Summary
That’s me done for the night. An extraordinary result that could have long-term ramifications at both ends of the table. Manchester United were poor, but let’s give the last word to the Blades, who defended for their lives, and took their opportunities (two goals from three shots on target), even if there was a slice of luck along the way. Congrats to them!
Here’s Jamie Jackson’s match report from Old Trafford. Bye!
Ole Gunnar Solskjær speaks!
We didn’t create enough, penetrating in behind them. There was no magic. They defended well but we didn’t have the right ideas … no big inquest. We’ve been the most consistent team these last few months but had a sad night tonight.
On Sheffield United’s first goal: “It’s a foul. Billy Sharp just runs into [De Gea].”
On Martial’s disallowed goal: “Not a foul.”
On Sheffield United’s second goal: “The defending is just so, so bad. We stopped getting out to the ball. Three of four poor decisions, there.”
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Chris Wilder speaks!
The players are jumping about in there. Tomorrow, we’ll come back down to earth to go again on the other side of the town. It’s a special result tonight and it was a special performance. It was a touch of luck but a good reaction to their equaliser. I hope Rio has got a big smile on his face.
Here’s the Premier League table, then. Leicester also dropped points with their 1-1 draw at Everton tonight, while Brighton and Fulham played out a 0-0 draw.
City are top by a point, with a game in hand over their neighbours. Sheffield United are just 10 points adrift of safety. And have a trip to leaders City next up. Things are looking … er … up.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 19 | 23 | 41 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 20 | 10 | 40 |
| 3 | Leicester | 20 | 14 | 39 |
| 4 | West Ham | 20 | 6 | 35 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 19 | 15 | 34 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 16 | 33 |
| 7 | Everton | 18 | 7 | 33 |
| 8 | Chelsea | 20 | 10 | 30 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 20 | 6 | 30 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 18 | 12 | 29 |
| 11 | Southampton | 19 | 3 | 29 |
| 12 | Leeds | 19 | -3 | 26 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton | 20 | -8 | 23 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 20 | -12 | 23 |
| 15 | Burnley | 19 | -11 | 22 |
| 16 | Newcastle | 20 | -15 | 19 |
| 17 | Brighton | 20 | -7 | 18 |
| 18 | Fulham | 19 | -12 | 13 |
| 19 | West Brom | 20 | -33 | 11 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 20 | -21 | 8 |
Manchester United didn’t deserve a scrap out of that game. They will moan about refereeing decisions, but Ramsdale didn’t really have a save to make. I would also go so far to say that the defending for Sheffield United’s second goal is the worst I’ve seen this season. Several Manchester United just watched as Sheffield United passed the ball around their opponent’s box, before allowing Oliver Burke two shots at goal, which took a clumsy deflected off Tuanzebe.
Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford were all completely anonymous.
Full-time: Manchester United 1-2 Sheffield United
They’ve done it! Quite simply, the shock result of the season. The first Sheffield United win at Old Trafford in 48 years!
90+3 min: Manchester United, for all their pressure around the box, still haven’t had a meaningful effort on goal since falling behind. Ramsdale has claimed a couple of hopeful crosses, pink shirts swarm around red ones whenever the ball goes anywhere near the Sheffield United goal.
90 mins: Four minutes added on here. What a huge three points this would be for Sheffield United. Not only for the table, but for the Blades’ confidence. They will believe they can survive, no doubt about that.
89 min: Van de Beek gets the better of Basham on the byline, but Jaglieka is out in a flash to make a fabulous block, with Van de Beek’s cross looking like it was heading towards Cavani at the back post.
87 min: Manchester United have created absolutely nothing since going 2-1 down. Burke has just won a throw in for Sheffield United down by Manchester United’s corner flag.
“Utd are just a set-piece team. Nuff said,” emails Paul Fitzgerald. I assume he is talking about Manchester.
