PL D FA Premier League

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1:1 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Mon, 19 August 2019

André Dominguez

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
6,367
Location
Lisbon
Supports
Benfica, Académica
I think the performance was decent: we controlled the majority of the game, but Wolves were smart on bringing Traoré in to offer another option as a ball carrier and our team took time to cope with that, as they suddenly had a player that prefer to drible than to overlap.

I think we lacked a bit of agression in midfield and our creativity from behind was poor, and that underpined our game.
 

Devil may care

New Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
35,976
That was frustrating, there were lots of positives in the game, along with some concerns and 2 dropped points that we should have taken.

The style Ole is trying to implement is good to see, I like the pressing when we don't have the ball and the patience in the passing when we do, it's only two games but Martial and Rashford have started well and hopefully will serve me a big slice of humbe pie come season's end, and while both are a bit raw AWB and James showed some promising moments down our right that we haven't seen in years.

On a brief side note the Wolves crowd is fecking obnoxious.

Defensively we were fine bar Shaw but I still have concerns over the lack of pace in the CB partnership, especially when we don't have a positionally astute CM in front of them.

My one complaint with Ole tonight was I felt he waited too long to make a substitution and when he did he made the wrong one, granted we didn't have much on the bench to spruce up the attack but Greenwood would have gotten on ahead of Mata for me, the cycle of Mata/Lingard/Pereira is a problem.

Ultimately looking beyond just tonight's game I really like what Ole is trying to implement but I think we've left him too short in the middle of the park for a a full campaign, I haven't been to Pogba's thread yet, I am sure he is getting stick as usual, but feck me with McTominay next to him and Lingard as the #10 in front of him he has nothing to work with and that will be an issue for us across the course of the season IMO.
 

Santoryo

ripping the reward
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
6,302
Random thoughts.

- Don’t like wolves at all and can’t wait til we beat them next. Irritating team.

- We played superbly in the first half, and limited them in the second for most of it. They scored a frustrating wonder goal from their brief purple patch.

- We’re not clinical enough. Martial at the end of the first half, Lingard at the start of the second, missed penalty. We should have won this game.

- lingard

- squad lacks depth, which is a concern as the season progresses. Nobody on the bench who could give us another option.

- no truly reliable penalty taker. Not mad at Pogba for missing, it happens. I miss Denis Irwin and Cantona..

- Jon Moss was fecking awful and got more things wrong than right, and almost every bad decision was against us and not for us.

- pressing was good, energy was good. The team is exciting and starting to come together, we still need additions to the squad but Ole is building an identity. Not sure about his substitutions but you could put that down to lack of personnel.

Looking forward to the next game.
What are you talking about? He didn't even get to shoot because the ball was clipped by the defender's touch which made the ball drag behind his feet.
 

gr3yham3

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
1,182
A little disappointed we did not get all 3 points, but 1 point is okay from a ground where we have lost the past 3 meetings. Our first 2 games have been tricky ones and i think we have done well overall.
Next game is more important now, as we need to ensure we do not let heads drop and continue to the good work we have shown so far.
 

kundalini

Full Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
5,750
Frustrating performance. Could have been a comfortable win with a bit more composure

- Lindelof and Maguire were both poor. Maguire gave away a needless free-kick that resulted in the header against the post, then conceded the corner from which they scored, when clearing it for a throw-in looked fairly straightforward.

- Martial scored a superb goal but didn't quite reach Rashford's super cross and his failure to keep the ball under control, wasted a promising situation just before half-time

- Wan-Bissaka and James were poor in possession in the first half but did a bit better in the 2nd half

- Too many poor passes in that first half. Lindelof's free-kick was terrible.

- Pogba's penalty was in the keeper's saving zone if he dived the right way. Not good enough.

- No urgency to attack after the penalty. Slow tempo through-out the match.

- We contained Wolves reasonably well for most of the contest.

- Substitutions came very late given how few chances we had created.
 
