Manchester United’s worrying run of form of late continued as we slumped to a second consecutive league loss, being defeated 2-0 by Wolves at the Molineux. This result means it’s now four losses out of our last five games in the Premier League, leaving United in 14th place; closer to a relegation scrap than fighting for Europe.
an Uneventful first half
The first 45 minutes were, for the most part, uneventful, and with both teams fielding the same formation, they cancelled each other out on a number of occasions. Both keepers were called into action a couple of times, with Onana making a good save from a Bruun Larsen header, and Jose Sa made a good save to deny Dalot from range.
Chances were at a premium and United didn’t really have much flow to their game; to be honest, it looked like a continuation of the Bourcnemouth game.
United fall apart after half time
If the first half dull, the second half was completely the opposite. Just two minutes into the second half, Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a second bookable offence, our skipper’s third red card of the season. Barely two minutes later Larsen thought he’d put the home side in front, but was found to be offside.
Matheus Cunha, who has been linked to a move to Old Trafford, was running the show in the Black Country, and it was his inswinging corner near the turn of the hour that made its way all the way through into the net, a second goal directly from a corner that United have conceded in the space of a week, further adding to United’s set piece woes.
It was always going to be a tough task to overturn the deficit, but to give United some credit, we kept pushing for an equaliser, but were unable to carve out any clear cut chances owing to our lack of quality going forward.
It was deep into stoppage time where Wolves finally made the use of the extra man advantage, hitting United quickly on the break, with Cunha squaring the ball to Hwang Hee-Chan to end any hopes of coming away from the Molineux with a point.
Bruno sees red yet again
Our skipper now holds the unfortunate record of being the first Manchester United player to be shown three red cards in the same season in all competitions since Nemanja Vidic in the 2008/09 season.
We all know Fernandes’ passion when it comes to playing for United, but its all too common to see him flail his arms or get right in the face of the referee when committing or complaining about a foul. While it’s been a problem in recent seasons, Fernandes’ petulance this season has become quite a major issue for United, and getting sent off in this game was ultimately the reason for the defeat. Amorim warned the fans of Vitor Pereira, Wolves’ new boss, saying that his Portuguese compatriot is a very good coach, which was ultimately the case. The home side’s new boss matched United’s set up of the 3-4-2-1 formation. With both sides evenly matched in the first half, with three attackers taking on three defenders, Fernandes’ dismissal threw the battle of formations completely out of balance, benefitting Wolves massively. Fernandes was also noticeably blanked by the boss as he was coming off.
Player Ratings & motm
Andre Onana – 4: Made some decent saves in the first half, but was’t strong enough from the corner that he conceded directly from. Not much he could do for Wolves’ second
Leny Yoro – 5: The yellow card just four minutes into the game meant he had to be careful for the rest of the game. Was substituted after 60 minutes
Harry Maguire – 6 & MOTM: Matched Bruun Larsen’s physicality quite well, and made some decent contributions defensively. Played some decent long balls as well
Lisandro Martinez – 6: Though not saying alot, Martinez was probably United’s best defender, especially in the first half. Looked more like the defender we saw last season after some out of character performances in recent games
Noussair Mazraoui – 5: Made some decent advances into Wolves’ half in the opening 45 minutes, producing some decent crosses. Transitioned into one of the back three for the majority of the second half
Manuel Ugarte – 5 : Started the game well, but was dispossessed too easily on a number of occasions. Suspended for the next game after picking up his fifth booking of the season
Kobbie Mainoo – 4: Looked a shadow of the player who scored that famous winner against Wolves in February. The midfield duo of Ugarte and Mainoo doesn’t seem to be working, with Wolves overpowering them fairly easily
Diogo Dalot – 5: Produced a decent save from Jose Sa to keep out his long range effort. Looked better than he has in recent weeks, but still doesn’t look fully comfortable in the wing back role
Amad Diallo – 5 : Looked a bit off it today, with Hojlund being frustrated a couple of times by Diallo making the wrong decisions going forward.
Bruno Fernandes – 2: Sent off in the 47th minute for a second yellow card coming from an unnecessary foul on Nelson Semedo. Even before being given his marching orders, as United’s key creative outlet, he provided almost nothing going forward. Cunha outshone Fernandes in every way, putting on a Man of the Match performance with a goal and an assist. The Brazilian has been linked to Old Trafford and with performances like that, he could very well take Bruno’s place in one of those attacking 8 spots
Rasmus Hojlind – 5: Quiet night for the Danish striker at Molineux. Battled hard for some influence on the game, but lacked any service of quality going forward
Subs:
Antony – 6 : Introduced in the 63rd minute.Played well when he came on, ran at Wolves a number of times looking to create something
Christian Eriksen – 5: Came on with half an hour to go.Couldn’t unlock the Wolves defence with any passes, and didn’t contribute much
Casemiro – 5: Did nothing of note in his 30 minute cameo
Alejandro Garnacho – 4: Came on with 10 minutes to go, with his only major contribution being losing the ball which allowed Wolves to score their second on the break
Joshua Zirkzee – 4: Came on with Garnacho but didn’t contribute a whole lot
Looking Forward
We next face the tough task of hosting Newcastle United in our final fixture of 2024 on the 30th of December. The North-East outfit have enjoyed an uptick in form as of late, winning their last four games after some inconsistent form in the past few months.
We then travel to Anfield where we face top of the league Liverpool. Our squad looks completely devoid of confidence and lapses in concentration have cost us on a number of occasions as of late. Judging by the fixtures, unless we make a drastic improvement in performance, our next taste of victory may come when we host Southampton on the 16th of January.
