest.
The 57-year-old may have been commending a loss, but it didn’t feel that way. His name was being sung by the visiting supporters with fervour, as his players allowed him to take centre stage and accept the appreciation from the away end.
It felt like a scene for celebration, both to commemorate a season on the road that had seen European away days return for the first time in 30 years and because of the ridiculous way in which Forest lost the game.
Referee Michael Salisbury perhaps didn’t realise that he was in the football stadium Old Trafford, rather than the cricket stadium with the same name half a mile down the road, when re-watching the incident that led to the host’s second goal, just seconds after Forest had got back on level terms through defender Morato.
One replay appeared enough to see that Bryan Mbuemo controlled with his arm before laying off to goalscorer Matheus Cunha — many inside Old Trafford didn’t even need that — the ball looking set to sail beyond the Cameroonian’s control had it not been for that intervention.
Even the Manchester United players seemed resigned once murmurs of a VAR check came about, not one player on the field appearing to prepare for the game to restart from another kick-off.
But somehow, despite the VAR, Gary Neville, and pretty much every football fan watching the incident expecting the goal to be ruled out, Salisbury stuck with his original call to allow the goal in a check that took over three minutes.
The injustice saw any confidence and momentum from getting back level sapped from Forest, appearing dazed as the game restarted.
They did find a way to fight back by the end, the returning Morgan Gibbs-White notching for the fourth time against his boyhood club to make the score 3-2, further echoing the call for his involvement in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for this summer’s World Cup, set to be announced on Friday.
By the end, it felt like the whole club had written off the prejudice of United’s second and treated the game as if they’d snatched a draw.
It helped that their Premier League survival no longer hinged on gaining points, mathematically safe following West Ham’s narrow defeat against Arsenal last weekend. But despite the occasion looking destined to be the sweeping home display to confirm Michael Carrick’s future as United manager, Forest left Old Trafford just as set on the man to take them forward.
Pereira was brought in to firefight. Forest were staring down the barrel of relegation and the squad appeared disjointed and uninspired by predecessor Sean Dyche.
As proved by the spike in performances after his arrival at Wolves last season, in similar circumstances, the Portuguese is a motivator and a galvaniser, things that made him ideal for the Forest job and have been translated into a response and a recovery of a season that risked drifting into toxicity.
Both the fact that Pereira began this campaign with no wins from Wolves’ opening 10 league games, and because Marco Silva, admired long-term by Forest’s hierarchy, looks set to become available this summer, made Pereira’s future beyond this season look uncertain.
Owner Evangelos Marinakis was shown the risk of sudden and unwarranted upheaval when Nuno Espírito Santo was sacked after three games of the season, a decision that looked inevitable given the public criticisms of his Greek owner but was one that still came as a surprise and against the wishes of Forest’s playing squad.
But the way Pereira was serenaded at full-time put images to the words that have circulated in the days leading up to the game: he is Forest’s man for the future.
They are by no means flawless under the Portuguese, and the concession of eight goals in Forest’s last three will give him and his coaching staff cause for concern.
But under his guidance the squad seem invested, fighting for a point until the end despite injustice, fatigue, a game that had little weighting compared to many that had been before and having been second best for much of the match at Old Trafford.
On an afternoon where Salisbury, VAR, Bruno Fernandes’ assist record and Casemiro’s last dance took centre stage — despite defeat — Nottingham Forest emerged from it stable in their present form and hopeful in what their future could hold under Vitor Manuel Pereira.
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