And with that, I’m off. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Chris Wilder has a chat:
I’m disappointed with the manner of the goals we conceded. I think we can look at ourselves first and foremost. We have to be brave, we want to get up the pitch, we want to make contact with good players. That’s what I said to their manager, we’re not just going to stand off you. We had to take chances, and we did, but we should see that run off [for the first]. The manner of their goals was disappointing.
We started the game on the front foot. I was pleased with the start that we had. I was pleased with the spirit, I was really disappointed on Sunday. It wasn’t passive, it was more of a Sheffield United performance. We’ve got to tighten up, and take opportunities when they come about. There’s examples of teams going 12, 13, 14 games and not winning a game of football, but the longer it goes on the harder it becomes. I feel we should be on more points but the brutal fact is we are there. But tonight should give the players a belief that if we do play in the manner that we play, especially out of possession, we work hard, we compete, and try to play, that there’s something left in this season for us. We’re all in it for results, I completely get that, but tonight I stick my head on the pillow knowing my team’s left everything out there, and that has got to be our stock performance from now on in.
Jamie Jackson has filed his match report from Bramall Lane:
What to make of Manchester United this season? An away victory that featured the customary concession of the opener lifts Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side into sixth place on 23 points and their game in hand means they could be in outright second if they win it.
Yet while Manchester United hardly performed in scintillating style from kick off to final whistle this was a sixth unbeaten Premier League match, including five wins. Sheffield United entered the contest with only one point and finished the same and while their visitors stuttered at first, then suffered a late scare, they did end up defeating the division’s bottom team as any title pretender surely must.
Much more here:
Ole Gunar Solskjaer says he was angered by a couple of Sheffield United challenges on his player, and said some things on the touchline for which he apologises.
We knew it was going to be a physical test. They were going to get kicked. I think it’s one of these games that these boys will learn from, it’s a proper game and it’s like football should be. I apologise, I went maybe overboard, but we’ll have a drink afterwards.
As for the rest of the game, there’s this:
It could have been more comfortable, obviously. We were a little bit sloppy, 3-1 up we created some good chances. When the second goes in it’s really difficult. They are a handful, in a really unorthodox way, and they made it hard. It’s always learning. He comes back here, he’s probably been looking forward to this and it just shows his character, the rest of the game. With the pace and the skill, and the quality of the touches and movement, I thought all three goals were excellent.
We need to sort the home form. It’s not like home and away in these conditions, without fans. We should be more used to the Old Trafford pitch. Hopefully Sunday [against Leeds] we’ll start. It’s a massive game for us, we know that. We’ve been waiting for years to get this game on, and we’ll be ready for it.
Marcus Rashford has a chat. He is, it’s fair to say, much more scintillating with a ball at his feet than with a microphone in his face. Here are some, er, highlights.
Once again we’ve done well to respond to going a goal behind. Of course late on if we don’t kill a game off it’s going to be hard at a place like this. We didn’t get anything we didn’t expect, they fought for every ball. We have the potential to rotate a lot going forward and that type of free-flowing football is what we enjoy playing most. We have to perform better at home. We know as players, we just try to take on game at a time, try to win games. It’s early on in the season, there’s a lot of football to be played and there’s going to be ups and downs for everyone. We need to find consistency at home, and then we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.
Sheffield United scored a pair of slightly bonkers goals, but at no point did they really look capable of dealing with Manchester United. There was just too much space behind their defence, and Pogba and Fernandes merrily chipped balls beyond them all night for Martial and Rashford to run onto and cause havoc. Plus Berge twanged a hammy, which won’t help.
Final score: Sheffield United 2-3 Manchester United
90+5 mins: It’s all over, and Manchester United’s 100% away record continues!
90+4 mins: Pogba and Robinson have a bit of a coming together, though it’s half-hearted at worst. Both are booked.
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90+3 mins: So Sheffield United took the lead, Manchester United battled back to apparently win it, and now they’re hanging on in stoppage time? This is exactly what happened last season! Where’s Oli McBurnie? Oh.
90+1 mins: Save! Ramsdale boots the ball downfield, Brewster knocks it into the path of Mousset, and he volleys towards the far corner only for Henderson to push it clear!
90+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of stoppages. They start with Henderson getting booked for timewasting.
90 mins: McTominay replaces Martial for stoppage time.
89 mins: Well that’s put a spring in Sheffield steps. Suddenly they’re hustling. They win a throw-in on the right, which Robinson flings into the area. Pogba heads clear.
