Joao Moutinho insists Wolves 'controlled everything' against Man Utd

Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho has explained that the visitors ‘controlled everything’ during Monday night’s win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Moutinho scored the only goal of the game in the closing stages to seal Wolves’ first win at Old Trafford since 1980 and inflict a first defeat on interim United boss Ralf Rangnick.

Possession was split pretty evenly in the end, but Wolves created far more chances during the match and tested David de Gea far more often than Jose Sa was in action.

“We came here to play football, play with the ball, that's what we do. We created a lot of shots in the first half. They changed a little bit to three centre-backs like us. We controlled everything. We only let them create one opportunity on the bar,” Moutinho told Sky Sports.

"We deserved it because of what we did over 90 minutes.”

United boss Rangnick echoed those conclusions in his post-match reflections.

"They were playing with almost four or five central midfielders and we were struggling to control that part of the pitch. Whenever they tried to release via their wing-backs we were also struggling," the German coach explained.

“That's why we decided to change our formation and we had more control in the second half. But we missed our chances to score and again we have to admit that they deserved to win.”

United have failed to win seven of their 14 home games in all competitions so far this season. The Wolves defeat was also the fourth time this term that they have failed to even score in a league match at Old Trafford, highlighting major difficulties in creativity and cohesion.

Rangnick oversaw back-to-back wins against Crystal Palace and Norwich when he first took over, but a woeful display against Newcastle followed successive Covid-19-related postponements, with the recent win over Burnley so far the team’s only convincing performance under his guidance.

Wolves, meanwhile, are proving to be masters of efficiency. Bruno Lage’s side have the Premier League’s second meanest defensive but also the second least prolific attack, taking 28 points from 19 games, despite finding the net only 14 times.

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