KARL WHITEHOUSE REPORTS ON WOLVES DEFEAT AT OLD TRAFFORD
Wolves face Manchester United this season for the 2nd time aiming to try to replicate last season’s match when they won 1-0 at Old Trafford with Joao Moutinho getting the winning goal.
Julen Lopetegui made one alteration from the game against Aston Villa bringing in Daniel Bentley for his Premier League and Wolves debut in place of Jose Sa. It will be interesting how Daniel Bentley performs having been bided his time on the bench.
Manchester United come into this game with back to back defeats, with a 1-0 scoreline to Brighton and West Ham.
Erik ten Hag made three changes from the West Ham game but have suffered a blow with the loss of Marcus Rashford out to injury. Varane comes in at centre half meaning Shaw goes in to Left Back, Sancho and Martial come into the side.
Man Utd XI: de Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Varane, Shaw, Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony, Bruno Fernandes, Sancho, Martial.
Subs: Maguire, Malacia, Fred, Dalot, Weghorst, Pellistri, Butland, Elanga, Garnacho.
Wolves XI: Bentley, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Toti; Nunes, Lemina, Neves, Neto; Cunha, Costa.
Subs: Sa, Collins, Jimenez, Podence, Hwang, Sarabia, Gomes, A Traore, Bueno.
FIRST HALF
Manchester United kick off the game with Wolves shooting towards the Stretford End.
Wolves get the first corner of the game when the United defender did passed back to De Gea who had to clear it away. Neto took the corner only for Dawson to blaze it over the bar.
There was plenty of possession for Man Utd with Wolves being camped in their own half. Anthony gets a shot in which is 1 yard wide of the target as the United pressure gathers pace towards the Wolves goal.
The first 15 minutes of the game has flies by without many chances for either sides. Costa has to be careful following an early booking.
Bruno Fernandes has the first shot on target of the game in the 26th minute with a free kick that is easily collected by Dan Bentley. United are clearly struggling without Rashford in their side and you wonder where they will get a goal from….
Manchester United take the lead on 32 minutes, Anthony passes the ball across to Martial who scores from close range . This was unlucky on Wolves who had been playing ok but there is still time in the game to get an equaliser.
As we approached the end of the first half Anthony has been the chief tormenter in the United side went on a run towards the Wolves goal to pass to Martial only for him to put the ball straight into Bentleys arms.
Wolves were good in possession but are lacking in the final third, with nobody there at the end of balls. It needs to improve for the second half if we are going to get something out of this game.
Wolves have had only one shot and this wasn’t on target, in the whole of the first half! We had plenty of possession but are weak in attack and the final third we need changes in the second half from the bench it we are going to get something out of the game.
Half Time: Manchester United 0 Wolves 1
SECOND HALF
Wolves substitute Pedro Neto with Hwang Hee-Chan, who didn’t do much in the game and was certainly not up to the usual standard we expect of him.
Wolves started the second half well with a couple of corners, with both Hwang and Kilman having chances to get the equaliser.
Just after the hour mark Julen Lopetegui has made another two changes, bringing on Podence and Bueno for Cunha and Toti Gomes. Will this make any difference in the game we have to wait and see?!
United had chances to extend the lead but nobody at the end of it with Wolves will be lucky to be still in the game.
United make there first change of the game on 69 minutes with Martial coming off who hasn’t done much since he opened the scoring for United and in his place comes Weghorst.
Matheus Nunes provides a cross towards Hwang only for the header to go wide and Wolves still have have no shots on target. This is a concern.
Then Jadon Sancho shoots at goal only for Bentley to parry it away inches away from the post as United starting to boss the game.
75 minutes on the clock Julen Lopetegui has brought on Adama Traore in place of Lemina hopefully this will this be the spark Wolves need to get into the Manchester United full backs and cause problems.
Wolves make their final change of the game in the 78th Minute with Diego Costa coming off being replaced by Raul Jimenez for his first game since the defeat to Leicester on March 18th.
With the game coming to an end Manchester United make another 3 substitutes, taking off Varane, Eriksen and Sancho replacing with Garnacho, Fred and Maguire.
Dawson was so unlucky picking up a yellow card near the end of the game as it looked like the United player had played for it to try and get the team a 2nd Goal but the resulting free kick by Fernandes went over the bar.
With the game nearing the end Bentley keeps out more United attacks by Casemiro and Anthony but then in injury time a Manchester United counter attack with Bruno Fernandes threading a ball through the Wolves defence into Garnacho who hits his shot towards the goal off the right hand post into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to Manchester United.
There is no time left for Wolves to make any chances and the whistle goes with another defeat for Wolves.
Full Time Manchester United 2 Wolves 0
IN CONCLUSION
This result keeps Wolves in 13th Place with 36 games played and 40 points on the board.
I feel Dan Bentley deserves a special mention, he did well on his debut making some very good saves even some fingertip ones. He kept us in the game it could have been much more than two.
But in the whole 90 minutes of the game Wolves had no shots on target with only 5 shots off target this sums up Wolves problems this season..
Wolves had slightly more possession than Manchester United but that doesn’t count if we’re not creating chances. We need improvement for next season when Julen Lopetegui has his full season at the club.
We have now two games left and 6 points to play for, our home form has ensured our survival and hopefully Julen Lopetegui can fix the problems with our away performances going forward into next season.
ARTICLE BY KARL WHITEHOUSE
I am a Wolves fan been for over 30 years. I have supported them both home and away games in the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and now like looking into wolves games the stats behind the games they play in the premier league and also look other stats if asked by someone else in the podcast. I have also done the 92 football league grounds and shortly be doing a ebook about peoples favourite match they went to along with a match report and if possible stats from game.