GOAL! Sheffield United 2-3 Manchester United (McGoldrick, 87 mins)
The corner is curled towards the far post, where Lindelof wins the header, heads the ball into the back of McGoldrick’s head, and it rebounds into the net!
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86 mins: A lovely pass inside the full-back for Baldock, bursting into the penalty area, but Telles absolutely busts a gut to get there and turn it behind for a corner.
83 mins: Brewster’s shot hits the wall. He falls down as he hits it; a minute or so ago he fell down in the action of hitting a pass wide to McGoldrick. I fear he needs to change his boots.
82 mins: Brewster plays a one-two with Mousset and tries to poke the ball past Maguire and into the area, but the defender blocks with a hand. The free kick will give the Blades a fine shooting chance. “Here in South America, Manchester United are known as ‘El Manchester’ and Manchester City as ‘El City’,” writes Rod Wooden. “Other teams with the word ‘City ‘ in their title are known as ‘El Leicester’, ‘El Norwich’, etc. Not a bad rule of thumb, methinks.”
79 mins: Fernandes has chipped his last pass, and Donny van de Beek has replaced him.
78 mins: Manchester United threaten again. Fernandes plays a low pass this time to Martial, who spots Mata’s run and picks him out with a cross from the left, and the Spaniard shoots too close to Ramsdale.
75 mins: Fernandes lifts the ball over the home defence again. This time it’s to Mata, beyond the far post, who manages to poke it back into play. It runs to Martial, whose shot is blocked.
73 mins: There is not a lot of drama to this game at the moment. Some motions are being gone through. Sheffield United bring Brewster on for Burke, and Manchester United bring Mata on for Greenwood.
71 mins: From the free-kick Rashford hammers a shot into the wall.
70 mins: Egan gets booked, for attempting to play quite a delicate pass despite Bruno Fernandes being between him and the ball. He didn’t get a lot of the Portuguese playmaker, but the ref thought it was enough.
67 mins: Greenwood runs infield from the right, is allowed to keep going into the area, and eventually smacks a shot that stings the palms of Ramsdale.
64 mins: Jagielka, who came on for Berge in the first half, has been replaced by Mousset.
63 mins: Fleck nearly scores an Olimpico! His curling corner from the right is dipping in at the far post, but Henderson tips it over.
60 mins: Bruno Fernandes has spent his entire evening chipping balls over the home defence for people to run onto. His latest effort was precision-engineered for Wan-Bissaka, but the full-back couldn’t find a finish.
56 mins: United win a corner, which Telles lifts to Bruno Fernandes on the edge of the area, whose attempt to PaulScholes it into the back of the net ends badly.
55 mins: “Is Kai Rooney signing a contract or working on his maths homework?” wonders Peter Oh.
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-3 Manchester United (Rashford, 51 mins)
Another goalkeeping howler in my book, but it’s a fine break from Manchester United, starting with Paul Pogba’s pirouette midway through his own half, continuing despite Jagielka’s foul on Greenwood - the referee waves play on; Jagielka is booked after the goal is scored - and ending with Martial’s poor first touch running to Rashford, whose low first-time shot from outside the area skids down the middle of goal and under Ramsdale!
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49 mins: Ally McCoist, Amazon’s co-commentator, is working himself into a lather about Marcus Rashford and his grace and beauty when on the run, falling somewhere between David-Attenborough-describing-a-cheetah and pornography.
47 mins: The Salford side win a free-kick on the right, which Telles curls onto the head of Martial, who diverts it over the bar.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The home side get the second half started.
The players are back out! No sign of any half-timely substitutions. “It’s like 32 players are lined up against the playground wall and two managers (who know them) get to pick teams,” writes Gary Naylor. “To even things up, the manager who doesn’t really understand football gets the first 16 picks and the manager who does know football gets the leftovers.”
“Rashford’s featherlike touch for that first Man Utd goal would have left a falling raw egg unbroken,” raves Justin Kavanagh. “Not that anyone would be chucking eggs at St Marcus.” His first touch wouldn’t have hurt a raw egg, his second would have done some damage to a brick wall.
Today’s other big Manchester United news:
Proud day. Kai signing for @ManUtd. Keep up the hard work son ❤️ pic.twitter.com/tTYuUZj7yn
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) December 17, 2020
Half time: Sheffield United 1-2 Manchester United
45+3 mins: That’s all for now. It’s been a more than decent half, and as it ends the home side have a quarter of an hour to work out what to do about fast forwards who insist on running quickly.