Last edited:

RedMilo

Full Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Messages
1,317
Really good performance in first half, showed me that we can keep good possession which is going to be key at times this season. Wolves are a decent team and a point is not a bad result, yes it frustrating not getting the win but its progress. McT had an off day but one can forgive him as he is still young and has been really good for us up until now. Martial lead the line really well and deserved MOTM for me. Looking forward to Palace game, hope Gomes gets into the side soon, as think his creativity is just what our front 3 need.
 

passing-wind

Full Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Messages
3,041
What would you, the manager, have done differently?
Give the players a stronger temperament when coming out to the second half, it should have been well anticipated that Wolves would begin to press further up the field. The players seemed to lack concentration as soon as we fielded the play. Bring on substitutions earlier, not to change personnel but to change the influence in the pattern of play. This puts emphasis on why it's important to not sit on a 1-0 lead. In this league if you go up 2 by half time it's 90% more likely you'll win games because the margin for error / mistakes is more forgiving. Additionally we could have change the shape, not the entire starting 11 but around the midfield. Lingard was horrible the entirety of the game, he never dropped into pockets of space a three man midfield would essentially occupy, we could of brought Pereria on to play as a holding midfielder and allow Pogba to push up as he's more useful than Lingard as a 10 (he scored majority of his goals last season in this position).

This is easy to say of course, but it seems we had a "continue doing the same" approach to the second half when tactically it was obvious wolves would make amendments. Overall though we played much better than I had estimated especially after how we collapsed last season against them. I expected us to lose this fixture but given how the game panned out we missed the opportunity to take home three points.
 

Blatzo

Full Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
1,713
If that's our trickiest away fixture outside of the top 6 this season then we're going to be absolutely fine.

Dominated the first half. Gave them 15 good minutes in the second. Then should have won it with the penalty and had other opportunities.

Some nice passing and possession football. Another good goal. 2 individual moments of brilliance and they scrape a point. Onwards and upwards.
 

Cockney Phil

Full Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
Messages
587
Location
London
Another game of two halves - this time, we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. After Chelski, I thought we needed a harder test and so it proved.

First half was pretty good to build a decent second half but instead we looked at sea culminating in the penalty fiasco. Ole didn’t seem to respond to Wolves changes. They read us like a child’s book and came out fighting. Our players who were average first half suddenly struggled mostly because Wolves applied directvpressure on them. That was interesting - Wolves applied pressure to those players they regarded as lightweight, instead of setting a specific game plan. That exposed our weak midfield and the frailty of individual strengths/weaknesses.

Finally, Ole made changes with about 5 minutes left but I think he wanted to know if that squad could wrestle back a result. Maybe if the penalty had gone in he would have seen a different team at the end. Instead they stumbled over the finishing line pretty wasted and run into the ground.

I think we have to re-adjust our expectations. They spilled over into hyperbole after Chelski. Tonight was the cold shower - it’s going to be a long old season.
 

Red Dreams

Full Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
55,366
Location
Across the Universe....from Old Trafford.
Another game of two halves - this time, we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. After Chelski, I thought we needed a harder test and so it proved.

First half was pretty good to build a decent second half but instead we looked at sea culminating in the penalty fiasco. Ole didn’t seem to respond to Wolves changes. They read us like a child’s book and came out fighting. Our players who were average first half suddenly struggled mostly because Wolves applied directvpressure on them. That was interesting - Wolves applied pressure to those players they regarded as lightweight, instead of setting a specific game plan. That exposed our weak midfield and the frailty of individual strengths/weaknesses.

Finally, Ole made changes with about 5 minutes left but I think he wanted to know if that squad could wrestle back a result. Maybe if the penalty had gone in he would have seen a different team at the end. Instead they stumbled over the finishing line pretty wasted and run into the ground.

I think we have to re-adjust our expectations. They spilled over into hyperbole after Chelski. Tonight was the cold shower - it’s going to be a long old season.
Many expected this to be a real test. And it proved to be But we could so easily have won.
All teams have a short spell they get on top. Unfortunately they scored from it and we did not put away the penalty.
Greater penetration is needed.
Midfield is still where we look short and not surprisingly.
 

AaronRedDevil

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Messages
9,566
Some guy pointed this out and it shows that wolves are very impressive against the big teams.

