This is a late review because I was away over the Easter weekend. Still managed to catch enough of the game though as yanited is life, even if they ruin it more than not these days.
Wolves do the double over Man United as Vitor Pereira's side continue their brilliant form making it fives wins in a row and only their second win at Old Trafford in 6 games.
Ruben Amorim understandably rotated the team as he said he would do post that dramatic comeback against Lyon on Thursday. It was no surprise that United found it difficult to get past a usually stubborn Wolves defense.
The United boss selected Harry Amass at LWB with Tyler Fredricson making his debut at centre-back in an XI that saw no Bruno Fernandes which is quite the rarity. That should tell you everything about the manager's thoughts ahead of this match.
The home side were the better of the two teams despite this rotation which would've given Amorim some encouragement. Both youngsters in Amass and Fredricson were standouts with the manager even saying post-match that "Tyler [Fredricson] played really well" and that "they [Fredricson and Harry Amass] deserve better."
High praise from Amorim which will boost both youngster's confidence.
Wolves never really threatened throughout the match as it was United who were the dominant force, Garnacho in particular causing the away side the most trouble. He played a wonderful ball across the face of goal but with the struggling Hojlund up top, he failed to anticipate the cross and was on his heels causing him to miss it entirely. These were the type of chances that we talk about United's striker not receiving.
The Dane himself had a good run in the second half in which after doing all the hard work, didn't play the square pass to Mainoo who would've been in one-on-one. Another sign of Hojlund's lack of ability in the final third.
Further opportunities in the second period for the likes of Bruno and Mount who were brought on for Ugarte and Mainoo in the 60th minute, went to waste as it was Pereira's Wolves who took the lead.
A brilliantly hit direct free-kick from Pablo Sarabia gave Onana no chance after a cheap foul by Eriksen meaning that United were staring down the barrel of their 8th defeat at home with just 13 minutes remaining.
With a much stronger team on the field though, expectations were that Ruben's Reds would find a way to get back in the game. However, it appeared that the quality dropped once the substitutions came on.
The game then ended with Wolves walking away with a famous win at Old Trafford and level the points with the Red Devils in the table.
Amorim would've felt quietly pleased with some of the football he saw and how much his side were in control of the game even with all the changes and Wolves playing a strong side after a week off. Where he will be left thinking what could've been (again) was when his players missed good chances to kill the game. We only had 2 shots on target of 12 attempts at goal.
These type of performances and results are becoming a little too frequent as while there is clear improvement in the style of play, the fact that we're not getting the results we should be getting is hurting the team.
Final Thoughts
Not the most exciting of games. Kind of the opposite to what happened last Thursday. More people are talking about that match instead of this one but it's because of that win that we saw what we saw on Sunday.
A heavily rotated team was not unexpected and probably should've won which is a positive but to not score and not get anything from a game we shoud've done, is the hardest thing to take.
What's worse is that opponents don't seem to need to do too much to get something against us especially at home. All they need do is score 1 and that's enough to take something away from United.
I know at this moment in time, the league form and position will be sort of overlooked because of our exploits in Europe but it truly is quite embarrassing to see where we are.
United HAVE to win that Europa League.
Man Utd lose 1-0 to Wolves to suffer another harrowing Premier League defeat | Creator: Carl Recine | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Man Utd News