On Monday evening, Manchester United hosted Wolves at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
United finished the season with a comfortable 3-1 win over Burnley, moving them up to seventh place in the rankings. The Reds are four points behind Arsenal in fourth place, but they still have two games in hand to qualify for the Champions League.
Phil Jones returns to the starting lineup for the first time in nearly two years. He comes in for Harry Maguire, who is out due to injury, and Victor Lindelof, who tested positive for Covid-19 right before the Newcastle game, is still out.
Eric Bailly is training for Ivory Coast’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign. Paul Pogba is still sidelined due to injury.
Discord and a setback. Ralf Rangnick’s honeymoon lasted a month while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s lasted three months.
Long before the final shriek, Manchester United fans’ boos resonated around Old Trafford. When Joao Moutinho rifled the ball into the corner in the 82nd minute, there was already discontent with Mason Greenwood’s substitute, and plastic seats clattered against their backrests.
United had 13 minutes of added time to save the game, but they were already behind. At the conclusion of the game, the booing resurfaced. Many people were uninterested in seeing Cristiano Ronaldo praise them after yet another defeat.
United have played 21 games since beating Newcastle 4-1 on September 11. They've won nine of them and probably only played really well in five or six of them. The alarm bells should be deafening right now #mufc
— Tyrone Marshall (@TyMarshall_MEN) January 3, 2022
UNITED PLAYERS RATING.
David de Gea
Saved well from Ruben Neves and handled other efforts with care. Had no chance with Joao Moutinho’s precise strike. 6
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
A minor improvement in the first-half and a couple of crosses just evaded Cristiano Ronaldo. Got worse after the pause and no justification for starting him. 5
Phil Jones
Started his first game in 708 days and ended the first-half as United’s best player. Grew as the game developed and unfortunate his header went to Moutinho. 7
Raphael Varane
More solid on just his second start in three months against Raul Jimenez than he was at Newcastle last week. 6