Manchester United started the new year with a loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers also known as the Wolves as well as the Wanderers. United was underperforming against the wolves at Old Trafford. It was the first loss under their Interim manager, Ralf Rangnick.


Phil Jones was one of the surprises in the starting lineup of Manchester United. He featured in a Premier League game after a span of nearly 2 years. He was paired with Varane in the centre back position. The Red Devils had a formation of 4-2-2-2 whereas the wolves were having a formation of 3-4-3.


Manchester United was dominated by the opposition in the first half. The wolves were continuously attacking and testing De Gea. It was because of the Spanish keeper that they were level at the break. Manchester United just had 2 shots on target in the whole game as compared to the Wolves who had 6 shots on target.


Wolves had 19 shots in the whole game as compared to just 9 shots by Manchester United. The expected goals(xG) was 0.83 for the Wolves and 0.76 for Manchester United. Semedo, Neves, Trincao and Podence were active during the attacking phase of the Wolves.


Joao Moutinho goal in the 82nd minute was enough for the Wolves to grab their first victory at Old Trafford since 1980. They deserved the three points and Manchester United are again in pretty bad shape.


The players are failing to link up at the top to score goals. Players like Cavani, Ronaldo and Rashford aren’t able to create any goals which are leading to the downfall of the team.


With this result, Manchester United are 22 points behind the league leaders, Manchester City. They are in the 7th position with just 31 points from 19 games. Wolves on the other hand are closing the gap between Manchester United as well as Tottenham. They have 28 points from 19 games. Wolves have jumped to the 8th position behind Manchester United.