Drew 1-1 vs City
Drew 1-1 vs Utd
Drew 1-1 vs Arsenal
Won 2-1 vs Chelsea
Won 3-1 vs Spurs
Won 2-1 vs Liverpool
Drew 1-1 vs Chelsea
Won 2-1 vs Utd
Won 2-1 vs Utd
Won 3-1 vs Arsenal
FA Cup semi-final Secured EL football Drew 1-1 vs Man Utd

It was there for the taking but honestly it could have been much worse.
 

DrRodo

Honest worker, never posts
Joined
Jun 14, 2014
Messages
2,018
Location
Chile
This is the kind of results that makes all the difference throughout a season in who gets into the top four and who doesn't
 

Alek M

Da manic one
Joined
Aug 2, 2002
Messages
6,535
Location
M A C E D O N I A
Lingard was aweful I gave him a 1.
Ole deserves a 2 for not taking Lingard out sooner. He should have replaced James as well way earlier.
McTominay was absent
Shaw should have burried the last shot
Martial scored but took too many unnecessary touches in other part of the game

Maguire is class. Wan Bisaka too.

Frustrating game grrr
 

Kag

Full Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
18,875
Location
United Kingdom
I’m stunned by the negative reaction.

This time last year we would have ceded possession and tried to fluke a win. This time we went to Wolves, which is probably the toughest away game outside of the established top six, and largely dominated the game, particularly in the first half. We should have scored more and they scored a worldie. We also missed a pen.

So many positives to take away from that tonight. There’s a bigger picture that idiots are conveniently trying to miss.

Christ, when it’s bad it’s bad. Tonight wasn’t.
 
Last edited:

Marcus

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 1999
Messages
6,133
United deserved to win. But I will take a draw because today's performance, especially the first half showed we can control possession and score goals. The previous week's win was pure counterattacking play.
 

Dante

Average bang
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
25,280
Location
My wit's end
I’m stunned by the negative reaction.

This time last year we would have ceded possession and tried to fluke a win. This time we went to Wolves, which is probably the tonight away game outside of the established top six, and largely dominated the game, particularly in the first half. We should have scored more and they scored a worldie. We also missed a pen.

So many positives to take away from that tonight. There’s a bigger picture that idiots are conveniently trying to miss.

Christ, when it’s bad it’s bad. Tonight wasn’t.
Agreed.

I think that overall, United come out of that match with a lot of credit.

A point away at Wolves is a decent result. If you factor in flow of the match, and things are looking rosy. We just need a bit of luck and for Ole to iron out a few kinks.

One thing you can't deny is that this United team is playing better football than last season. Even without Maguire and AWB, the boaching staff are getting more out of the squad. We'll get top 4 comfortably, in my opinion. We've got a lot more room for growth than our immediate rivals, and we're already starting from an equal position.
 

Pavl3n

Full Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2015
Messages
1,899
I don't know what you want.
Appreciate the positives.
We all know we need a class #8, #10 and RW. However the team performed professionally and we should feel that we missed out on 2 points, rather than devaluing the whole squad.
 

reds_fan_aus

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
20
Supports
Napoli
Very poor performance today. Too many passengers. Shaw is a weakness at left-back and is too often exposed by players attacking him on the run. His positioning is just woeful to watch. I still can't understand how Lingard gets a game. That miss-kick in the box - just unbelievable. No excuses pal - your playing EPL!! Rashford was a non-event.

Having said that who do you replace them with? As for Pogba he can provide but is too inconsistent. It is obvious he cannot maintain the pace required for EPL. And the Wolves goal? No use zone marking in the box when you have spare opposition players deliberately hanging off the edge on the 18 yard line. And the attempt by both Shaw and McTomminy to block the shot? No use running at the attacker if you have no intention of putting your body on the line. Just shows a lack of courage.

The solution to our midfield dilemma is simple: just go out and scout two similar players to Scholes and Keane. Done! It's not rocket science. Every team needs ball winners. Not pansies that get knocked off the ball like lightweights.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,280
Location
Hope, We Lose
We used to "boss games" under LVG. Having most of the ball and not doing much with it isnt very effective nor entertaining.
 

bubbles_

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
1,619
Location
Seoul
Really slim margins. Martial standing on the ball right before half time, Lingard air shot and failing to control a simple (if slightly deflected) pass from Wan-Bissaka and a missed penalty. All should've been goals.
 

