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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
MANCHESTER, England – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has wanted to downplay Manchester United’s chances of fighting for the title, but will know better than most that it is results like this 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers that mark teams capable of winning championships.
Having won six titles as a player at Old Trafford, Solskjaer will have come to appreciate the importance of a narrow win amid these grueling winter match rosters.
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For 90 minutes here against a low-handed and very inexperienced Wolves team, United managed just two shots on goal. But his third of the night, an effort by Marcus Rashford who had a strong deflection from Romain Saiss in the third minute of stoppage time, came in, and Solskjaer’s team is now second in the Premier League table, just two points. behind Liverpool. It was only United’s second 1-0 win of the season, but there will likely be more if United is to remain a true title contender.
Solskjaer and the rest of the home bench seemed almost surprised when the ball went in after a match that lacked many clear chances and seemed destined to end in a fourth draw in the last five meetings between these two teams. However, the Norwegian coach can be happy that his players at least showed the desire to score a winning goal, if not always the skill, and it was Bruno Fernandes who forced the ball forward as the clock ticked that ultimately led to the winner. of Rashford. .
Since losing to Arsenal in November, United have gained 23 points out of a possible 27. And that trip to Anfield to play Liverpool on January 17 looks increasingly critical.
It has been a long time since United played such a crucial game at the top of the table.
“We had a fantastic attitude and it’s a great result,” Solskjaer said afterward. “The desire to keep going and to create that little bit of luck, we earn it by the desire to keep going. It’s a good way to end the year.”
“We just focus on the next game. I’m very boring, but we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.” “We have reached a decent position at the moment, but the season has not even reached the middle.
“We didn’t do as well as we wanted to, but we won a match against a very difficult team to play. It’s the first victory in the league for me against them. There have never been many goals in matches, but for me, this is a great step forward: you don’t play well but you win. “
If United are to emerge as Liverpool’s most serious rival, they will have to find a way to be more creative at home. For much of the night, Wolves seemed happy to walk away with a point, and it was telling that referee Jon Moss felt the need to sign goalkeeper Rui Patricio for wasting time with the better part of 20 minutes left to play.
Despite Solskjaer using the full range of his attacking arsenal, a combination of Rashford, Fernandes, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial, Edinson Cavani and Paul Pogba only forced Patricio to make two significant saves before the winner. United won’t always be able to rely on injury time deviations to win a game; but that’s a debate for another time.
After the disappointment of conceding a late draw against Leicester on Boxing Day, United bounced back with a crucial victory in a massive match under difficult circumstances. If the tie at King Power Stadium was a missed opportunity, this time United were able to capitalize after Chelsea and Leicester lost points a day earlier. It was also a game that they could have easily lost around this time last year.
“Now we are a different team,” Solskjaer said. “We are better mentally and physically. That belief has come through the performances, the results and the players we have on the field who can change games in a second.
“In the preseason we mentioned that we need to score more points towards the end of the games, and we have also done it a few times this season. Physically, we last more games.”
The win over the Wolves ended 2020 on top, and then Solskjaer ended one of his interviews by saying: “We have a lot to look forward to in 2021.” The groundwork has been laid for a first title challenge in seven years, even if the United manager isn’t quite ready to admit it yet.
“There is no title race after 15 games,” he said. “You can lose a chance to be in a race in the first 10 games, of course you can, but play another 15, get to 30 games, and maybe we can start talking about a title race.
“The belief is there, we have shown what we are capable of and this result is huge for confidence.”
