Manchester United 1 Wolves 0 - Report

Faced with a tight turnaround and a day’s less rest than their opponent and still missing several key players, boss Nuno Espirito Santo placed trust in some of his young guns against Manchester United and was rewarded with a performance full of character.

But just when it looked as though Wolves would claim a well-deserved point, their resistance was broken in the cruellest of manners when Marcus Rashford’s shot three minutes into stoppage time took a big deflection off Romain Saiss to beat Rui Patricio.

Until then United had threatened only sporadically during 90 minutes when they largely huffed and puffed.

Wolves, content to play on the counter, had hit the bar through Saiss, who along with Rayan Ait-Nouri also brought saves from United keeper David De Gea.

Ultimately they could not hold out and it was impossible to overlook scheduling as a factor, with Wolves playing for the second time in 48 hours.

It certainly played a part in Nuno’s team selection, which featured four changes from the 1-1 draw with Spurs and must have ranked among the youngest in club history for a league fixture, with four players aged 20 or under and a further three under-25.

Of the youngsters, 18-year-old Ki-Jana Hoever was handed a full Premier League debut along with 20-year-old Vitinha.

Ait-Nouri (19) and Max Kilman (23) completed the changes from the team which started against Tottenham two days previously with Daniel Podence, Fabio Silva, Nelson Semedo and Marcal all dropping out, the latter from the squad entirely to join a lengthening injury list which also still contains Leander Dendoncker and Willy Boly together with Jonny and Raul Jimenez.

Squad strength clearly need addressing during the January window with Wolves, who have now lost four of their last six Premier League fixtures, bogged down in mid-table. Yet there is enough evidence to suggest the ingredients of a good team are in place if they can address some of their deficiencies in the market.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer made six changes despite the advantage of a day-and-a-half’s extra rest, with his team having last played on Boxing Day. Yet the new faces in his team had rather more experience, among them Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Nemanja Matic.

The sense of newness around this Wolves team was further emphasised by the sight of Conor Coady stationed on the right, rather than the centre, of the visitors’ back three.

With the skipper barking out constant instructions to teen Hoever, his central position was taken by Saiss, who made an important early intervention to cut out Alex Telles’ cross which would otherwise have reached Cavani at the far post.

Otherwise, the opening exchanges brough encouragement for Wolves, who were content to sit deep before pouncing on any United mistakes, of which there were several.

Pedro Neto curled one shot straight at De Gea before Vitinha brought a sprawling stop from the United keeper, after teaming up with Traore to dispossess Pogba.

Traore looked very lively and was alert to rob Eric Bailly after a miscommunication between the defender and De Gea. The ball was quickly worked to Ruben Neves, whose shot was well struck but too close to the keeper, who beat it away.

With Wolves content to keep everyone but Neto behind the ball when out of possession United looked short of ideas.

The hosts were given another warning when Saiss’ header from Moutinho’s free-kick looped up and over De Gea and off the top of the bar.

United’s main tactic was delivering crosses into the box and just past the half-hour mark two nearly paid dividends. First Cavani was unable to make clean contact on a swinging Matic delivery from the left, before Fernandes forced Patricio in his first serious work of the night. The Portugeuse forward arrived to meet Mason Greenwood’s cross six yards out but sent his volley straight at the Wolves keeper.

Soon after the hosts were thankful to De Gea for maintaining parity when he denied Saiss a second goal in as many matches. The Morocco international deftly redirected a low-hit Neto free-kick from the right flank toward goal but the United keeper flung out a hand to divert the ball behind.

The pace of Neto and Traore was starting to cause problems and the duo almost combined just before the break, Bailly in the right place to intercept a pass which would have put the latter through on goal.

Wolves continued to look comfortable early in the second half, Nuno making his first change nine minutes in when Podence was introduced in place of Vitinha.

Chances were now proving hard to come by for both teams. Traore whipped in one dangerous cross to find only the diminutive Moutinho in the box.

At the other end Rashford headed over before Solsjkaer opted to replace the ineffective Greenwood with Anthony Martial.

Then came an escape of sorts for Wolves when Cavani fired home from an offside position after Bailly’s initial header from a corner had taken too deflections, the last off the hand of Coady.

While there was no doubt the striker had been beyond the last man, there was still a nervous wait for the visitors as VAR Simon Hooper decided whether or not to award the hosts a penalty.

Pogba, quiet for much of the night, then forced Patricio into his biggest exertion of the half to that point with a fiercely struck long-range drive which the keeper was able to hold at full stretch.

Finally United were starting to work some openings but when Pogba found Martial in space he blazed the finish way over the bar.

Soon after Ait-Nouri’s accuracy was far better at the other end but De Gea got down to save his shot, the loose ball falling to Maguire to clear with Fabio Silva, on as a substitute, frustratingly close by.

United continued to toil without ever looking like scoring until Rashford’s shot took a wicked deflection to beat Patricio and claim the points.

Teams

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Telles (Shaw HT), Matic, Pogba, Greenwood (Martial 64), Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani Subs not used: Mata, Fred, James, De Beek, Tuanzebe, McTominay, Henderson (gk).

Wolves (3-4-1-2) Patricio, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Hoever, Moutinho, Neves, Ait-Nouri, Vitinha (Podence 54) Traore, Neto (Silva 68) Subs not used: Semedo, Cundle, Richards, Otasowie, Corbeanu, Marques, Ruddy (gk).