Wolverhampton 2 - 1 Manchester United: Subduing the "Red Devils"

Coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a relatively successful debut match as head coach of Man Utd after a difficult 2-1 win over Watford in round 32 of the Premier League.

However, last night, Man Utd had a stormy trip to Wolverhampton's "Wolf's Lair" Molineux in the early match of round 33 of the Premier League. A victory that coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his team are aiming for to take 3rd place from Arsenal, when the 2018 - 2019 season is about to enter the final stage.

As for Wolverhampton, this season they are in very good form, as evidenced by their 7th place on the rankings and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals. The teams in the top six often lose or share points when meeting the “Wolves”. MU and Liverpool were also victims of Wolverhampton in the FA Cup, Chelsea was also defeated by the “Wolves”.

McTominay opened the scoring for MU in the match against Wolverhampton. Photo: Getty

In all aspects, the "Red Devils" are still rated higher under coach Solskjaer. However, it will not be easy for Paul Pogba and his teammates to get 3 points, because in the first leg, the "Wolves" held the "Red Devils" to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, and a few weeks ago, MU was also eliminated from the FA Cup by Wolverhampton in the quarter-finals right at Molineux Stadium.

Back to the match at Molineux. Determined to win 3 points, MU played aggressively right after the opening whistle. In the 5th minute, MU had a great chance to open the score. From Dalot's cross from the right wing, Lukaku jumped high to head the ball from very close range, but the ball went straight to goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

In the following minutes, MU created a lot of pressure on the home team's field and finally it was materialized into a goal. In the 13th minute, Fred made a pass for McTominay to launch a very powerful shot, the ball went deep into the far corner to defeat goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

Just 4 minutes after the opening goal, MU had another clear chance to increase the score to 2-0 but could not take advantage. Lukaku had a cross that Lingard could comfortably head from close range, but the English player's shot could not beat goalkeeper Patricio.

After 20 minutes of play, MU had 6 shots, 3 on target and 1 converted into a goal. On the other side, Wolverhampton still had no shots.

Everything seemed easy for the away team when they dominated the game, but suddenly MU had to taste the bitter fruit in the 25th minute of the match. From De Gea's pass, Fred made a mistake, allowing the opponent to steal the ball right in front of the penalty area. Jimenez made a smart pass for Jota to run down and beat De Gea in a face-to-face position to equalize the score 1-1.

Diogo Jota equalized 1-1 for home team Wolverhampton. Photo: Getty

In the last minutes of the first half, Wolverhampton played better than MU, but no more goals were scored. At the end of the first half, the two teams tied at 1-1.

Entering the second half, MU continued to push up their formation to look for a goal. However, Wolverhampton's defense played very tightly. The home team's constant pressing and fearless collision style of play is making it very difficult for the "Red Devils" to find more goals.

In the 55th minute, MU missed a golden opportunity to increase the score to 2-1 when Lukaku crossed the ball for Pogba to pass back to McTominay to finish, but goalkeeper Rui Patricio made a miraculous save.

Immediately after this situation, MU had to play with one less man. A. Young had a dangerous tackle on Diogo Jota, the referee immediately gave the English player a red card and MU only played with 10 men for the last 30 minutes of the match.

The turning point of the match came in the 77th minute, from a cross from Joao Moutinho, Smalling and Jones did not understand each other in a defensive situation, under pressure from Jimenez and Dendoncker, Smalling awkwardly put the ball into his own net to help the home team take a 2-1 lead.

In the final minutes of the match, MU tried their best to find a goal, but they did not create any clear chances. Not only that, if De Gea had not been excellent, Smalling might have scored his second own goal.

Five more minutes of injury time were added, but the away team could not find an equalizer. MU was even lucky not to concede a third goal when Cavaleiro hit the crossbar in the third minute of injury time.

The match ended, at home at Molineux, Wolverhampton won 2-1 against MU.

Losing 1-2, MU is still ranked 5th, equal on points with 4th-placed Tottenham and 2 points behind 3rd-placed Arsenal but has played 1 more match.

As for Wolverhampton, they are still in 7th place on the rankings. With 3 encounters with MU, this season the “Wolves” are undefeated, including 2 wins.

Goal scorer:

Wolverhampton:Jota (25'), Smalling (77'own goal)

MU:McTominay (13')

Line-up:

Wolverhampton:11 Rui Patricio, 5 R. Bennett, 15 W. Boly, 2 M. Doherty, 16 C. Coady, 29 Ruben Vinagre (Castro, 76'), 28 Joao Moutinho, 32 L. Dendoncker, 8 Ruben Neves (Saiss, 84'), 18 Diogo Jota (Cavaleiro, 73'), 9 R. Jimenez

MU:1 David de Gea, 18 A. Young, 12 C. Smalling, 2 V. Lindelof, 23 L. Shaw, 20 Diogo Dalot (Pereira, 84'), 6 P. Pogba, 17 Fred (Phil Jones, 65'), 14 J. Lingard, 39 S. McTominay, 9 R. Lukaku (Martial, 73').