Man Utd 1-0 Wolves: Post-match verdict
Our reporter Michael Plant gives his view from Old Trafford after Manchester United began the 2023/24 season with a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, thanks to Raphael Varane's winner.
Transcript
00:00 Hello, I'm coming to you live from Old Trafford after tonight's Premier League game between
00:04 Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wonders. One, Manchester United managed to win 1-0,
00:09 they were very fortunate in my opinion to get away with a win. United really off, really
00:14 under par, underperformed, underwhelmed and really very, very fortunate to get three points.
00:19 If anything, Wolves were the better side and were the team who probably deserved to come
00:22 away with a win. And really I can't believe in the final minutes of this game they weren't
00:27 awarded a late penalty for a foul by Andrea Nane. Came out to try and win the ball with
00:32 Sasa Kalasic, clawed at the ball, completely missed it and ended up clattering into the
00:38 Wolverhampton Wanderers forward. Went through a VAR check, we all presumed it was about
00:42 to be awarded. Referee ran over to the sideline, again all presumed it was about to be a check
00:46 on the pitch side monitor because he completely clattered it into him. Instead he actually
00:50 booked Gary O'Neill and the penalty wasn't awarded. So kind of remarkable end here for
00:55 United who did get a 1-0 victory thanks to Raphael Varane's header in the 76th minute.
01:00 It was a rare moment of joy in terms of an attacking sense for United because they really,
01:05 really struggled tonight. In the first half, United, there really actually weren't many
01:08 chances for either side. Marcus Rashford had an early chance and then Wolves I think were
01:12 the better team. I thought Wolves in midfield were really good with Lamina, Gomez and I
01:18 forgot the other name. I can see his name but I can't remember. It's off the top of
01:24 my head. Gwydysh. I thought they were really good, really physical in the middle. I think
01:28 United struggled to deal with that approach. Of course we came into this game thinking
01:32 it was going to be Wolves who were going to be knocked out quite a bit of pace. We didn't
01:35 know what type of levels they would be at. United actually had a relatively good pre-season
01:40 and came in, rolling in from last season, a lot of continuity. You were pretty sure
01:45 what type of 11 they were going to put out and how they were going to play. Instead it
01:49 was Wolves who impressed and created a couple of really good chances. Kounia had a good
01:52 chance and really had a huge amount of chances in the first half but Wolves were certainly
01:55 the better side. Came out in the second half and again, Kounia had an absolutely superb
02:00 chance just over there at the back post. Should have first time finish pretty much with an
02:04 open goal and he managed to hit the post. He'd be so disappointed that he didn't manage
02:08 to convert and make the most of that. United were continuing their realm at this stage.
02:12 Couldn't get Marcus Rashford involved. I thought Alejandro Garnaccio off the left
02:15 was abysmal to be honest. I thought Anthony on the right struggled. I thought he had a
02:18 couple of good moments but by and large his decision making wasn't good enough. Bruno
02:22 Fernandes in the middle was giving the ball away too much. Although United were relatively
02:25 good defensively, they were getting overrun in the middle. The amount of times that Wolves
02:28 players manage to be surging through the middle of United I think would be a real concern
02:32 for Ten Hag. So a lot of issues there to deal with and address. Wolves did create a couple
02:35 of chances I'd say but United came back in there. Anthony managed to lob the ball over
02:40 Jose Sala in the Rose Goal but Craig Dawson managed to scramble back and get it cleared.
02:45 Anthony also fired a shot just over. And then as we moved into the final 15 minutes of the
02:49 game Bruno Fernandes, who you were saying wasn't at his best tonight, but he did provide
02:52 one moment of quality. Then a lovely little dink passing behind. Matt by Aron Mambasaka
02:57 who was probably one of United's best players. Actually he crossed it over. Rafael Varama
03:01 is there at the head at home. Absolutely jubilant scenes here at Old Trafford as you can imagine
03:05 to that goal. A big goal because as much as it's a frustrating night for Ten Hag, it's
03:09 really important that they did get off to a win and start the season with three points
03:13 for United. And then later on it was a Wolves onslaught really. Fabio Silva had three good
03:17 chances. Two saved by Andrea Nanna who actually up until that moment I mentioned with the
03:20 penalty actually had a really good game. I was supposed to give him 8 out of 10 until
03:23 that kind of calamity where he should have had a penalty given against him but I dropped
03:27 him down one more because of that. He made two good saves against Fabio Silva. Luc Shaw
03:32 also blocked a shot from the Portugal attacker. And then as I say that late moment at the
03:37 end where a penalty should have been given against Nanna. United held on for the win
03:41 and as I say, Ten Hag will be delighted with the three points but very disappointed with
03:45 the performance. I'm interested. I'm going to run down after this video and see what
03:48 he's got to say but I suspect it'll be quite critical of the team. Just a couple of other
03:52 little points to mention. Lissandra Martinez went off at half time. Now he was actually
03:56 booked in the first half and there was one moment where he came flying out to go into
03:58 the tackling. You could see him kind of not easing up a bit and not sure that was on his
04:03 mind perhaps. But it could also have been that or it could have been an injury potentially
04:07 so Viktor Lindelof came on for him. We'll see if there's any reason behind that or what
04:12 the reason was. An injury or whether it was due to potential of getting a red card. Also
04:17 noticeable that Harry Maguire was on the bench. Didn't play tonight but was on the bench.
04:21 So was Jadon Sancho. I should mention Jadon Sancho. He actually had a big impact when
04:24 he came on in the second half. I thought he played really well. Really actually helped
04:27 United turn the game a little bit and probably their best spell of the match probably did
04:30 come in that five, ten minutes after Jadon Sancho was introduced. Who else was involved?
04:34 Donny Van de Beek wasn't involved but Dean Henderson was on the bench as was Anthony
04:38 Monchiat. Of course a lot of players at Eric Ten Hag does want to move on here. We'll have
04:44 to see what he's got to say in all of these matters. Alex Ferguson was here and also an
04:49 interesting spectator was Rasmus Hoyland. Of course the new striker who has joined from
04:53 Atalanta but he's currently injured at the moment and he wasn't involved. But as I say
04:56 a disappointing performance from United but they will be delighted to get the three points
05:00 and they will look to move on at the weekend to the game against Spurs and try and make
05:04 that 6-6, 4-10 hag. As always we're covering it on Manchester World. We've got player ratings
05:08 up on the website now and we're going to be certainly bringing you more reaction here
05:11 from Old Trafford as the night goes on. But from me, Michael Plant at Old Trafford, give
05:14 you a little pan around, see if there's anything going on. The Wolves players were out there
05:17 doing their runs. We're going to see Bruno Fernandes coming in for an interview there.
05:20 Not sure if you'll be able to see that, probably can't. But yeah, as I say an important three
05:25 points from Manchester United to get the season underway.