No sooner had the boos subsided around Old Trafford at full-time than the celebrations began among the Wolves fans in the away end.
‘We’ve got a point,’ they sang jubilantly, and it was the very least their team deserved.
A grand total of three at the halfway point of the season doesn’t augur well for survival, and well their supporters know it.
Derby, statistically the worst team in the history of the competition with 11 points, had seven at this stage in 2007. Southampton, the second worst, had six a year ago.
Indeed, the only other team to go 19 games from the start of a top-flight season without a win were Bolton in 1903.
But Wolves dug deep to end a run of 11 straight league defeats 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.
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 – who are either injured or away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
If the Boxing Day win over Newcastle here at Old Trafford was a bit of a Christmas turkey, then this was the leftovers. The kind of thing you find at the back of the fridge and rather wish you hadn’t.
United go into the New Year and the second half of the season in the top-six, but Ruben Amorim will take little satisfaction from this performance.
He spent much of the game pacing the technical area shaking his head at what was unfolding before him.
Amorim went to a young bench and sent on Jack Fletcher at half-time for his third game in a row in place of Zirkzee. The Dutchman was anonymous apart from the goal, and may well be a Roma player by the time the January transfer window closes.
Amorim also gave Bendito Mantato his debut off the bench in the 75th minute. When he replaced Ayden Heaven with another defender, Leny Yoro, at the same time it was met with boos from the home fans.
‘We struggled in all the game,’ said Amorim. ‘We had a lack of creation. ‘When you play Casemiro and (Manuel) Ugarte in the middle you know it is different from when you have Bruno or Kobbie (Mainoo).
‘We just need to recover our players from Afcon. But we didn’t use that excuse against Newcastle, and we are not going to use it today.’
Having started with a back-four for the first time against Newcastle, Amorim reverted to a back-three. It didn’t work as United looked stilted from the start against a Wolves team who showed greater fluency with teenager Mateus Mane particularly impressive.
Still, United went ahead in the 27th minute and it said a great deal about the paucity of their attacking play that the catalyst for the goal was Heaven.
The young 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 Jose Sa but for a crucial touch off the Czech defender’s chest as the ball changed direction and bobbled into the net.
United almost increased their lead when Patrick Dorgu – emboldened by his winning goal against Newcastle – took aim from the edge of the box and saw his effort deflected wide off Matt Doherty’s heel for a corner. Luke Shaw delivered from the right again and Benjamin 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.
‘We suffered a goal from a set-piece and we are tall,’ sighed Amorim.
Edwards sensed the mood around Old Trafford might work against United as he headed down the tunnel at half-time.
‘We talked about it to the players,’ he said. ‘We know what it’s like to play in front of an unhappy crowd. Everyone would be turning up expecting a win, maybe a comfortable one – and it wasn’t that.’
Both sides went close to winning it. Sa scrambled back to claw away Yerson Mosquera’s wayward header just before it crossed the line for an own-goal, and Dorgu had a 90th-minute effort ruled out for offside.
At the other end, Lammens kept out Krejci’s shot and then scooped the ball off Mosquera’s toes as he went for the tap-in.
But there was little doubt which team were happier with a point. ‘It’s nice to take something,’ said Edwards. ‘I do feel it is the least we deserved.
