Premier League 2018-19: 3 Reasons why Manchester United lost to Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Manchester United 2-1 to cause a major upset in the Premier League last night. It was United’s second defeat in their last 3 league matches and it jeopardizes their chances of finishing in the top 4 somewhat.
Scott McTominay opened the scoring for United in the 13th minute, but Wolves equalized through Diogo in the 12 minutes later. Chris Smalling’s own goal in the 77th minute sealed a memorable win for Wolves, who have been really impressive under Nuno Espirito Santo. The defeat meant United dropped to the 5th position in the league table with 61 points from 32 matches, while Wolves remained in the 7th position with 47 points from 32 games.
We would now take a look at the 3 reasons why United lost last night’s match:
#1. Playing too many long passes and conceding possession easily:
United were guilty of conceding possession too easily at times by playing too many long through balls from inside their own half and giving the ball away too easily in the process. They should have adopted a more cautious approach, especially after scoring the goal. The Red Devils should have tried to retain possession for longer durations, and not allow Wolves to build-up attacks easily.
United started with McTominay, Paul Pogba and Fred in central midfield, and missed the experience of Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera. Both McTominay and Fred are inexperienced and therefore, did not curb their attacking instincts when the situation demanded so. Ashley Young also played quite a few long passes to the United forwards from inside his own half.
McTominay, however, scored a wonderful goal, his first for United, with a 25-yard scorcher. He has been impressive in the last few matches for United and seems to have a great future ahead of himself. Fred, on the other hand, was somewhat responsible for Wolves’ first goal and did not have a great outing.
Fred had also conceded a soft penalty in United’s 0-2 loss to Arsenal in March and should work on the defensive aspects of his game. However, the bottom line remains that United should have slowed the pace of the game after having scored the opening goal, and should not have allowed Wolves to come back into the match easily. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should be disappointed as his players let their oppositions off the hook last night.