Manchester United started off the new year in a laxk
lustre and feckless manner as they lost to Wolves 0-1 at the Old Trafford. It was Ralf Rangnick’s first defeat in 5 games of his managerial career at United. Wolves started off the match in a bright manner and were very much on the front foot.
Dominating possession, winning the balls at the United territory, and went for the positive runs against a narrow 4-2-2-2 formation. Wolves recorded their very first win in Old Trafford since 1980. They also set a record of 15 shots, the most by any team visiting Old Trafford.
Coming back to the match, it looked like Rangnick got his tactics and his team selection wrong again. 4-2-2-2 narrow formation is never going to work against 3-5-2 formation. The midfield was looking so boring and without any creativity. Without Bruno and VDB is so suicidal and that was proved.
Greenwood cannot generally play in that RM position. Though his 1 or 2 diagonal balls were pinpoint. Rangnick made some chances too in the backline as Phil Jones made his return to the 1st team after almost 2 years.
Interestingly he won as many possession as Ronaldo, Greenwood, and Cavani in the final third and his return was not bad at all. The English defender came in place of regular starters like Lindelof, Maguire, and Bailly who had COVID, injury and AFCON issues respectively.
The first half belonged to Wolves without any doubt. They should have scored 1 or 2 goals in the opening 45′ but once again our savior David de Gea produced some brilliant saves to deny Wolves. United managed just 4 shots in the 1st half which is nothing but a shame.
Manchester United tried their best in the 2nd half.
After Fernandes was brought on the field for Greenwood. Things started to look a bit convincing. Some long balls were good from the Portuguese. But the final 3rd finishing was so poor by Ronaldo and Sancho that they lost the possession and allowed the Wolves forward players for the counterattack. The game started for United from the 70th minute where they pushed hard for the opening goal.
Fernandes came close when he hit the crossbar after a wonderful cutback by Matic from the byline. That was the 1st chance for United!!. They also won the corner after few minutes from then. These stats prove how shambolic Man Utd was last night.
Moutinho scored the winning goal in a grand fashion and that meant trouble for United at 82′. Only a goal in the last 8′ would help them for the equaliser, not for a victory which was needed very badly to go level with West Ham. With this defeat, qualifying for the Champions League is looking like an uphill task as Arsenal, Tottenham, and West Ham are playing excellent football than us.
