Manchester United’s last game of the year ended well as the Red Devils finally managed to defeat a sturdy Wolves at Old Trafford. This is their first ever win against Wolves in the league since their promotion in 2018.
The game began with Wolves creating a few chances, but David De Gea denied them pretty much every time. United had to do a lot of chasing in the first 30 minutes with Wolves controlling the game very well.
Manchester United were much better in the second half. They played on the front foot and Wolves were forced to sit back and defend. Luke Shaw coming on for Alex Telles (who apparently picked up a knock) helped United launch attacks from the left side with the Englishman’s direct passing.
United finally got their reward after a plethora of failed attempts. They scored the winning goal in the 94th minute as Marcus Rashford’s shot deflected into the back of the net.
With their yesterday’s win, United are just two points below the league leaders Liverpool, currently sitting at 2nd in the league.
Lineups
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made six changes to his starting lineup. Lindelof, Shaw, Fred, McTominay, James and Martial were dropped for Wan-Bissaka, Telles, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood and Cavani. Eric Bailly made his third consecutive appearance after impressing against Everton and Leicester City.
Many of Wolves’ first team players were sidelined due to injuries, so Nuno Espirito Santo had to make a few alterations. Semedo, Marcal, Podence and Silva missed out yesterday and Hoever, Kilman, Ait Nouri and Vitinha replaced them.
United’s right side is a weakness
One of the main reasons why Manchester United found it hard to score is their weak right side. Mason Greenwood started as a right winger whilst Aaron Wan-Bissaka started as a right-back.
As much as Wan-Bissaka is good at defending, he has a lot of weak attributes when it comes to attacking. He is a poor dribbler and also not a very good crosser of the ball. In modern football, it is important for the fullbacks to be offensively good, but the Englishman is the very opposite of that. There is no doubt that he needs to improve when it comes to attacking.
Mason Greenwood was also seen struggling whilst playing on the right flank. The English wonderkid found it hard to get into goalscoring positions and make an impact. It should also be noted that winger is not Greenwood’s natural position. He is naturally a striker and should play there instead.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have to fix and work on this issue as soon as possible before the weakness starts to look even more exposable.
Romain Saiss, a rock at the back
Wolves played most of the game sitting deep and defending tightly. Romain Saiss was one of the three centre-backs who started for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. The Moroccan intenational delivered a brilliant performance and deserves the plaudits for his defending.
Saiss ended the game winning 2 duels, making 12 clearances, and having a passing accuracy of 90%. Besides his defensive masterclass, Saiss was also a major threat to the United defence during set-pieces. It is safe to say that he was, by far, the best performer for Wolves yesterday.
David De Gea and Nemanja Matic, the star performers
David De Gea’s performance yesterday showed that his class is permanent. The Spanish goalkeeper denied Wolves on numerous occasions, especially when it came to the goalscoring chances from set-pieces. De Gea ended the game, making 5 saves.
Nemanja Matic was arguably the best outfield player in a red shirt yesterday. The Serbian international had a passing accuracy of 96%. He also made 18 passes in the final third, 3 interceptions and won 2 tackles. Matic’s display showed that he is still an important player for Manchester United and can be very useful if used wisely.
