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Manchester United hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford with Erik ten Hag keen to get back to winning ways after back-to-back league defeats against Brighton and West Ham.
The United boss made a few changes to his starting XI.
David de Gea started in goal. Raphael Varane was restored back into the team after a period on the sidelines while recovering from injury.
Varane slotted next to Victor Lindelof with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw completing the defensive quartet.
Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes were tasked with patrolling the middle of the park.
In Marcus Tashford’s absence, Anthony Martial led the line with Jadon Sancho and Antony on either side of the French striker.
Here are three things we learned from Manchester United’s 2-0 victory against Wolves.
Antony needs to improve his final third decision-making
A recurring theme of the game especially in the opening 45 minutes was just how much the Red Devils struggled to make the attack gel.
This has been a problem throughout the season but against Wolves, it was more prominent, especially with Rashford missing from action.
Despite going into the break a goal up courtesy of Martial, United should have been two or three more goals up but failed to take advantage of the numerous clear-cut chances created.
Antony in particular was culpable for the multitude of goalscoring opportunities that went begging.
The Brazilian winger found himself in promising positions but in most instances, he could not make the right decision.
In no way was Antony poor. He was actually one of the team’s brightest sparks going forward but he could have done well with lifting his head and trying to pick a pass as opposed to shooting every time.
Early in the opening 45 minutes, he had a golden opening to pass to Martial who could have had an easy shot but he elected to fire a shot that went wide.
With just seconds left on the clock until the interval, Antony embarked on a brilliant run where he shook off a Wolves player. With two or three better passing options ahead of him including Sancho who was unmarked, Antony went for the far more difficult alternative – passing to Martial. Martial could not beat Daniel Bentley with his effort.
Beyond this, Antony also missed an easy header. The 23-year-old has done well in his debut season at Old Trafford but going forward, his decision-making needs to drastically improve.
Antony has lots of potential and to get to that next level, his output in the final third is something he must work on.
Varane’s return a huge boost for Ten Hag
Varane’s return to competitive action is a massive selection boost for Ten Hag who lost both his starting centre-backs in Spain against Sevilla.
The four-time Champions League winner was solid at the back and kept the stubborn Diego Costa at bay.
Varane needed no time to adapt after being away for a prolonged period of time. His class was on full display.
Varane coming back also enabled Ten Hag to deploy Shaw in the left-back position. In recent games, United have missed Shaw’s output on the flanks as the Englishman has had to fill in at the heart of the backline.
With must-win games coming up as well as the FA Cup final on the horizon, the Reds will need Varane and the experience he injects into the side.
Sancho unimpactful yet again
Sancho predominantly played on the left and the United number 25 was largely missing from the game.
Bar one attempt in the second half that was saved by Bentley, Sancho was not as impactful as he would have hoped.
For United fans, the most worrying thing is that at the moment Sancho just seems incapable of getting involved in the game for sustained spells.
He regularly shifts in and out of proceedings. Luckily, United were not made to pay for this as they clinched all three points.
Sancho’s lackluster performance was made even more apparent by Alejandro Garnacho’s sublime goal for United’s second.
