Fortune favours the blond

A goal from Alejandro Garnacho turned a narrow squeak into a roar of relief

FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 2, Wolves 0

United took 27 shots in this game and the one that made the headlines was the 27th. Erik ten Hag had not exactly rolled out the red carpet for Alejandro Garnacho on his return from two months in the treatment room: no time on the field at all at West Ham, when United could have done with his star quality, and only eight official minutes here, when the fans had been serenading him for a good half an hour. It turned out to be a case of the wisdom of crowds. Garnacho hadn’t had a single chance when Bruno Fernandes sent him through, but, as with riding a bike, he remembered how to do it – how to get the ball under control without slowing down, how to check inside and fool his minder, how to jink outside again, how to take a moment to line up the shot and curl it past the keeper (the excellent Dan Bentley). At that point Garnacho got lucky, as the ball trickled in off the post, but then fortune does favour the blond. 

At the age of 18, Garnacho is already one of the top three forwards in this squad. And it’s not just a matter of opinion. If the yardstick is goals per 90 minutes in all competitions, he is third according to fbref, with 0.42, behind Anthony Martial (0.56) and Marcus Rashford (0.64). If you prefer assists per 90, Garnacho is second, with 0.33, behind only Facundo Pellistri (0.42, but then he’s only had one start). Put the goals and assists together and Garnacho is third, with 0.75, closing in on Martial (0.77) and even posing a threat to Rashford (0.84). Everyone else is way behind, including Cristiano Ronaldo – remember him? – on 0.43.

All this is a bit harsh on Bruno Fernandes (0.45), who is forever creating chances that the forwards fail to take. But the point is that Garnacho, like Amad Diallo, makes more things happen than almost any of his team-mates. He has even made a baby happen, as his goal celebration confirmed: his girlfriend Eva Garcia is expecting a son, already named Enzo. If Saturday’s edition of Match Of The Day is anything to go by, Alejandro and Enzo will be on pundit duty together in about 40 years’ time.

When it emerged that Rashford was injured, this felt like a 0-0 waiting to happen. It was a clash of the tight-arsed: the lowest-scoring team in the Premier League this season (Wolves, with 30 goals in 35 games before this one) against the lowest-scoring team in the Premier League since the beginning of March (United, with a meagre eight in their previous ten games). The two sides had met 12 times since Wolves returned to the fold in 2018, and not one of those matches had been won by more than a single goal. This one threatened to maintain the pattern as United, for all their new-found freshness, squandered one chance after another. The worst culprit was Antony, who missed a sitter with his head and several decent chances with his left foot. His movement is getting sharper while his decision-making is still amateurish. He partially redeemed himself by supplying the assist for the first goal, coolly converted by Martial. But it was telling that the ball was on Antony’s right foot. When it’s on his left, he is apt to be selfish – as he had just shown in a similar scenario, shooting wide rather than finding Martial in space near the penalty spot. Martial doesn’t do 90 minutes, so Wout Weghorst came on to take his place. The commentator on 5 Live called this “a like-for-like replacement”. If he had been listening, Martial might have wanted to call his lawyer. He is younger, faster, smarter and more clinical than his gangling understudy. But Weghorst actually did well here, holding the ball up dutifully as usual and adding a couple of through balls.

United simply had to win this match after two defeats on the trot. With Newcastle only drawing at Leeds, they not only managed it but also revived their slender chances of finishing third. It will now take two wins from their last three league games for them to be sure of holding off Liverpool and Brighton in the race for the Champions League. They may even win the lot – Bournemouth’s bubble has burst, Chelsea will be making their second trip to Manchester in a week, and Fulham have lost five of their last six games away from home, including one at Old Trafford. If they beat two of those three, United will have won 22 league games, their second-best tally since Alex Ferguson retired. They’re back where they have been for most of the season: making modest progress.

Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing. If you received this piece by email, please feel free to forward it to the nearest Red.