85 min: Manchester United living very dangerously! Burke is left one-on-one with Matic, Manchester United’s slowest player by a distance, but Matic makes a super block tackle. All Burke had to do was knock the ball past the Serbian and he was surely in on goal!
83 min: More changes for the home side, Shaw comes on for Telles and Van de Beek on for Tuanzebe.
82 min: For now, though, it is backs against the walls. Attack versus defence, as Manchester United probe for an equaliser. Basham, Ampadu and Jagielka have been imperious so far at the centre of the Blades defence.
80 min: Sheffield United make another change: Brewster on for McGoldrick. The Blades will carry a threat on the counter-attack with Brewster and Burke’s pace!
79 min: Cavani is alive to a loose ball inside the box, but his first touch lets him down and the ball trickles out for a goal kick. A sense of panic in Manchester United’s ranks is starting to emerging. Ten minutes to go.
77 min: Manchester United nearly back level immediately! First, Telles strikes at goal, with the ball deflecting *just* over Ramsdale’s bar for a corner. From which, Pogba heads two yards wide, nearly a carbon copy of Manchester United’s first goal!
Awful, awful defending! Burke scores his first Premier League goal, via a wicked deflection off Tuanzebe, with the ball hitting his thigh and cannoning off the underside off the crossbar and in. It was actually Burke’s second shot in as many seconds, as Manchester United allowing Sheffield United attackers the freedom of their penalty box. I counted three separate Blades players that were able to take two touches inside Manchester United’s box, before Burke finally got his two efforts off. Sheffield United lead again!
Burkey. 💪
— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) January 27, 2021
Oliver Burke’s deflected goal has us in front at Old Trafford.pic.twitter.com/nSbRlCt8eo
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GOAL! Manchester United 1-2 Sheffield United (Burke 74)
Oh my days.
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70 mins: Twenty minutes to go in both games tonight. Leicester have equalised at Everton through Tielemans, it’s also 1-1 there.
69 min: The Blades make a change of their own up top: the speedy but raw Burke on for the tiring Sharp.
68 min: Suddenly, there seems to be some threat to Manchester United’s crosses. Pogba is drifting wide to put in the deliveries, and the latest one flashes across the six-yard box, with Cavani’s near-post run causing issues.
66 min: Solskjær wastes no time with his subs. On comes Cavani for Greenwood. Looks like Martial is going to go and play on the left, with Rashford on the right and Cavani through the middle.
64 min: Sheffield United will be so disappointed to concede from a set-piece, after all their excellent defending in open play. But the truth is that is was a brilliant, whipped delivery met on the run by Maguire. Great header, glanced, but with some power.
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GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Sheffield United (Maguire 63)
Maguire levels it, heading an Alex Telles header into the far corner. Simple as you like! No celebration for the former Blades defender, who was born and bred in Sheffield. We’re all square!
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62 min: Another free-kick for Manchester United, but this time it’s just 25 yards out. Perfect distance for Fernandes, but the wall jumps and Ampadu nods it behind for a corner. Great block!
59 min: Jagielka has been fantastic. A few minutes ago, he made a critical challenge to deny Greenwood, but he makes a tired challenge 30 yards from goal. Chance for Fernandes or Rashford, perhaps? Rashford tries his luck, but Ramsdale holds it well.
57 min: McGoldrick tries his luck from the edge of the box, after Sheffield United enjoy some neat possession inside Manchester United’s half. It was a sort of Queresma-esque effort with the outside of his foot, but McGoldrick didn’t quite have the technique of the Portuguese. Two yards over.
55 min: Sheffield United make a change on the left flank: the goalscorer Bryan comes off for Bogle. “The life of Bryan”, says BT Sport co-commentator Chris Sutton. No idea, mate.
54 min: Lots of subs warming up for Manchester United on the sidelines. Cavani, Van de Beek, Mata and McTominay are all doing a few stretches.
