FIRST VIEW OF BRU
Man Utd 0 Wolves 0: New boy Fernandes shows flashes of class but Red Devils fail to break down stubborn opposition
THEY may have got Bruno, but Manchester United still cannot find that knockout punch.
In fact they very rarely even laid a glove on Wolves, let alone put them on the canvas.
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There were flashes from £46.6 million new boy Bruno Fernandes, snapped up from Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.
There were also moments to suggest the Portuguese playmaker will indeed make the difference manager Solskjaer dreams of.
But that was just all you could say about another dose of the dire yesterday. A ninth Premier League blank of the season.
The chance to move within touching distance of fourth place blown away as carelessly as the few shots they manage to muster. Most of the from the new boy, too, actually.
Actually, in many ways it was a sign of the times that Fernandes had gone straight into the team in the first place.
Back in the day, when United’s signings were always more tweaks to a superstar list rather than saviours, it would have been the bench at best.
Time to bed in, get to know the new faces and new surroundings. No chance of that any more, though.
Not with their worst points return at this stage since the time Liverpool were last winning league titles.
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So it was a case of “bring your boots, you’re in from the start pal” for Bruno, less than three days after touching down in Manchester.
A world away from where he was on duty 12 months ago, playing in front of just over 5,000 fans at Vitoria Setubal in a 1-1 draw for Sporting.
Yesterday he was in front of 15 times that many – but he did at least show plenty of hints as to why Solskjaer was so keen to label him a leader.
A gentle start – one neat lay-off to Juan Mata and a more agricultural hoof to safety from the box – it may have been, but thereafter there was enough for cautious optimism.
He wasn’t slow in demanding the ball and, more to the point, doing so off his defence rather than in the safer waters of deep in the opposition half.
Confidence grew as it went on, even if the fuel tank ran more noticeably dry. In a season such as United are enduring, any silver lining must be amplified tenfold.
Heavens, there could even have been a debut goal – now that really would have been the stuff of dreams – when it rolled invitingly to him on the edge of the box on 40 minutes.
It was greeted with an eyes down, full blooded strike – which flew straight at keeper Rui Patricio and the groans died in throats almost before they’d become audible.
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Ten minutes after the break he was even closer, though, after Ruben Neves flattened Juan Mata some 30 yards out.
Up stepped Fernandes – clearly he has immediately leapt above the Spaniard in the free kick pecking order – to whip in an effort that Patricio caught under the angle of post and crossbar.
It was as if it had an “anything you can do” affect on Mata, who almost at once when closer still, fizzing a strike just wide of the far post.
Yet not us let forget Wolves in all this. They were never going to be content with the role of quiet onlookers. Not when the tag of noisy gatecrashers was on offer.
They have already proved themselves to be on a par with United in their three previous meetings this season, for all they have yet to win.
And there were plenty of moments yesterday that will leave boss Nuno Espirito Santo scratching the big grey beard as to how they didn’t manage it this time.
Like the looping header from Matt Doherty which had David de Gea scrambling across his goal to paw from under the angle of bar and post.
Or the even more gilt-edged chance when Adama Traore went even closer – indeed really should have blasted the visitors ahead.
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Traore let rip from the angle when in oceans of in the box, but although his effort wasn’t slashed too far wide, it should really have at least been on target.
A second half Raul Jimenez thunderbolt certainly was, stinging de Gea’s palms as he pushed it over the top, although the keeper would have been slated had it gone in.
Perhaps it was the fact it was still deadlocked that the planned 68th minute walk-out in protest at Ed Woodward and owners the Glazers never got beyond the merest trickle.
Given the fact that the entertainment level rarely got beyond living on scraps, it was a wonder most hadn’t already cleared off by then.
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Not in protest, merely boredom. Even the Masked Singer will have been more edge of the seat stuff than this.
Now how long is it until Odion Ighalo arrives? Never mind Bruno, the Premier League cast-off striker from Shanghai signed on loan might end up being the most crucial arrival.
He can’t fire any more blanks than the current lot…
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