It was a disappointing Sunday afternoon as Manchester United slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to fellow strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While Ruben Amorim’s team greatly impressed with their 5-4 comeback win over Olympique Lyonnais earlier in the week, they were back to old ways as they failed to hit the back of the net against Wolves despite largely dominating proceedings.
To make matters worse, Wolves scored with a sublime free-kick, which also happened to be only one of two shots on target by the visitors out of a measly four total attempts.
Still, there were some positive aspects of United’s gameplay, with Alejandro Garnacho bringing much energy and creativity to the field.
In the first half, the Argentine winger slotted a through ball to Kobbie Mainoo, whose shot veered past the far post.
Moments after the second half got underway, Garnacho was at it again, sending a lethal through ball across the face of goal to Rasmus Hojlund, who arrived to late to score what would have been a sitter.
Garnacho later cut the ball back to Bruno Fernandes in the centre of the box to hand the United skipper a clear scoring opportunity, only for Fernandes to fire wide.
The Argentine made three key passes overall, the most of any player on either side.
Garnacho’s short passing was also immaculate, with 41 of his 47 passes reaching their target (87% accuracy). On the downside, he failed to complete any of his five crosses or his only long ball of the game.
The winger took just one shot which happened to be blocked while he completed two of five dribbles.
Another downside to his performance was his physical gameplay. Garnacho won just six of his 18 duels, meaning that he will need to improve his dribbling and jockeying in time for United’s trip to Bournemouth next weekend.
Although not his greatest performance, Garnacho showed just how effective he can be on the attack, especially as a playmaker. This was a promising performance from the Argentine in which he showed the value that he can bring to his struggling team.
(Stats via Sofascore)
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
