Ugly Win To End An Ugly Year

Wolverhampton Wanderers has been a tough opponent for Manchester United to face since they got promoted under Nuno Espirito Santo. During the game, the commentator mentioned that the matches between both teams have been close. Most of the matches have been draws with only a single goal separating the teams in victories for either side.

Lack Of Clearcut Chances

We maintained a lot of sterile possession without creating many clearcut chances or shots on target. The clearest chance we had was Bruno Fernandes’ point-blank attempt saved by his international team-mate, Rui Patricio.

Wolves’ Threat & Tactics

Tactically, Wolves sat back and made it difficult for United. As we have seen in several games, when faced against opponents that sit back, we struggle to find the creativity to get past the low block. I feel that has largely got to do with playing at a slow tempo which just plays into the hands of the opposition. Wolves are not an average team that sat back, happy to play for a point. They have players of high quality that are comfortable with the ball at feet. They have players that can run with the ball and that can deliver dangerous set-pieces. Tactically, they maximised the width on the pitch through the use of their young wing-backs, Ki-Jana Hoever and Rayan Ait Nouri. In the first half, Wolves had more shots on goal than us but their best attempts fell to Roman Saiss who found himself on the end of some very good set-piece deliveries.

United Nullify Wolves’ Threat

Wolves’ threat on the counter-attack was completely nullified in the second half. Defensively, Eric Bailly had a fantastic game, reading the game well, showing acceleration and measured aggression. In front of him, Nemanja Matic had a big game as well, cutting out Wolves’ counter-attacks completely in the second half.  The half-time introduction of Luke Shaw gave us greater push down the left flank but he couldn’t create much either. Edison Cavani, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood were all starved of service. Rashford and Greenwood couldn’t find the space to manoeuver from their wide positions. Cavani did get one chance that he took but was flagged offside. VAR checked for a possible handball on Wolves’ captain Conor Coady and if we were lucky, it would have been awarded in our favour. But it wasn’t and I felt it was a fair decision.

Luck On Our Side

With the game crawling to a boring finale, one can sense that the extra day of rest we got was working in our favour. Wolves were getting tired but it wasn’t like we were throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at them either. If we were to win, it would take a moment of brilliance or an error from the opposition. It turned out to be neither as we got lucky. Rashford’s shot was deflected by the excellent Saiss past his goalkeeper in injury-time for us to end 2020 with a win.

Still Early Days Yet

Surprisingly, we find ourselves in second place after that win. Winning ugly is a good sign because sometimes in matches, things don’t work out well but we still need to show the character to somehow eke out a win. It shows good character and resilience but it’s too early to judge on the team’s actual character and mental strength. If we can keep showing this winning mentality and mental strength more often, only then can we consider it as an actual positive trait of the team.