Undefeated no more (vs Wolves)

After narrowly winning our 2 prior encounters against Wolves this season, the team in orange finally got their just reward. On a day when Arsenal’s capitulation at St James Park eclipsed our own rendition against Everton, we failed to capitalize and were thoroughly outplayed at the Molineux. Our spotty play this season has finally caught up to us and that question of whether or not we could go the season unbeaten has finally been answered.

Not much else to say, so straight to the impressions:

1. Nani’s performance was our bright spot today. His goal was crafty and typical of most of his goals this season-the ability to create room and get a shot off before the defender could stick a leg in. However, the keeper should have done better and not gotten beat at his near post. Aside from that, he provided some good service into the middle, but couldn’t conjure up another piece of magic in the 2nd. He does need to improve his success rate from free kicks however.

2. Evans. Oh dear. It was a difficult match for the lad and I’m trying hard to stay positive about him after today’s display. As has been the trend for most of his performances this season, he never really looked completely comfortable and gave away some cheap free kicks early on. For their second goal, Doyle managed to stay in front of him the whole time waiting for the delivery to come in and the only way to have actually stopped him at that point was to probably pull him back and potentially concede a penalty. I thought it was just awful positioning on his part. I’m not quite ready to lump Evans in the same category as Gibson since we’ve seen his potential (unlike DG), but Smalling should really be selected ahead of him when fit.

3. We didn’t really show up today. Nani tried, but most of our players were generally sloppy with their passing. Everyone appeared to be on different wavelengths today with a pass going one way and the run being made in a different channel. Our defending on their first goal was appalling. Credit to them for taking it quickly, but we displayed no urgency to get into position. Even Giggsy, who has been nothing short of remarkable in our recent comeback wins, was poor and his frustration was evident in the final 10 minutes of the game. I don’t remember the last time we saw Giggs displaying that edginess to him. Clearly, everyone was frustrated by the poor performance.

4. I want to take nothing away from the home team’s display today. I’m so tired of fans and teams making excuses when results don’t go their way. Credit should be given where credit is due. I thought they were brilliant throughout and reminded us why we’ve had so much trouble against them this season. They made the most of their set pieces and executed their gameplan well. Even when they changed their approach to defend their lead, they never looked shaky at the back. A big part of that was due to..

5. Kevin Doyle playing a wonderful role as their lone striker up front. He held up the ball extremely well and allowed the support to show up from midfield. Too often, we’ve seen teams play one forward against us and that one player ends up an isolated figure in the game. Not so with Doyle today. He put in a great shift and ended the game with a bloody nose. That bruised-and-still-standing image epitomized the graft and effort from the entire Wolves team today.

On one hand, I’m relieved that the whole talk of being untouchables is now out the window. It was also a timely reminder to United fans who have spent the past few days feeling overconfident after our 2 come from behind wins that there is still a long way to go till season’s end.

SAF will no doubt have had the hairdryer out after the game. Once again, it wasn’t so much the loss itself, but more the very nature in which it transpired: lifeless and outplayed. Twice in the past 10 days, we dug ourselves into a hole and yet, somehow found salvation. On the third time however, there was to be no miracle.

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Category: English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports