Let’s look on the bright side. At least, Manchester United are now mathematically safe from relegation.
So are Wolves who moved level with Ruben Amorim’s side on 38 points with victory at Old Trafford on Sunday, completing a league double over United for the first time since the 1979-80 season.
Ipswich’s defeat at home to Arsenal guarantees that both clubs will remain in the Premier League, which is where the good news starts for Wolves and ends for United.
From the bedlam of Thursday night’s epic Europa League comeback against Lyon, United induced only boredom here in the April sunshine as they were brought down to earth with a bump.
A largely turgid match was illuminated by a free kick of real quality from substitute Pablo Sarabia in the 77th minute, scoring from Wolves’ only genuine effort of the entire game.
It consigned United to a club record 15th Premier League defeat, which is also the club’s most in the top-flight since 1990.
Pablo Sarabia’s stunning free-kick secured Wolves a 1-0 victory over Manchester United
Sarabia arched his free-kick over the wall into Andre Onana’s top right-hand corner
For United, this was a 15th league defeat of the season, keeping them in 14th place
Worse still, this was the 13th time United have failed to score in the league this season. Rasmus Hojlund, their £72million striker, has now scored just once in 29 hours and 28 minutes of football, underlining why a striker will be top of Amorim’s shopping list this summer.
‘For Rasmus, the game is to score goals because he is a striker,’ said United’s head coach. ‘But it is a team thing, I have already said that. Our team should score more goals. It is not just Rasmus missing chances, it is all the team.
‘The only way I know is to work on him, show him the videos. He needs to score a goal and he will not score if he’s out (of the team). So I try to manage that during games. But he needs to score one, maybe that’s all a striker needs.
‘We were the better team but in the end it doesn’t matter because if we don’t score goals it’s impossible to win games. One set-piece changes the game and it’s really frustrating to end like this.’
There were at least some positives for United after Amorim made five changes from Lyon as he builds towards the Europa League semi-final against Athletic Bilbao which at least provides some light at the end of the tunnel.
Tyler Fredricson was given his first-team debut and hardly put a foot wrong. Youth teammate Harry Amass made his first Old Trafford start and looks more at home with every game as he played for the third time in a week.
‘I think they played really well but they deserved a better memory from their first games,’ said Amorim as he reflected on United’s eighth home league defeat of the season.
Consider this: Wolves boss Vitor Pereira has now won five league games in a row, just one less than Amorim since he replaced Erik ten Hag in November. What a fantastic job Pereira has done at Molineux.
Rasmus Hojlund endured another afternoon to forget before being hooked in the second half
Hojlund stretched to meet Alejandro Garnacho’s devilish low cross but couldn’t make contact
Substitute Mason Mount touched over the crossbar after Christian Eriksen’s fine ball in
‘It was not our best match. Technically and tactically, we know that we can play better,’ said Pereira, who had to play reserve goalkeeper Dan Bentley after Jose Sa pulled out during the warm-up.
‘We played with our souls, with our spirit, and that is what I saw in the game. The supporters believed and the moment that we had a chance, we scored.’
Three days after their Europa League classic with Lyon, it always felt like it was too much to ask United to hit anything like the same heights here, and so it proved in a game that had a distinct end-of-season feel to it.
The only effort on goal in the first half was a Christian Eriksen free kick comfortably turned over the bar by Bentley.
Hojlund’s struggles continued when he failed to anticipate and connect with Alejandro Garnacho’s cross to the back post after Eriksen and substitute Bruno Fernandes – who started a league game on the bench for the first time since January 2022 – combined in the box.
The Dane then lacked the confidence to beat Toti who made an excellent interception tackle after Hojlund nutmegged Emmanuel Agbadou and bore down on goal.
Up the that point, Wolves’ only threat had been a corner that led to the ball taking a nick off Victor Lindelof as he challenged Jorgen Strand Larsen and flying past the far post.
But Sarabia made the breakthrough in the 77th minute, shortly after coming on for Strand Larsen, when Eriksen was booked for a foul on Matheus Cunha.
Garnacho was bright down the left-hand side but once again, United couldn’t find the target
Bruno Fernandes was brought on in the second half but United paid for their missed chances
Ruben Amorim vowed to prioritise the Europa League with a semi-final coming up
It was Cunha’s most important contribution in a subdued display against one of the clubs who will be interested in signing him this summer.
Sarabia sized up his free kick before curling the ball left-footed over the United wall and into the top corner with Andre Onana well beaten.
‘He has quality but his quality as a person is more important,’ said Pereira. ‘He believes in himself, he has character.’
Fernandes wasted what few half chances the home side could fashion before the end.
But on a day when fans in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand held up placards in front of the United executives before kick-off and half-time protesting against ticket price rises and plans to relocate some of them from this part of the ground next season to make way for a VIP dugout club, Old Trafford couldn’t rouse United into another late comeback.
