Valiant Wolves undone by moment of Rashford brilliance

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Manchester United 1

For seventy five minutes of this lunchtime encounter and Wolves’ last of year 2022, the home side had just about held their own against the billionaires from the red half of Manchester. For this they had had to rely on some excellent goalkeeping by Jose Sa allied to doughty defending and some less than clinical finishing. It was this lack of poke up front – if you’ll forgive the phrase – that prompted Erik Ten Hag to introduce Marcus Rashford for the second half. The one-time social media activist has prospered under the tutelage of his Dutch manager, regaining a love of the game and in the process his confidence. The pace of the game certainly went up a notch whenever he was in possession none more so than in the seventy sixth minute. Collecting the ball on the edge of the Wolves box he played a quick one two with team-mate Bruno Fernandez. Feinting twice to evade two Wolves’ defenders, in the blink of an eye he had created sufficient space to give himself a shot on goal. With only Sa to beat he coolly slid the ball under the Wolves goalkeeper and into the net. It was the game’s single moment of brilliance, and it marked the dividing line between the two sides.

After last week’s confidence boosting win away at Everton, Wolves Manager Julen Lopetegui stuck with an unchanged side to take on the potentially sterner challenge offered by Manchester United. He will have been generally pleased with the performance and particularly those of Joao Moutinho, whose use of the ball was back to its best and Neil Collins and Max Kilman who defended stoutly and advanced up-field with confidence whenever the opportunity presented. Less effective were Hwang Hee-Chan who seemed to be constantly chasing shadows and Diego Costa who was off the pace and clearly lacks sharpness in front of goal. Signing the thirty-five year old is increasingly looking like a move of desperation and I suspect that from now on he will not be starting many games. In the plus column Lopetegui will have also been pleased with the effort which remained intense for the duration of the game. But equally he will be concerned by the lack of chances created, a challenge that has dogged the side since the departures of Jota and Doherty.

2022 has been a strange year. Up until March Wolves were riding high and came within touching distance of a European slot. Then, from nowhere, the wheels came off and putting them back on has been a problem ever since.

It is clear from the last two performances that Lopetegui has made a difference. He strides around his technical area like a bear with a sore head, rarely missing an opportunity to berate an official nor any player whom he deems to be lacking effort. His record as a manager is certainly impressive. But it is likely that keeping Wolves in the premier league will present his greatest challenge to date.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 7, Semedo 7 Sub Castro Otto, Collins 7, Kilman 7, Bueno 6 Sub Gomes, Neves 7, Nunes 6, Moutinho 8 Sub Ait Nouri, Podence 6 Sub Jiminez, Hee Chan 6, Costa 5 Sub Traore 7

Manchester United: De Gea 7, Wan-Bissaka 6, Varane 6, Shaw 7, Malacia 6, Eriksen 6 Sub Fred, Casemiro 6, Antony 7 Sub Elanga, Fernandes 7, Garnacho 6 Sub Rashford 7, Martial 6 Sub van de Beek

Attendance: 31,658

Referee: Robert Jones 9

©Mark Brennand