Kag

Full Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
18,875
Location
United Kingdom
If that's our trickiest away fixture outside of the top 6 this season then we're going to be absolutely fine.

Dominated the first half. Gave them 15 good minutes in the second. Then should have won it with the penalty and had other opportunities.

Some nice passing and possession football. Another good goal. 2 individual moments of brilliance and they scrape a point. Onwards and upwards.
Only a bellend sees it any other way.
 

Dec9003

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
8,996
I'm not sure if anyone's pointed it out yet, but I think it's worth noting that we'd have likely lose that match last season.
Maguire and Wan-Bissaka, along with your added fitness and grit, should get us a good few extra points this season.
 

Basa1987

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2010
Messages
373
Location
26 years worth of debt!
Very poor performance today. Too many passengers. Shaw is a weakness at left-back and is too often exposed by players attacking him on the run. His positioning is just woeful to watch. I still can't understand how Lingard gets a game. That miss-kick in the box - just unbelievable. No excuses pal - your playing EPL!! Rashford was a non-event.

Having said that who do you replace them with? As for Pogba he can provide but is too inconsistent. It is obvious he cannot maintain the pace required for EPL. And the Wolves goal? No use zone marking in the box when you have spare opposition players deliberately hanging off the edge on the 18 yard line. And the attempt by both Shaw and McTomminy to block the shot? No use running at the attacker if you have no intention of putting your body on the line. Just shows a lack of courage.

The solution to our midfield dilemma is simple: just go out and scout two similar players to Scholes and Keane. Done! It's not rocket science. Every team needs ball winners. Not pansies that get knocked off the ball like lightweights.
Ooh. Hard man aren't you.

And FYI, Wan Bissaka was closest to Neves just before the shot. You can't go all out flaying your arms, remember Paris?
 

MyDevil

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
317
Overall good performance. Perhaps we should have manager rating as well. I felt Ole was too late in making the substitutions. Greenwood should have came in for James and much earlier. We should have won this game.
 

Waynne

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
1,879
Important to remember that these types of results against these types of teams should be expected.
Can be the 'But we are United and we should easily win this' crowd if you like but reality is that our team is not there yet.
We can't handle pressing that well yet. Lingard gave the ball away far too cheaply sometimes and McTominay still showing inexperience with misplaced passes that should have easily gone to feet.
This forum would have a different tone if Pogba had slotted his penalty but its still not a bad result.
We still need plenty of time and we are still a few key players away from being able to go back to the 'But we are United and we should easily win this' mindset that we were used to under Fergie.

As a United fan i'm content with what we have now as we are still building and a result like this against wolves is a positive in how we played and what the manager is trying to achieve.
'Slowly' on wards and upwards.
 

VictoriaRed

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 17, 2018
Messages
194
Feck, can't believe we dropped points today. Still think we play too negatively in midfield. Against Liverpool and City we will get destroyed in midfield. While Pogba is our most talented passer, he too, often plays it safe=backwards. By the way, he was caught in possession way too much today; feck me! Also, why didn't Martial/Rashford take the peno? Shitty penalty. I like Wolves, but we need/have to take those points.
 

Amerifan

Full Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2019
Messages
986
The Wolves are tough to beat, Paul scores the next one. What’s with all the negativity?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

bosnian_red

Worst scout to ever exist
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
57,995
Location
Canada
It's really not a bad result or performance at all. One of the toughest away grounds in the league, a team that got points off all the big teams last year, and we definitely deserved the win IMO. Performance was very good bar spells here or there, but that's going to happen. We have a young team, it's hardly a surprise when we drop off as a team after getting blows like missing guilt edged chances to get a 2-0 lead, concede a screamer and then miss a pen to regain the lead. You can only be encouraged by the performance IMO, one that after 2 games, we just look like a very competent side again with potential to grow.

