Manchester United came up short against Wolverhampton Wanderers, falling to a 1-0 defeat despite dominating the game at Old Trafford.
A well-taken Pablo Sarabia free kick was the difference between the sides as United’s lack of goal threat was revealed once again, but defensively the Red Devils were mostly tidy and efficient.
Between the sticks Andre Onana had to make just one save and Wolves only racked up 0.25 expected goals as Ruben Amorim’s defensive unit performed well.
Patrick Dorgu was shifted to right wing-back to accommodate young Harry Amass on the left, and put in a solid shift to nullify the visitors before being replaced in the second half by Diogo Dalot.
During the hour he spent on the pitch Dorgu made seven tackles, two more than anyone else on either side, as he worked hard to clip the wings of the Wolves attackers.
The 20-year-old also made two clearances to keep the ball well away from Onana’s goal.
Remarkably, he only attempted ten passes during the entire match, finding his man with eight of them for an 80% pass success rate.
Only the isolated centre-forward Rasmus Hojlund and the young Chido Obi who replaced him made fewer passes as Dorgu enjoyed more of a combative than creative afternoon.
The Dane was a demon in the duel, contesting 15 and winning 11 for an impressive 73% success rate. He won the only aerial duel he contested.
He was also one United’s most-fouled men this afternoon, being unfairly brought down three times as he carried the fight to Wolves with some real threat.
He was productive when he got into dangerous areas and floated two lovely crosses in which deserved to be met and could have been assists had the forwards been paying more attention.
It was a disappointing afternoon for the Red Devils, but Dorgu’s assured performance on the right flank which he has barely frequented since joining from Lecce in February was a real positive.
Stats taken from sofascore.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