52 min: A bit more urgency from Manchester United, here. Telles flashes a dangerous cross across the box, before Wan-Bissaka tries his luck from range, which is deflected for a corner after a brave block from Ampadu. Sheffield United clear the resulting corner.
49 min: But then, Fernandes splits the Sheffield United defence with a slide-rule pass to Greenwood, who shifts the ball onto his right but drags the ball wide! It was an acute angle, but he should have made Ramsdale work from eight yards out!
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47 min: It’s raining in Manchester. Bruno Fernandes has already mis-placed two passes in this half.
Peeeeeeeep!
We’re off again. Neither team have made any changes.
Manchester United have won 21 points from losing positions this season, more than twice the number of the next best team (Liverpool, 10).
Just to say that VAR did look at that Sharp nudge on De Gea and ruled it wasn’t a clear and obvious error by the referee to give the goal.
Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch seem to think was a foul and BT Sport’s in-house ref, Peter Walton, thinks it wasn’t. Have to say I agree with Peter (Walton).
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Half-time reading
Today’s Fiver, featuring two former Manchester United teammates.
And here’s Sid Lowe on Arsenal’s new (loan) signing.
Half-time: Manchester United 0-1 Sheffield United
The Blades are half-way to one of the most sensational results of the season. What a turn-up this could be at both ends of the table. Sheffield United are well worth their lead. They have been superb.
45+3 min: One of the clearest yellow cards you are likely to see, as Tuanzebe fells Fleck with a terrible tackle on the edge of Manchester United’s box. No complaints and big chance for the Blades to double their lead! Ah, Norwood’s delivery doesn’t beat the first man.
45 min: Three minutes added on for injury-time, mainly for Martial’s knock in the second minute. It’s been a near-perfect half for Sheffield United.
43 min: Pogba, so often the best player on the park in recent weeks, has been awful tonight. C’est la vie.
41 min: A half-chance! Telles picks out Fernandes with a lofted diagonal. Fernandes volleys a cross back across goal and Martial stretches to try and head it goalwards, but Jagielka and Basham do enough to put the Frenchman off.
40 min: Yellow card for Lundstram, who cynically pulls back Rashford who was bursting through the middle of midfield.
39 min: In tonight’s other 8.15pm kick-off, Everton have taken a 1-0 lead at home to Leicester.
“Watching Everton while MBM tracking United,” emails Mary Waltz. “James just scored a beauty. More actual scoring chances by both sides then in the entirety of the Chelsea- Wolves fixture.”
But Mary! The possession stats! The completed passes! Doesn’t that mean anything?!
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37 min: Fernandes takes a pot-shot from long range, but Basham steps across to block. Manchester United lacking invention.
35 min: Sheffield United doing an excellent job of stifling things here. Jagielka has been immense so far. Thirty-eight years old!
32 min: Would not be surprised to see Cavani on at half-time, if things stay like this. Martial has not played awfully, but with the Blades defending deep and inviting crosses, the Uruguayan would seem like the better option for the second half.
Manchester United have the ball in the net, but goal disallowed!
30 min: From a Manchester United corner, the ball balloons off Maguire’s bonce straight up in the air. Ramsdale comes to claim, but makes a complete mess of it, dropping the ball at the feet of Martial, who taps it into the empty net. But referee Peter Bankes penalises Maguire, who jumped with Ramsdale for the second ball. Ooooo, that’s soft. Manchester United will feel aggrieved, especially with that Sharp nudge on De Gea for the Blades goal.
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27 min: McGoldrick so nearly gets in to score a second for Sheffield United! Just what is going on?! He breaks the offside trap and looks to be in on goal, but stumbles at the crucial moment, just as he is bursting past Wan-Bissaka, and can’t reach the ball before De Gea. Would have been very interesting if McGoldrick had gone down. Wan-Bissaka was last man.
25 min: Some quite abysmal goalkeeping, there. De Gea had to come for the corner, and he did get the slightest of nudges off Sharp and the cross came in, but completely mis-read the flight of the ball. Bryan got up well, but basically nodded it in unchallenged. 1-0!
