FA Premier League

Manchester United 0:1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Old Trafford

Kick-off
Mon, 3 January 2022 @ 5:30pm GMT
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    Yet another half marred by the same issues we've seen all too often recently. Poor on the ball, and poor out of it. A lot was made of Jones starting before the start of the game, but it's the midfield and attack that's the problem here. Poor passing, no control of the game and no real evidence of a plan to win the ball back.
     
    I wonder if within the walls of Carrington its obvious what's going wrong at this club or if everyone even within the club are scratching their heads wondering what on earth is going on
     
    MUFC OK said:
    Say it together: Phil Jones > Maguire.
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    Genuinely no doubt in my mind. If you said to me Jones will be fit for the rest of the season I’d play him ahead of Maguire every single time. Much more aggressive and has proper experience. Maguire hasn’t achieved shit.
     
    We can’t keep playing a 2 man midfield in modern day football
    This makes no sense
    I thought this guy was was tactical genius
    Can people stop blaming our midfielders, we can’t keep playing 2 against 4 in midfield
     
    steffyr2 said:
    What does this even mean? Are the defenders and midfielders purposefully giving the ball away over and over and over, do you think?
    Do people post here without seeing or hearing the game?
    btw, why would it be 'alright' if it was still terrible?
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    Just too many questions mate. It's not an interview. Its not like we cannot play without Ronaldo. If we take him off for Bruno it adds a body in the middle maybe we can get a bit more control and build from there.
     
    This won’t happen because the manager (and his predecessor for that matter) don’t have a say in substituting Ronaldo but the obvious sub is Bruno for him. At the very least don’t allow him to drop deep but I doubt even that’s up to the manager. Outside of that were just not playing as a team in attack. With and without the ball everyone is doing their own thing.
     
    Martial'sEmergingSmile said:
    Said it at the time, so not captain hindsighting...and not really shitting on Sancho either...but we could have had St. Maximin and Raphinha for the price we paid for him

    We'd be 100x better off, having a real chaos creator in ASM who would break up the monotony in tight games like this, and a legit high technique left footer in Raphinha.

    I actually think Raphinha alone is better, but that's probably controversial.
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    Raphinha is definitely a better player than Sancho. Not sure that's so controversial. What I can't believe is that Sancho is one of our highest earners too.
     
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    Thiagoal said:
    I long for the day when our central midfielders can control the ball and pass it a few metres to a red shirt
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    Unfortunately fans here will disagree with you. One good game (out of 5) against a shit team and it'll be "Maybe player X does have a future here!?" McTominay, Fred, VDB ... Get a proper footballer in like Bellingham, De Jong, etc.
     
    VivaRonaldo85 said:
    Having watched that 45 minutes, I am now of the belief that a lot of our players are overrated and actually aren’t the top players we and the media hype on about. It can’t keep being the managers.
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    Of course they are overrated. They have been that for many years. VanGaal, Mourinho and Solskjaer have been working miracles. And yet, they always get the blame. Our scouting seems to be based on FM.
     
    ooeat0meoo said:
    Meh...

    Yeah Wolves have a tough defense to break down but 1 shots on target vs Wolves 4 has me worried.

    Seems Wolves are dialed in on how to disrupt Rangnick's box system.
    They need to switch things up quickly.
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    We’ve actually put in 4 moments that could’ve easily seen a goal if that last pass was better.

    So we’re capable of breaking them down, but you’re right in that they’ve exposed where we are weakest- the middle of the park.
     
    It’s fair to say any hopes of a quick fix with the new manager are well and truly dead. I don’t even see any flickers of improvement either, that was as bad as we were at the start of the season, so I can’t even console myself with some long term game. Something is very wrong with the players. Whether it’s confidence, fitness or attitude, don’t know. But we hardly seem to put a shift in every game, we’re just drifting aimlessly from minute one. If you offered me a shit on a stick 1-0 right now, I’d take it today, as Wolves look a lot better than us.
     
    LingiBW said:
    What is the point in a 4222 if we don't press like the first game with Ralph in charge? I though its main purpose was to allow for us to press a lot higher but we haven't done that since day 1.

    Our manager is on an interim basis, you'd think priority would be to win as much as possible ASAP.
    Yes he has a consultancy gig afterwards, but i believe if he is good at that, he'd have been able to make judgment of the players even on a different formation than 4222.

