As many expected, Manchester United were successful in defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers in their first game of the new Premier League season. A headed effort from Raphaël Varane in the 76th minute decided the outcome of the fixture.
Erik ten Hag's squad managed to forget about the woes of last season's opening fixture, with a clean sheet and three, albeit rather lucky, points.
Wolves' best chance of an equaliser came in injury time when new Red Devil Andre Onana clattered into the returning Sasa Kalajdzic inside the penalty area. However, referee Simon Hooper controversially confirmed that the incident was not deemed enough to be a penalty, provoking a reaction from Wolves manager Gary O'Neil that earned him a yellow card from the touchline.
Despite the score, O'Neil's new team provided a strong case for being the better side with fairly frequent and exciting scoring opportunities in both halves. The Wolves forwards were constantly able to use their lightning pace to their advantage, forcing the defending Man United players to stay on their toes.
Here are four key points to take from the game:
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Onana's here... and he's perfect
The new Man United 'keeper recently arrived at the club for just over €50 million with intentions of being able to fit into ten Hag's system better than last season's Premier League Golden Glove winner David de Gea. The Spanish shot-stopper departed his long-term club back in July.
A slight wobble in added time for Onana was the only flaw of his debut performance. On many occasions, Onana reaped the benefits of his fearless "sweeper keeper" style, rushing off his line to collect the ball from the Wolves attackers before they could score a goal. A notable contest between him and winger Pedro Neto in the second half showed United fans exactly what they were missing out on with de Gea.
In addition, Onana was competent with the ball at his feet, with the Man United defenders displaying extreme confidence in their new goalkeeper by frequently including him as part of the passing patterns.
The Cameroonian also lived up to the hype of his impressive distribution skills, with two passes reaching the final third of play for his side. For reference, Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa was unable to complete any passes into the final third during the game. Distribution was an obvious downside to de Gea's skillset but tonight, United instead had a goalkeeper who made quick, confident and mostly correct passing decisions.
It only seemed right for Ten Hag to sign another one of his star players from Ajax, with Onana's European campaign with Inter Milan last season reassuring his ability.
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United desperate for Højlund
Tonight's game presented a Man United side which looked frustrated with themselves. It was almost like there were far more new signings that were unfamiliar with a new system than there really were. Interestingly though, it was the two new signings on the pitch that were some of Ten Hag's best players.
The aforementioned Onana proved to be unbeatable between the sticks and former Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount was feisty and creative until he was substituted for Christian Eriksen in the 68th minute.
It would be fair to say though, a majority of the followers of the Premier League anticipated a much more convincing offensive display from Man United. The 1-0 scoreline was no more than what The Red side from Manchester really deserved.
The decision-making ability of the Man United players in the final third was at times lacklustre, resulting in their expected goals being double what they actually produced.
Marcus Rashford had three of his four shots blocked, Antony found himself cutting inside repeatedly with rarely any success from it and Alejandro Garnacho somewhat struggled to properly sink his teeth into the game. Evidently, Man United were crying out for a different method of attack but with no out-and-out striker, their only goal of the game came via a one-off, nicely-worked chain of passes which eventually found the head of Varane.
New big-money signing Rasmus Højlund was not included in the squad due to complications with his back that were discovered during his Man United medical. His estimated game time was immediately up in the air due to his young age and lack of experience.
However, with no other strikers seeming to arrive at Old Trafford any time soon, the 6'2 Danish striker will probably feature heavily once he is fit to do so. His height, strength and goal-scoring instinct were just what Man United needed as crosses tonight looked to be reluctant with few capable players in the box on multiple occasions.
O'Neil deserves more time
O'Neil led AFC Bournemouth to a 15th place finish in the Premier League last season after Scott Parker's sacking in August 2022. He parted way with The Cherries this summer and was appointed by Wolves after ex-manager Julen Lopetegui left the club last week.
Wolves fans were not overjoyed with the acquisition with O'Neil's only previous club-level managing experience being his campaign with Bournemouth last year, as well as some accusations of his style of play being boring have been thrown around too. Some fans have even tipped Wolves to be relegated following O'Neil's arrival.
Tonight, though, O'Neil's side were unpredictable, physical and particularly explosive. Pedro Neto and Matheus Nunes in particular were fantastic ball carriers for the team in gold and left their opponents in the dust multiple times.
Something that looked reassuring was that O'Neil has been speedy in identifying his players' strengths and exploiting them. Individual quality up and down the pitch was clear, with every Wolves player often universally expressing impressive ball retention ability.
Wolves were arguably the better side in the game, comfortably dealing with a majority of what Man United threw at them in attack and countering with dangerous opportunities. If O'Neil is given some new signings and also focuses on shooting drills in training they will likely match and even overcome the quality of their rivals in a potential relegation race.
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Kilman captain correct decision
Yesterday, Wolves centre-back Max Kilman signed a new contract to stay at the club for five more years. One of the bonuses of his contract was that he would become the new captain due to Conor Coady's exit earlier in the window.
Kilman and his backline might have been one of the most organised and composed Wolves backlines for a while. He clearly was able to effectively instruct his fellow defenders on how to deal with Man United's pressure and even provided consistent, strong defensive acumen to the game.
A highlight of Kilman's was when he was able to recover and tackle Rashford in the 84th minute after he was beaten off the ball following a well-weighted pass from deep.
Undoubtedly, Coady's shoes to fill at captain will be by no means an easy feat for this young centre-back. However, despite the score, more performances like that from Kilman and his other defenders will seriously help Wolves with confidence for their Premier League season.