There are of course clear gaps, like in midfield really lacking the upgrade on McTominay, and the decision making in attack, but that'll all improve with time. Keep up performances like we've had so far and we'll have no issues getting top 4, especially with our back 5.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
Appreciate the positives.
We all know we need a class #8, #10 and RW. However the team performed professionally and we should feel that we missed out on 2 points, rather than devaluing the whole squad.
I said I am happy with getting 4 points out of our first 6. Before the season I said if we got at least points from these 2 hard fixtures it will be a good start.

However I will be totally blind if I didn't see the obvious problems in our squad this match showed. It's nothing new because we predicted that our squad depth in attack and midfield will hurt us. The options are very limited.

The problem is there's still Europe League coming, the schedule will get pretty condensed and sadly I can see such problems becoming more and more obvious.
 

RedTiger

Half mast
Joined
Oct 6, 2013
Messages
23,032
Location
Beside the sea-side, Beside the sea.
We played well, we were defensively strong and if it wasn't for a quality Neves goal we'd be top. Obviously there were some issues with certain parts of our play, but its nothing we didn't already know before the season started.

We need better quality in central midfield and the right side of attack. I would really like see Greenwood get 70 mins in the next match playing off the right. The midfield unfortunately is what it is until january but hopefully playing some more games allows us to find something that works.

Edit: almost forgot that Pogba missed a penalty, yeah it wasn't just a good Neves goal.
 

Matst1

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 13, 2016
Messages
553
Another game of two halves - this time, we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. After Chelski, I thought we needed a harder test and so it proved.

First half was pretty good to build a decent second half but instead we looked at sea culminating in the penalty fiasco. Ole didn’t seem to respond to Wolves changes. They read us like a child’s book and came out fighting. Our players who were average first half suddenly struggled mostly because Wolves applied directvpressure on them. That was interesting - Wolves applied pressure to those players they regarded as lightweight, instead of setting a specific game plan. That exposed our weak midfield and the frailty of individual strengths/weaknesses.

Finally, Ole made changes with about 5 minutes left but I think he wanted to know if that squad could wrestle back a result. Maybe if the penalty had gone in he would have seen a different team at the end. Instead they stumbled over the finishing line pretty wasted and run into the ground.

I think we have to re-adjust our expectations. They spilled over into hyperbole after Chelski. Tonight was the cold shower - it’s going to be a long old season.
Seriously, go support another team. Absolute joke of a post. Its like people get off on complaining, find all the negatives and ignore the positives. I think the anti-united media has got into people minds - people don't have ideas, ideas have people.
 

LeftyBlaster

Full Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
7,014
Location
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻)
We were by far the better team, some people saying we looked tired after 70 minutes is pretty laughable.We'll improve for sure through the season.Only issue I have is set piece taking, from corners to free kicks to penalties we don't have any specific takers.i even saw Lindelöf taking a free kick in the first half:lol:. Surely he should be in the box getting his head on it.

Onwards and upwards for United, definitely top 4 material this season.
Too bloody right mate. Football was a vast improvement and highlighted by the type or goal scored. Under Jose we would have thrown mindless crosses into that stubborn and well dug in Wolves defensive structure. But we controlled possession and sliced them open with quick passing and movement. If anything this game again showed how badly our failure to acquire a creative midfielder is biting us in the arse. Lingard had a poor game and i felt that was the only real negative.
 

Player Ratings

6.0 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 613 ratings.

Score Predictions

693,60,145
  • Man Utd win
  • Wolves win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 24% Wolves 1:2 Man Utd
  • 23% Wolves 0:2 Man Utd
  • 11% Wolves 1:1 Man Utd
  • 11% Wolves 1:3 Man Utd
  • 8% Wolves 0:3 Man Utd
  • 6% Wolves 0:1 Man Utd
  • 4% Wolves 2:1 Man Utd
  • 3% Wolves 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Wolves 0:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Wolves 0:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Wolves 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Wolves 2:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Wolves 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Wolves 2:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Wolves 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Wolves 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Wolves 1:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Wolves 2:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Wolves 3:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Wolves 4:4 Man Utd
Compiled from 898 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Wolves
  2. Man Utd
Possession
34% 66%
Shots
6 9
Shots on Target
2 2
Corners
4 6
Fouls
17 8

Referee

Jonathan Moss