Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was left scratching his head as to how Manchester United came away with nothing from our Premier League clash at Molineux, despite his side being reduced to 10 for over half an hour.
Wolverhampton Wanderers had to battle from a goal behind on Tuesday night, but a Diogo Jota strike and a Chris Smalling own goal cancelled out Scott McTominay’s early effort and meant the hosts emerged with a 2-1 victory.
However, even after just 20 minutes, United were unlucky to be only one ahead, after Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard both missed headers from point-blank range.
However, even after just 20 minutes, United were unlucky to be only one ahead, after Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard both missed headers from point-blank range.
Despite the hosts' equaliser midway through the first period, we resumed our dominance later in the game, when McTominay was denied on two separate occasions by excellent saves from Wolves stopper Rui Patricio.
But the Reds went down to 10 men when Ashley Young received a second yellow card for a foul on Jota, and were punished for their profligacy when Joao Moutinho's cross from the left ricocheted in off Smalling to hand the Black Country side all three points.
Unsurprisingly after so many spurned opportunities, Ole was somewhat bemused at full-time.
“We’ve created some great chances, and [there were some] fantastic saves by the keeper.
But the Reds went down to 10 men when Ashley Young received a second yellow card for a foul on Jota, and were punished for their profligacy when Joao Moutinho's cross from the left ricocheted in off Smalling to hand the Black Country side all three points.
Unsurprisingly after so many spurned opportunities, Ole was somewhat bemused at full-time.
“It’s one of those days that we’ve done more than enough to score three or more goals,”the boss told Sky Sports.
“We’ve created some great chances, and [there were some] fantastic saves by the keeper.
“They scored with their first chance after the sending off, about 20-25 minutes after the sending off. So, the boys have done exactly what they’re meant to – but we conceded goals from sloppy mistakes and we didn’t score ourselves.”
With United managing 19 shots on Tuesday night, Ole was in no doubt which Wolves player was integral to their success, and reserved some special praise for the opposition no.1, Rui Patricio.
“Scotty had a chance, and it was a great save by the keeper again,” said the United manager.
“If I’m not wrong, he made three or four fantastic saves. So we’ve done enough to win this game, but, then again, it doesn’t happen like that. You don’t always get what you deserve.”
The result at Molineux means the Reds missed the opportunity to move up to third in the table and remain outside the Champions League positions.
Instead the defeat leaves us fifth in the standings, on the same number of points as Tottenham Hotspur, who play their game in hand against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.
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Instead the defeat leaves us fifth in the standings, on the same number of points as Tottenham Hotspur, who play their game in hand against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.
“Of course, it’s three points [dropped] and we knew that we’d have to have 15 points probably to get to that position [fourth].
“We’ve still got six games to get them 15 points. So we’ve just got to look forward and dust ourselves down, because [it was a] disappointing result, but a very good performance.”
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