24 min: Manchester United concede the first goal, yet again. Well I never.
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GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 Sheffield United (Bryan 23)
The Blades have the lead! A superb inswinger is sent into Manchester United’s six-yard box, De Gea misses his punch, and Bryan glances a header off the far post and in!
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22 min: Manchester United are playing quite badly. Pogba zips a pass straight to Norwood. Sheffield United now have a corner. Here come the cavalry from the back.
20 min: A nice turn from Fleck sees Sheffield United break down the left. Bryan swings in a cross towards McGoldrick, but Telles covers and makes an excellent headed clearance.
17 min: Almost immediately, Fernandes sends Greenwood clean through at the other end! Greenwood takes a good initial touch and tries to go around Ramsdale, but goes too wide, and Sheffield United’s defenders are able to come back and block Greenwood’s effort on goal.
16 min: And just as I write that, Billy Sharp goes clean through on goal! Some absolutely awful defending from the home side, but Sharp sees his shot saved by De Gea, who used his feet. Telles got back to put pressure on Sharp, but that was a golden chance for the Blades!
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14 min: Sharp and McGoldrick just can’t make it stick up up top for Sheffield United. They don’t have the pace the worry Manchester United in behind, and are losing the physical battle thus far to Maguire and co. For all their absences, the Blades do have a few attacking options on the bench. Mousset, Burke, Brewster and Bogle are all quick. Wilder’s selection looking a bit odd at this point.
11 min: Our first real chance of the game, but Rashford screws a first-time shot wide! Excellent build-up play, with Greenwood tucking inside and Wan-Bissaka overlapping. The right back’s low cross was squared across the top of the box and Rashford came onto it at pace, but sidefooted two yards wide from the edge of the penalty area.
8 min: It’s been a scrappy opening. Bruno Fernandes did look for a minute like he might burst clear of the Sheffield United defence at one point, but failed to bring down a swirling high pass with the requisite guile.
6 min: Big night for Oli Norwood, in the engine room for Sheffield United. Norwood came through the academy here in Manchester, although he never made a first-team appearance for Sir Alex Ferguson, who told him straight up that he wasn’t good enough for Manchester United, but would be good enough to play in the Premier League. Norwood cried all the way home after that news, but Fergie has been proved right.
3 min: Ah, he’s fine. On we/he go/goes.
2 min: Jagielka makes a strong, clean tackle on Martial, who falls awkwardly in a heap, clutching his shoulder. The Frenchman looks in genuine pain as the physios come on. He trudges off gingerly, not convinced Martial is going to be able to continue here!
1 min: Manchester United try to play their way out of trouble, with Maguire giving a nasty lofted pass inside his own box to Tuanzebe, who deals with it superbly. That will settle the nerves.
Peeeeeeeep!
And we’re off.
The players take the knee. Black Lives Matter.
The teams are out, Sheffield United are in their changed pink strip (which is v nice IMO), while Manchester United are in their red and white.
Fernandes is having quite an animated conversation with Alex Telles.
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To illustrate just how depleted Sheffield United are at the moment, there are three spaces on their bench that are empty tonight.
I’m sure Roman Abramovich will be over the moon.
820 - Chelsea completed 820 passes and recorded 78.9% possession against Wolves – since the start of 2003-04, these are both the highest totals by a team in their manager’s first Premier League game in charge. Stamp. #CHEWOL pic.twitter.com/oTLXi1071o
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 27, 2021
Solskjær speaks!
On Eric Bailly: “He’s had a bang. He’s a bit sore. He was down to play but hasn’t made it.”
On Sheffield United: “They tend to lose by the odd goal, there are tight games. We’ve got to be confident.”
On Tuanzebe’s first Premier League start: “It’s a massive opportunity for Axel.”
Full-time scores in the early kick-offs:
Thomas Tuchel 0-0 Wolves
Burnley 3-2 Aston Villa
Some pre-match reading.
