Marcus Rashford made himself the hero at Molineux as his strike from the bench wrapped up a big three points for Manchester United as they secured a 1-0 win in the Premier League over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The England international wasn’t involved until the second half because he was dropped by manager Erik ten Hag for disciplinary reasons but it was clear in his absence that United lacked any cutting edge in the final third.
United boss Ten Hag has been laying down the law since his arrival at Old Trafford in the summer. His task is not only to get United back into the frame to compete for the biggest trophies on offer, but also to change the culture at the club which has caused problems for far too long.
His biggest problem in the first half of the season was Cristiano Ronaldo, the aged global superstar. The Dutchman knew he couldn’t rely on a 37-year-old forward to lead his pressing style and he rightly benched the Portuguese attacker for the good of the side. Obviously this led to problems because Ronaldo’s ego couldn’t handle the fact that he isn’t the player he was a few years ago.
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After all the drama, including when Ronaldo left the stadium during United’s draw with Tottenham Hotspur and then the tell-all interview with Piers Morgan - Ten Hag had a lot to deal with in his first few months and that was just from one player.
On Friday it was announced that Ronaldo had joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr following the mutual termination of his Manchester United contract in November. This further proves Ten Hag was right to bench Ronaldo because it’s clear that even as a free agent, major European clubs didn’t want to go near him.
With Ronaldo’s departure, Ten Hag could look to the future but he knew that he needed to rule with an iron fist to ensure none of the rest of his players caused more disruption to the harmony he is trying to create at Old Trafford. "At a top club like this it has to be like that," Luke Shaw said at full-time. "People can’t do whatever they want, maybe that has been part of the problem in the past."
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When the lineups were announced for United’s trip to Wolves, the absence of Rashford had people asking a lot of questions and Ten Hag revealed it was for disciplinary reasons. While United struggled in the first half without their number 10, the Red Devils boss has to be firm with the stars who don’t keep to his rules to not only keep them in line but to show that no one is exempt from such punishments.
The game was full of United chances and along with Ronaldo’s exit, their wastefulness further strengthens their need to find a striker in the January transfer window. These are the sorts of matches where the Red Devils need to pick up three points to bolster their claim for a top four spot this year, and with five wins a row, they are now well in contention. Credit has to go to Wolves defenders Max Kilman and Nathan Collins who shut them out for over an hour, but they were not put up against a physical centre-forward, compared to Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw, who had to deal with Diego Costa in the first half.
United continued to push for a goal and it took a slick give-and-go started and finished by Rashford to get the Red Devils up and running in the 76th minute. The goal was taken well but regardless of United finding a way through, they will still need to spend the next month looking to bolster their squad with a striker which will ease the burden on Rashford, while allowing him to continue his just as important creative work.
The goal lifted the visitors while it deflated the hosts and all of a sudden, the defensive structure Wolves appeared to have had vanished. They started to make mistakes and Rashford almost scored a second as his effort was parried by Jose Sa onto the attacker and it bounced into the back of the net. However, it was ruled out for striking Rashford’s arm in what was a huge let off for Wolves and Sa - who had been having a great game up until that moment.
The victory sees United end 2022 in the top four and Ten Hag will be hoping for an even stronger second half of the campaign. As for Wolves, they still languish in the relegation zone and they will need to drastically improve if they are to retain their Premier League status for 2023-24.
