Wolverhampton 1-1 Manchester United: 5 Hits and Flops
Ruben Neves' stunning second-half strike ensured the points were shared during an intriguing watch at Molineux on Monday evening as Wolverhampton drew 1-1 with Manchester United to end the week's Premier League action in style.
Marcus Rashford teed up Anthony Martial, who netted his 50th United goal with a first-touch finish to break the deadlock after 27 minutes. During a tense first 45 not packed with many goalscoring opportunities for either side, the Frenchman took advantage and applied the finishing touch to a well-worked team move.
Raul Jimenez was causing the visitors all sorts of problems before watching his guided header cannon back off the post. A matter of moments later, Wolves were celebrating Neves' superb effort from distance after it flew in off the crossbar to equalise after 55 minutes.
Midway through the second half, Paul Pogba won a penalty after accelerating through a hoard of challenges on a marauding run being tripped by Conor Coady's trailing leg in the box. He stepped up to take it, but Rui Patricio made an excellent diving stop to thwart the influential midfielder, moments after some spot-kick discussion between himself and Rashford: who took and scored one against Chelsea in their opening fixture.
Despite both teams pushing for a winner with time continuing to wear on, a draw was ultimately how it finished. Wolves continue to prove a bogey side for a resurgent United and with that in mind, here's a look at five hits and flops from this game:
#5 Flop: Jesse Lingard
Well, where to start with Lingard? His heat map rather typifies what was wrong with his all-round display over the 81 minutes he featured before being replaced - something which should have happened sooner in truth. Operating in the number ten role, he started in too much of an advanced position to really affect things against a solid Wolves backline who packed their midfield to protect their backline against counter-attacking moves.
Once he dropped deeper and received touches in possession, you could see the Englishman gradually getting more comfortable under pressure, and that was evidenced by the part he played in Martial's opener. However, that's about the only good thing he did throughout this encounter. For someone with as much creative responsibility as him, scarce promising moments of attacking link-up play is just not good enough. Especially away from home against a tricky bogey team who United haven't beaten in their last four meetings.
He had 87% pass completion, won possession on six occasions, but only won three of his nine duels contested and lost the ball ten times. There were particular sloppy instances where he either miscontrolled possession or gifted it to a grateful Wolves player, while Jesse seemed almost bemused and found himself effectively stifled.
Skewing an effort well wide at 1-0 up proved crucial while he also failed to adjust quickly enough to react after Willy Boly's deflection on Wan-Bissaka's pass meant the pass moved just outside his shooting range inside the box. If he's going to keep his starting berth, lacklustre displays like these are not helping his case.