WOLVES ONLY HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME
United exploit missed chances and schoolboy naivety of Lage’s team
PLAY to the whistle. Don’t switch off. Had Wolves followed these basic premises, they probably wouldn’t have lost. When Ruben Neves stayed down after a 50-50 challenge with Paul Pogba with just over ten minutes left, some Wolves players seemed to expect a free-kick.
Other perhaps expected Manchester United to kick the ball out of play. Earlier in the game, with Bruno Fernandes down, this is what Wolves did out of courtesy to their opponents.
But United chose not to do the same. The game was on the line and they were in good territorial position. Equally referee Mike Dean saw nothing wrong with the challenge and did not blow to stop the game.
On play went and when the ball was played wide to Mason Greenwood, he dropped a shoulder to buy a yard of space and smashed it low past Wolves keeper Jose Sa. And so United won a game in which they were often second best, while Wolves spiralled into a frenzy of complaint and indignation.
Neves was booked for his protests, while manager Bruno Lage remonstrated with the United bench and the fourth official. In the stands, they were close to blowing the roof off.
Neves later launched a furious attack on Dean after Wolves slumped to a third straight 1-0 defeat.
‘It’s a foul, a clear foul,’ said the Portugal midfielder. ‘Everyone saw it, everyone saw my leg, we always do meetings with referees about VAR, I don’t know why. They said before the season started they will look for contact — if the contact is strong enough, they will give the foul.
‘I showed my leg to the ref, I showed to the assistant ref. After the game, he (Dean) said: “You both go to the ball,” and I said: “Yes, we both go to win the ball but I was the one who touched the ball”.’
Pogba had a different view, claiming: ‘I didn’t touch him’, while United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: ‘Paul goes in with the sidefoot and it’s a fair challenge.’
But Neves was backed by Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness, who said: ‘That could have been a leg-breaker. If I’m looking to do someone, I’m going just above the
ball. I’m not saying Pogba meant to do it but that’s how it ended up looking. It’s alarming when a senior referee does not deem that as a foul.’
Lage, who felt United should have put the ball into touch when Neves was left on the turf, added: ‘(Wolves defender) Marcal said to (Greenwood) to put the ball out and they shoot at goal.’
A VAR check revealed a firm Pogba challenge but no foul, albeit it was a very close call.
Yes, Wolves had been generous to stop play in the first half but this is not golf. One conceded putt does not necessarily precede another. It was up to Dean to halt the game and when he didn’t, the Wolves players should have kept their discipline. They conceded a soft goal, and lost another home game after last week’s reverse to Spurs.
Lage’s team were super at times. Adama Traore terrified United on occasion. Until Greenwood scored, United had hardly threatened while David de Gea had only minutes earlier produced a stunning double save to deny Romain Saiss at a corner.
Yet Wolves lack a clinical edge and United do not. There is a reason they have not lost an away game in the league for 28 matches now, a record.
Cristiano Ronaldo, doubtless watching from Portugal on TV, will have recognised some never say die habits from the team-mates he will join after the international break.
He will have also recognised some blood and thunder at both ends and reminded himself to pack his shin pads.
Wolves had a few big moments. But the one they’ll regret arrived just nine minutes before Greenwood’s winner.
Traore won a corner off Luke
Shaw and when the ball arrived on the six-yard line, defender Saiss rose highest to head it towards goal.
De Gea’s first save was very good but when the ball ran loose back into the path of Saiss, he had to score. A yard from the line, he could have placed the rebound anywhere. Somehow, he put it in the one place where De Gea could get it and the keeper got both arms to the ball to produce perhaps the save of the season so far.
This is how games at this level are won and lost. United — for all their deficiencies and peculiarities — have the knack of coming out on the right side of the equation while Wolves simply do not.
In the first half, Wolves could have scored a couple of times while United offered little. A Traore break from the edge of his own penalty area in the third minute provided a chance for Raul Jimenez. De Gea saved the shot.
Then Francisco Trincao rolled a shot under De Gea only for Aaron Wan-Bissaka to clear off the line.
There was also a low shot from Traore that De Gea saved and a volley over from Joao Moutinho that followed an error in his own penalty box from Jadon Sancho.
But, ultimately, United won because of their opponents’ deficiencies as much as anything. For Wolves, this should feel like a hard lesson learned.
Solskjaer, meanwhile, warned United’s rivals that Ronaldo is on a ‘personal’ mission to prove he is still the best.
The 36-year-old is in Lisbon preparing for World Cup qualifiers for Portugal but is expected to complete the formalities on his £19.4million move from Juventus in the coming days, with Solskjaer hoping he can make his second debut for United against Newcastle at Old Trafford on September 11.
‘Hopefully we can get the paperwork sorted and announce it,’ he said. ‘He is a great player, a great human being. I’m excited to keep building this squad. He will bring something completely different.
‘Let’s get him back to United after the break and, hopefully, he’ll be involved as soon as possible. He will make us a better team.
‘Hopefully Cristiano can show what he has done in his career. I am sure he likes all the talk about being old. Make it personal and he will show what he can do.’
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (3-4-3): Sa 5; Kilman 6, Coady 7 (Gibbs-White 87), Saiss 6; Semedo 6, Neves 6, Moutinho 6, Marcal 6; Trincao 6 (Podence 70), Jimenez 6, Traore 7 (Silva 87). Booked: Neves, Saiss, Gibbs-White. MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 8, Wan-Bissaka 7, Varane 6, Maguire 6, Shaw 6; Pogba 5, Fred 5; James 5 (Cavani 52), Fernandes 6, Sancho 5 (Martial 71); Greenwood 7 (Dalot 89). Booked: Fernandes, Pogba, Dalot, Fred. Referee: Mike Dean.