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Wolves 2-0 Man Utd: 5 things learned

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Yuveer Madanlal
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27/12/2024
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6 min read

Honestly, what do we even say anymore? We seem to get worse every game when it looks very difficult to do so. But what do we know?

These players are an embarrassment to the shirt and a lot of them need to go.

1. Team is slow

And I don’t mean just in terms of trying to move the ball quickly but in actual speed as there are hardly any players in our squad that are genuinely fast.

Marcus Rashford is the only true speed merchant in our side and while there are some relatively fast players, none of them are quick enough to truly cause the opposition any problems.

When on counters and in transitions, not only is movement and movement of the ball slow, there really is no pace from any player to get us in behind the opposition.

The ball over the top also doesn’t work because there’s no one quick enough to get it and do anything positive with it as they are always caught up with the defenders.

Forwards, wingers, full-backs, all of them are somewhat quick but not fast enough to get away from the opponent.

It’s always good to have these ‘pace merchants’ as they call them, in your side.

2. Slow second half starts

Like really slow. Like, do they even get out of the dressing room?

In the last six games, United have either let in goals or had a man sent off inside 3 minutes of the restart. 3 minutes.

All of Forest, Plzen and Spurs scored a goal or 2 in the first 10-15 minutes after the start of the second half and against Wolves, we had Bruno sent off in the 48th minute. Matheus Cunha then scored 10 minutes later.

Bruno Fernandes picks up his third red card of the season against Wolves | Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images via United In Focus

Whatever Ruben Amorim tells his players during the break pretty much is a waste of time because they only go and throw it away when the second half restarts.

Not only do we make stupid mistakes that lead to major consequences but we fail to up the ante as the tempo is very flat, if there is any tempo at all.

The tone of a game is so important as it paves the way how you can perform for the rest of the match. This also gets the crowd going or in this case, keeps them quiet as we were away from home.

This goes back to concentration from the players and how much they want it. Having this type of carelessness is unacceptable at a club like United.

3. Bruno on left doesn’t work

Whether he plays as the left-sided number 10 or just moves out to the left or right, Bruno simply does not work in wide positions.

He doesn’t have that speed or skill to pose any threat to defenders as that is exactly what one needs when playing in those positions.

Defenders can also get isolated quite often especially when United look for that big switch but when it’s the captain up against them, it ends up being a waste.

He is also very right-footed and turns to his stronger side more often than not which results in him slowing the play down and allowing the opposition back into their defensive shape. To be fair, he isn’t the only one but he is a big culprit.

The quality of delivery from that side in general is not good enough from Bruno and any other player on the left. That flank is seriously lacking.

4. Was the lineup too defensive?

I know that Amorim plays with a back three/five but it depends on the players in those wide positions that determines whether it is a three or five.

When both wing-backs are actually full-backs (Mazraoui and Dalot) that would mean more of a back five which is more defensive.

Options are limited in those positions but we’ve seen Amad play as the right wing-back with Dalot on the left. That may still not be ideal for Amorim because at Sporting, he used wingers as the wing-backs instead of traditional full-backs which helped his team be more offensive.

This isn’t happening at United and when you go to Wolves with pretty much a back five with two full-backs out wide who aren’t the best going forward, you are playing a more defensive game.

With Mazraoui and Dalot, it meant that United had seven defensive-minded players: goalkeeper, three centre-backs, two full-backs and one CDM.

He needs to be putting Amad back on the right. That not only gives us some attacking prowess on one wing but has also been Amad’s best position from where he’s caused the most damage.

It will be even more difficult now that they're without Bruno as he is suspended for Newcastle. I can actually see him playing Amad as a CAM again with Mazraoui and Dalot out wide.

Not ideal at all.

5. Captaincy

Let’s be brutally honest, NO ONE is fit enough to be Man Utd captain. This current squad is seriously lacking in leadership and it starts with the captain.

I do like Bruno a lot and felt that when he was made the skipper, at that time, there were few who should’ve been captain instead of him. Whilst he was stand-in skipper when Maguire wasn’t playing in the 22/23 season, Fernandes looked very comfortable with the armband and actually had a good record as the captain.

Ever since he was made the permanent captain though, it hasn't been what we all expected. Bruno still leads in terms of output and he will always give his best for the team (which is something that others could follow) but other than that, in terms of leadership material, he doesn’t seem to have it.

Bruno Fernandes is not captain material | Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images via United In Focus

I’ve always felt that when things are going bad, he nor anyone else really stands up and tries to lead the team. All of our players’ heads drop in the tough moments and we are leaderless.

We are in a tough situation right now and I look on that field and see no one who puts their hand up and takes control. They all fall.

Bruno’s stupid red card summed him up as a skipper in that if he can get dumb sending offs like that, how can the rest of the team follow him?

But in all fairness to Bruno, like I said, no one else is good enough for the armband.

When looking at that squad, there are only a couple of players that I look at and think they could be our captains. Martinez and De Ligt have a leader-like appeal to them and with De Ligt, he has been a captain before at a big club (Ajax) so he has that experience. As he is a new player though, I’m not sure whether they will look to make him captain.

I actually don’t think the armband will be taken away from Bruno but he clearly isn’t it. Maguire had the captaincy taken off him and he’s looked better for it. Perhaps the same could happen to Bruno?

There are simply not enough leaders in that dressing room.

Background Image: Man Utd lose their third game in a row against Wolves | Creator: Naomi Baker | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2024 Getty Images via Man Utd News

Yuveer Madanlal

Yeah, I can talk and talk and talk about the things I love, like football and United, as you can see in this post. Once I get on a roll, it's pretty hard to stop me. This is all coming from a guy who doesn't talk that much. How weird.

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