Find it very weird why Greenwood has to put up with any criticism at all, from journalists, and Solskjær’s take here – seemingly putting more pressure on Greenwood – is an odd take too.
Greenwood clearly has the talent, the mentality, confidence in his own ability, knows the history of the club. Nobody disputes this. He’s still learning the game tactically and just needs the minutes, which have been fewer since the arrival of both Bruno Fernandes and Edinson Cavani.
There was a lot of talk about his (superb) goal against Liverpool being the first for two months. He has started just three of seven matches this year, and has played the full 90 minutes a sum total of zero times. Leave the kid alone, he’s magic.
Despite being battered for much of the match, Burnley have scored twice in three minutes and are now 3-2 up against the Villa! After the daylight robbery at Anfield, Sean Dyche looks like he’s going to mastermind another narrow win.
There are three games currently going on elsewhere. Chelsea are looking thoroughly uninspired at home to Wolves – 0-0 there, which you can follow here – while Aston Villa have just retaken a second-half lead at Burnley, with Jack Grealish making it 2-1 at Turf Moor.
Meanwhile, Brighton v Fulham has just kicked off.
The Bailly absence is an interesting one. He has been arguably the pick of Manchester United’s centre backs in recent weeks, and was left out of the game against Liverpool owing to an ‘little’ injury concern. Solskjær had said he would be fit for tonight, but he’s not even in the squad.
Team news
Manchester United: De Gea, Wan Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Maguire, Alex Telles, Pogba, Matic, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, Martial, Rashford.
Subs: Lindelof, Cavani, Mata, Fred, James, Shaw, Henderson, Van de Beek, McTominay.
Sheff Utd: Ramsdale, Basham, Bryan, Jagielka, Baldock, Lundstram, Ampadu, Norwood, Fleck, McGoldrick, Sharp.
Subs: Mousset, Lowe, Burke, Foderingham, Bogle, Brewster.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Merseyside)
Luke Shaw, one of the Solskjær’s best players in the last few weeks, is rested, which is somewhat of a surprise. Alex Telles comes in for just his sixth league start since signing in October. Tuanzebe comes back in, with Lindelof on the bench and Bailly left out entirely. Perhaps the Norweigan has an eye on the trip to Arsenal this Saturday.
Looks like Sheffield United are lining up in their 3-5-2. Sharp and McGoldrick get the nod over Bogle and Brewster up front. John Egan sits out the match through suspension, whilst Enda Stevens misses out through injury. The absence of Jack O’Connell also continues to be a huge miss, with the defender recently suffering a setback to the knee injury that has kept him out since September.
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Preamble
On paper, Manchester United couldn’t ask for an easier league fixture if they tried. The Blades are rock bottom of the league, 12 point adrift of safety, and just about limped past League One Plymouth in the FA Cup on Saturday. At home. An away trip to Old Trafford is a little more daunting.
What sort of a team talk will Ole opt for tonight? Lads, it’s Sheffield United? Or perhaps he will hit the ‘warn against complacency’ button, a la Football Manager. United have made a habit of conceding first this season (and have done just that in two of the last three matches against Sheffield United) so perhaps it will be the latter.
Chris Wilder’s team have showed a few encouraging signs, but it would be a mistake to call this a resurgence. Their only league win of the season came against a woeful Newcastle side earlier this month, a clumsy handball gifting the Blades a penalty after Ryan Fraser had been sent off for the visitors. “We looked as though we had our identity back: that was us,” trumpeted Chris Wilder after match, but in the words of Patsy to Gloria Trillo, it wasn’t cinematic.
Since then, Sheffield United have reverted to type against Spurs and then Plymouth. Things don’t get any easier for the Blades, with trips to Manchester City and Chelsea in the next two weeks, so they are going to need to start motoring at some point. Today is a new day.
Kick-off: 8.15pm GMT
