If Manchester United’s Boxing Day win over Newcastle here at Old Trafford was a bit of a Christmas turkey, then this was the leftovers.
Ruben Amorim’s side go into the New Year and the second half of the season in the top six but, again, he will take little satisfaction from this performance.
Wolves, on the other hand, can at least celebrate the end of an 11-match losing streak in the Premier League – not that a total of three points from the opening 19 games of the season augurs well for survival.
Derby, statistically the worst team in the history of the competition with 11 points, had seven at this stage of the season in 2007. Southampton, the second-worst, had six at the halfway point last season.
Another defeat here would have been their 26th of the calendar year, equalling an unwanted record held by Ipswich since 1994.
But Wolves dug deep after going behind to Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the first half, and were the better team by the time Ladislav Krejci equalised before the break.
Ruben Amorim looked frustrated as his side laboured to a 1-1 draw at home against Wolves
Joshua Zirkzee gave the hosts the lead in fortuitous circumstances after 27 minutes
Rob Edwards’ side have impressed in single-goal defeats away to Liverpool and Arsenal in recent games, and this felt like another step in the right direction.
They grew in confidence against a United side team who beat them 4-1 at Molineux just three weeks ago but were desperately short of creativity in the absence of eight players including captain Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Mason Mount.
Having started with a back-four for the first time against Newcastle four days earlier, Amorim reverted to a back-three with Patrick Dorgu moving back to left wing-back after his match-winning stint as right winger.
The only change, brought about by Mount’s injury, saw Zirkzee return to the starting line-up, but a total of six academy kids on the bench showed just how much strain the loss of those eight senior players is having on Amorim’s squad.
Edwards made two changes of his own, bringing in Jackson Tchatchoua and Jhon Arias, with striker Jorgen Strand Larsen once again on the bench for more than an hour amid speculation over a move to West Ham in the January transfer window.
Wolves made a positive start – just as they had against United at Molineux earlier this month – but it was the home side who created the early chances. Jose Sa had to claw Luke Shaw’s corner from under his crossbar, and then Benjamin Sesko chased Dorgu’s pass into the channel before cutting inside Matt Doherty and rifling a low shot just wide of the far post.
But the lack of creativity was causing frustration among the home fans until they made the breakthrough in the 27th minute.
It said a great deal about the paucity of United’s attacking play that the catalyst for the goal was defender Ayden Heaven, impressing again after a man-of-the-match performance against Newcastle.
Ladislav Krejci equalised and that was enough to give Wolves their third point of the season
The big centre-back stopped Hwang Hee-chan in his tracks with a great interception tackle and set off towards the Wolves box. Heaven slipped the ball to Zirkzee whose flick came back to him off Krejci and so did a tame effort that probably wouldn’t have beaten Sa but for a crucial touch off the Czech defender’s chest as the ball changed direction and flew into the net.
United almost increased their lead when Dorgu – emboldened by his goal against Newcastle – took aim from the edge of the box and saw his effort deflected wide off Doherty’s heel for a corner. Shaw delivered from the right again and this time Sesko headed against the outside of the post.
Wolves had rocked United with an equaliser right on half-time at Molineux and they did so again here, even though it came as less of a surprise after a period in which Hwang fired wide, Tolu Arokodare got away from Heaven to head over from close-range and only an outstretched left boot from Senne Lammens prevented Hugo Bueno’s low shot from creeping in.
When Wolves won a corner in the 45th minute, Bueno delivered from the right and Zirkzee could only head the ball towards the back post where Krejci rose to guide a header wide of Lammens.
It was no more than the visitors deserved at the end of a half in which they had twice as many touches in the opposition box as United. No wonder Amorim looked deeply unimpressed, shaking his head as he made for the tunnel.
The United boss sent on Jack Fletcher for Zirkzee at the interval for his third appearance in a row, and United almost went ahead in bizarre circumstances in the 55th minute. Yerson Mosquera headed back towards his own goal but beat the stranded Sa who did very well to scramble back and claw the ball of the line.
Wolves went just as close at the other end when Lammens kept out Krejci’s shot and then scooped the ball away from Mosquera as he went for the tap-in.
Amorim went to his bench of young substitutes once again, sending on Bendito Mantato for his debut. It looked like Dorgu had struck for the second game in a row when he scored in an empty net after Sa had saved from Sesko in the 90th minute, but the Denmark international was offside.
So United go into the New Year in sixth place, but there was little about this performance to celebrate.
