Well, I suppose that that isn't anything special considering the level of opponent, with all due respect to Wolves. We didn't expect anything less other than a convincing United victory. Thankfully, that's what we got 🙌.

It's just nice to be having games like these 🤗. I know it was against a side that's most likely going to get relegated but we can only beat what's in front of us and we really should enjoy this win.

‍

1. Poor Defending

I do want to start off with a negative though.

Wolves were a team that hadn't scored in their previous five matches. But of course, you knew that something would be given to them by United. Fortunately it was just a goal rather than anything more yet even still, it was embarrassing.

And more than that, it was how we conceded it.

‍

Wolves managed to put in three crosses before their goal.

One came in from the left, was missed by everyone, found it's way to the right and was then delivered first time. That second cross flew over everyone and was met at the back post by a Wolves player. The third delivery came in and eventually, they scored.

No United player was close enough to stop any of the crosses. To then have seven or eight players in the box yet still leave a player unmarked near the penalty spot was absolutely awful defending.

I don't think I've ever seen a side play with so many defenders yet manage to concede so many goals, and so many stupid ones at that.

‍

This is one of the main criticisms I have of this formation in that if you are going to use a lot of defenders (half the team is made up of them) then you have to defend better. I find that we make it easy for oppositions to create and score against us.

I think what doesn't help is having this tendency to sit back after scoring. Wolves were most in the game after Bruno's opener and got their equalizer on the stroke of halftime.

This switching off and dropping off in intensity is unacceptable and why we end up in these situations of making things harder than it should be.

That Wolves goal meant that we've still kept just one clean sheet all season, 15 games in.

‍

2. No Striker?

I know technically, we didn't play with a centre-forward but I don't believe there was a false 9 either.

‍

With four attacking midfielders on the pitch, all of whom can play up top, Amorim decided that they would all have this floating role and interchange with each other for that striker position.

Sometimes, Mbeumo was up front, then it was Mount, Cunha was central at other times and even the captain was seen getting forward a lot. Mount and Bruno also seemed to be swapping in midfield at times as the no 7 dropped in as the no 8 with the no 8 moving forward as a no 10.

Hope you followed that.

‍

Admittedly, I do prefer a striker whether they are traditional or someone like Zirkzee. I think it gives us a focal point and someone whom others can play off of.

For this game though, I liked this interchanging of forwards. It worked.

Cunha was involved a lot in attack and got an assist, Mbeumo scored, Mount scored and was a contender for MOTM, and the skipper scored twice and assisted the no 7 as well. All four involved with goals. Wolves didn't really know what to do against them as United just picked them off.

‍

I feel like what made this truly effective is that this quartet were all moving around a lot. We've seen this front four earlier this season but they were usually static and remained in their starting position for most of the game.

Like this, we got some of the better attributes out of each player: Cunha was dropping deeper to receive the ball into feet; Mbeumo ran in behind a lot (that's how he got his goal); Mount was good in the final third, in midfield and controlled the game a lot; and with Bruno, in the last two matches, the manager has seemed to have listened to us fans as the magnifico has been used higher up the pitch.

‍

Sofascore have him as the player with the second-highest average position behind Cunha for this match and fourth-highest in the draw against West Ham. If you look at some of his previous matches, the manager has certainly been keeping the captain in a much deeper role.

‍

It's no coincidence that Bruno has found more form in recent weeks playing higher up. 3 of his 10 goals and assists this season came at Wolves. Those numbers should have increased had his teammamtes not been wasteful.

He's done more as an attacking midfielder in the last two games than anyone else other than Mbeumo who's played their all season.

JUST PLAY HIM AS A NO 10 RUBEN!

‍

3. Scored Some Goals

We haven't really seen United score too many goals under Amorim, full stop.

But nor do we see it in specific games as well.

Yes there has been the odd match where we've scored 4 or 5 but those were sporadic. The United of old would score such amounts every other game and definitely against sides that we should be scoring 4 or 5 against.

That's exactly what we did against Wolves and tbh, it should've been more. When looking at some of the chances (Dalot 1-v-1, Cunha off the line, the first handball) I don't think it's an overexaggeration to say we should've scored double what we did.

To be disappointed at scoring just 4 is a positive because it shows that we expected more which isn't something we say too often. United have only scored 4 goals in three matches in the PL since Amorim joined. That is simply not good enough.

‍

However, what a game like this also did was boost that goal difference. United were sitting at just +1 before this match which when you think of it, it's aboslutely shocking after 14 games. It's made even worse when we had scored 22 goals prior to this match, which was amongst the most in the division.

However, with these 4 goals, it puts us on 26 for the season which means that only Arsenal (28) and City (35) have scored more than United.

Clearly going forward isn't the problem. If we could sort out our issues defensively, there's no reason why we shouldn't win the league 🤷‍♂️😅.

‍

4. No Cocking Up

All season, United have managed to drop points whenever others have messed up as well. This led to much frustration and us thinking 'what could have been'. We've thrown away the chance of going into the top 4 or perhaps even 2nd, just a couple points behind leaders Arsenal.

Yet every opportunity was missed.

Not this time however. We took advantage of others' shortcomings.

‍

This is one of the pros of playing the last game of the match week as you can see what everyone else has done. This could give you the added incentive of needing to get the win.

On the other hand, this also adds pressure which is something we don't like. United often let that get the better of them to the point where we drop points too.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Brighton drew, Arsenal lost and Sunderland were defeated by City. This gave us the opportunity to go joint with Chelsea on 25 points and into 6th position, an opportunity which we duly took.

That may still not be ideal but it's a hell of a lot better than us sitting in 12th.

We're in the European positions. Let's stay there.

It was great to not cock up for once.

‍

5. Consistency Is Key

It was only Wolves.

While this was a great victory and I'm not taking anything away from it, we can't go too overboard with this win.

We've had many such victories before only to faulter in the next game erasing all the good work we did in the previous match/matches. Three wins in a row was followed by two disappointing draws at Forest and Spurs. We then lost embarrassingly at home to Everton but managed to beat Palace only to then draw against West Ham with the 3 points at Selhurst Park being quickly forgotten.

Getting the W at Molineux now needs to be followed up. Bournemouth are struggling at the moment despite their qualities and after two quite frankly, pathetic displays at Old Trafford in our last two home games, this provides us with a chance of righting those wrongs.

‍

These first five games post the international break was seen as a great chance to truly make our mark on this season. However, what we got was inconsistent results and performances leaving us all thinking 'why do we even support this club?'

Why these matches were so important becuase after Bournemouth is a trip to the league's in-form side Villa followed by a home game against Newcastle. If we don't get a win over Bournemouth, I struggle to see how we get anything from the following two.

We HAVE to make this victory count.

It can't keep going on like this where we get a good win, hope that we turn a corner, only to be disappointed not long after. With the other teams being as inconsistent as us, Champions League football is certainly up for grabs.

‍

Bruno Fernandes nets 5th and 6th goals of the season in Man Utd's 4-1 win over Wolves | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)