    Does that bring into question the manager's flexibility - he can only properly assess the squad if it plays the only way he knows of?
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    It's bizarre, we don't get the benefits of the 4-2-2-2 in winning possession back more quickly and we suffer all the negatives of being so narrow and crowded out with this narrow system. Not happy that we have kept this formation for so many games now when it's clearly not working in the final 3rd.
     
    DickDastardly said:
    I swear, AWB is the poorest right back in the top 10 teams.

    Manages to feck up every attack, and not only feck it up by not producing anything, he manages to make a perfect counterattack.

    Can't stand him this season.
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    He literally put the only two crosses into the box we had all half.

    One misplaced cross field pass aside he hasn’t been that bad. Compared to the others anyway.
     
    The two very slow and very average midfielders really are destroying us. And Ronaldo's inability to control a ball.

    We can't win the ball back quickly, it's not possible. We can't transition quickly too. Shocking stuff all round. I'd take McT or Matic off for Fred, also Ronaldo should be off for Bruno or Rashfrod.
     
    joedirt87 said:
    bring on a midfield to try and control the game? Hell no, bring in Rashford and Fernandes and hope Moments FC comes alive and that the defense can hold.
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    I hate having only 2 midfielders, we are setting up to struggle imo.
     
    Witchking said:
    So again the players get a free ride is it? Umpteen misplaced passes, jogging instead of pressing. No creative passing and yet Ralf is to blame.
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    Im on the fence before ripping into the manager but a 4 2 2 2 ? Even in video games it plays as a narrow formation. Why would the manager use such a tactical approach with average fullbacks. Shaw has had one good season in almost half a decade and AWB is awful in possession.

    4 2 2 2 is the worst thing for three reasons poor fullbacks, poor midfield and no creative control.
     
    We don't have many players with the ability to play sharp passes in tight spaces round corners. We really lack that in midfield and really struggle because of it against these kind of teams.
     
    Ekeke said:
    McTominay nowhere near good enough in that 45 mins. Giving the ball away as much as Bruno on a bad day. Phil Jones putting him to shame
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    Scott is just jogging around, not even putting in his ususal shift.
    Weird how he can look like a prime Darren Fletcher one game and then a few days later like a one legged Darron Gibson.
     
    I'd take Fred on for Matic. We don't really need a third CB. Then Cavani/Ronaldo out for Bruno. We've been needing a player who can move around and link our play together. Ronaldo has surprisingly been trying to but it's clear as day that it's not his strength.
     
    The defense has done well enough, love the cheers Jones got. But the attack is very disjointed. You can see the moments where Matic's legs and McT's passing range lets them down. We are miles off their midfield. Even still we could've scored if Sancho and Cavani hadn't made wrong decisions. Mason is the only one who seems to know what to do in a situation and has the ability to do it. Might need a Bruno special to score here. I'm not sure who to bring off for him, I just know it shouldn't be Mason.
     
    luck&neat said:
    Jones looks by far the sharpest player out there for United. Hats off to him for that 45 minutes.
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    Says a lot about the rest of our players that Jones, who hasn't played a first team game in over a year, was the best performer in that first half.

    Seriously, some of our players need to take a look at themselves, Ronaldo included.
     
    Really hoping some major changes at half time, see a much better performance 2nd half.

    A lot of players need to step up, maybe a couple need to be subbed.
     
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Post-match discussion

Man of the Match

Phil Jones image Phil Jones 77% of 326 votes

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Player Ratings

4.8 Total Average Rating

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Compiled from 313 ratings.
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Score Predictions

153,12,15
  • Man Utd win
  • Wolves win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 26% Man Utd 2:0 Wolves
  • 21% Man Utd 2:1 Wolves
  • 21% Man Utd 1:0 Wolves
  • 7% Man Utd 3:1 Wolves
  • 4% Man Utd 1:1 Wolves
  • 4% Man Utd 0:0 Wolves
  • 3% Man Utd 3:0 Wolves
  • 3% Man Utd 1:2 Wolves
  • 2% Man Utd 5:0 Wolves
  • 2% Man Utd 4:0 Wolves
  • 2% Man Utd 0:2 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 4:1 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 4:2 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 5:1 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 3:2 Wolves
  • 1% Man Utd 1:3 Wolves
Compiled from 180 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Wolves
Possession
52% 48%
Shots
9 19
Shots on Target
2 6
Corners
3 8
Fouls
9 8

Referee

Mike Dean

Man Utd Lineup

Substitutes

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