Manchester United 0-0 Wolves: 3 talking points from the game | Premier League 2019-20
Manchester United hosted Wolves at Old Trafford for the 25th Matchday of the Premier League as Bruno Fernandes made his debut for the Red Devils. The match started with Manchester United dominating possession but neither team creating anything substantial.
There were no clear cut chances, although both David de Gea and Rui Patricio were called upon to make regular saves. In the second half, United utterly dominated Wolves as the away side didn't really get hold of the ball and were sitting very deep.
That said, the Red Devils came close quite a few times with Patricio saving Mason Greenwood's effort before Diogo Dalot headed his effort just wide of the goal. The match, in the end, ended in a stalemate as the points were shared between two sides who are on equal points in the Premier League table.
Here, we are going to take a look at the three talking points from the game.
#3 Wolves were as solid as always against United
Nuno Espírito Santo has now met Ole Gunnar Solskjær's Manchester United on many occasions; this was their fourth meeting and on every occasion, it's been clear that United have found Wolves hard to break down. They did the same thing on Saturday night as they never looked out of shape and vulnerable.
Apart from giving away one or two decent opportunities, Wolves had United on lockdown. The only negative for the visitors was that they didn't trouble the opposition defense enough and couldn't string together great opportunities on the counter-attack.
Nevertheless, they will definitely take a draw at Old Trafford and it was a deserved point.
#2 Anthony Martial and Daniel James misfire....again
Since Marcus Rashford's injury, for some reason, both Daniel James and Anthony Martial haven't look themselves lately and that was the case again on Saturday. Their touches didn't stick, they weren't making runs behind to help the defence and they never really linked up well together.
Bruno Fernandes, who made his debut for the Red Devils, was receiving the ball, looking up and seeing no movement, which is something Ole Gunnar Solskjær wouldn't have liked. Martial, in particular, looked anonymous both in the second and in the first half and never really looked threatening on the ball either. United were toothless in attack.
These two need to do a lot more than what they are currently doing and it's quite clear that they need this coming winter break.
#1 Bruno Fernandes' good debut and Solskjær's delayed substitutions
Bruno Fernandes, on his debut, played out of position, as he lined up alongside Fred. Although he played out of position, his performance level was good. He was the only player on the pitch who was looking to play those risky passes and also, almost all of his shots from distance troubled Rui Patricio.
We will definitely see more from Fernandes when Nemanja Matić and Scott McTominay return as then, the Portuguese can play in his favoured number 10 role. Furthermore, Solskjær needs to be more pro-active with his substitutions as when United were chasing the opener, it was quite clear that Daniel James wasn't having a great day and neither was Andreas Pereira but the Norwegian still waited until 70 minutes to make his first substitution.
Arguably, Mason Greenwood should have come on at the start of the second half but that didn't happen. Solskjaæ has always been criticised for his in-game management and this was another case where he should have changed something earlier.
Also read: Bruno Fernandes a sputtering spark on debut as Man Utd fail to break down Wolves again