Adama Traore, Francisco Trincao and Raul Jimenez all had chances to score, but only Mason Greenwood managed to find the net at Molineux, as an impressive Wolverhampton Wanderers slumped to their third defeat of the Premier League season.

Another 14 shots today, taking their total for the season to 56 in three matches. But the most important stats do not, currently, make for pleasing reading. Zero goals.

This result means that Wolves head in to the first international break of the season in 18th place in the table, with zero points from a possible nine.

Story of the match:

Bruno Lage named an unchanged team for the second home match of the Premier League season, but the matchday squad was boosted by the returns of Wily Boly and Daniel Podence to the Wolves bench.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer handed full league debuts to Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, to bolster a Manchester United side that had followed up an impressive opening day victory over Leeds United with a deflating draw against Southampton.

Wolves began the game in the relegation zone, one of three teams without a point on the third weekend of the season. But their play and demeanour was that of a high flying team filled with confidence. Numerous times throughout the opening 15 minutes, United's new-look defence was torn open. As Wolves, led by a rampaging, oiled up Adama Traore ran through them at will.

Only a superb goal-line clearance from Aaron Wan-Bissaka stopped Francisco Trincao from building on his mid-week goal in the Carabao Cup with an first Premier League goal. The Portuguese winger left Fred on the ground with some quick footwork and slotted past a helpless David De Gea. Only to see his effort cleared by the full back.

Joao Moutinho should probably have done better around the 15-minute mark as he side-footed a shot over the bar from around 12 yards, as Wolves continued to press in the hope of finding a first league goal of the season.

However, it was the visitors who had the ball in the net soon after. A long ball over the top from Paul Pogba was smashed past Jose Sa by Bruno Fernandes, who was then adjudged to have been in an offside position.

After that, the away side came in to the game more as the half drew to a close. Next, Mason Greenwood flashed agonisingly wide from a tight angle.

The second half was much tighter, Wolves still looking the more likely to score but Manchester United's defence looked much more assured under the pressure. 

A sensational double stop from man of the match, De-Gea kept the game at 0-0 as the minutes ticked by. A point-blank header from Romain Saiss was parried, before the Moroccan's follow up was clawed away by the impressive Spaniard.

Then, Wolves were sucker punched. A contentious challenge by Pogba, on Ruben Neves, was judged fair by VAR. The ball was played to the dangerous Greenwood who shot low and hard across Sa, who may feel he could have done better with the shot, which ricocheted off his arm and in to the back of the net.

Wolves, disappointingly for their fans, didn't really threaten after that. A tactical change from Lage saw Conor Coady and Traore replaced as Wolves went to four at the back. But United managed to see the game out for an undeserved victory on Sunday afternoon.

Takeaways from the match:

Wolves were impressive again. In fact, the match was almost a carbon copy of their previous two fixtures this season. They look dangerous every time they attack their opponents and there are signs that, once it all clicks, they will be a very good team.

But, they find themselves in the relegation zone, with zero points and zero goals from three games. The signing of Hwang Hee-Chan from RB Leipzig will add competition, as will the return of Podence from injury.

They need to start turning these impressive performances in to victories after the international break. Upcoming fixtures appear kinder, on paper, but they will need to start converting some of the multitude of chances they're currently creating.

VAVEL Logo
About the author