45+1 mins: There’ll be two minutes of stoppage time. “Jimmy Greaves used to call United just Manchester, much to the annoyance of my City mates,” says Paul Howarth. That would be fine if there was only one Manchester, but as it is it doesn’t solve anything, except for the question of how to annoy City fans.
45 mins: McGoldrick runs from halfway, loses the ball to Matic with a poor touch, wins it back with a good sliding tackle, rises from the turf, and, after all that, leathers a pointless shot wide from 30 yards.
43 mins: An excellent spell of possession by the Blades ends with Burke taking Ampadu’s pass, spinning, and shooting low and hard towards the near post, where Henderson saves.
40 mins: Greenwood takes on Egan, bursting into the penalty area, and looks to have gone past him and opened up a shooting chance only for the defender to get a toe to the ball.
38 mins: Chance for the home side! McGoldrick gets to the byline but then decides against crossing and in favour of having a shot from a near-impossible angle, which duly hits Henderson.
36 mins: “’United nearly equalise’?! I think you’ll find United are leading 1-0 mate, that’s the first United, the originals, accept no imitations!” writes Steve Hewlett regarding my 19th-minute update. I bloody hate liveblogging one United against another United. Teams should not be allowed to have the same second-bit-of-name as other teams. They should have rules to stop it, like racehorses.
35 mins: The Sheffield United defence are handling Martial and Rashford as if they have never previously witnessed humans running and have no idea what is happening.
35 mins: Nearly a third for the visitors! Martial plays in Rashford, who again takes a touch before shooting early, but this time it’s low and too close to Ramsdale.
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-2 Manchester United (Martial, 33 mins)
Another chipped pass over the home defence, and this one from Pogba releases Martial, who gets there just before Ramsdale, gets a lucky bounce that leaves the keeper nowhere, and turns in!
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31 mins: At the other end Fernandes lifts another pass over the home defence, Martial chests it down, and Egan gets over to turn the ball behind before the Frenchman can finish.
30 mins: McGoldrick crosses from the left, and the ball is just too high for Basham, skimming the top of his head at the far post.
Marcus Rashford, that is superb!@ManUtd are back on level terms 🔴#PLonPrime #SHUMUN pic.twitter.com/AmRjlLfNpK
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 17, 2020
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-1 Manchester United (Rashford, 26 mins)
So it turned out that letting Manchester United pass the ball around the halfway line wasn’t a great idea. Lindelof eventually lifts it over everybody, and Rashford runs onto it, controls it beautifully, and slams a dipping shot past Ramsdale before the keeper knows what’s happening!
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25 mins: No signs yet that the Blades are ready to sit back and defend their lead. Having said that, United have had the ball for a couple of minutes now, mainly around the halfway line.
21 mins: The Blades play the ball down the left flank for Burke to run onto, but Lindelof beats him to it, and as the two players fall over each other Burke gets a stud or two in his thigh, entirely accidentally, and calls the physios on to look at the resulting scratches.
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19 mins: And now United nearly equalise! Bruno Fernandes lifts a lovely pass through to Rashford, who runs into the area but shoots wide as Ramsdale narrowed his angles! The linesman’s flag turned out to be raised, but I’m certain that Stevens was playing Rashford onside and the goal would have counted had it only been scored.
16 mins: Nearly a second! Excellent approach play, and a delightful flick from Basham to loop the ball over his shoulder, leave Matic floundering and prance away with possession, ends with Fleck running onto a low cross and shooting just wide!
15 mins: Tony Martial is played through, but Ramsdale is out like a whippet to reach the ball first and blooter it to safety.
12 mins: Berge will not return to the field tonight, and Phil Jagielka is on instead.
11 mins: Ramsdale boots a long pass over everyone and through to Henderson; he rolls it out to Pogba, who boots a long pass over everyone and through to Ramsdale.
8 mins: Berge races down the right before pulling up, clutching his right hamstring. He is being attended just off the pitch while play continues.
7 mins: The corner, incidentally, was interesting without being very fruitful. The Blades absolutely loaded the six-yard box with bodies before swinging the ball in, and Henderson did well to fight through the crowd and push the ball clear.
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GOAL! Sheffield United 1-0 Manchester United (McGoldrick, 5 mins)
A nightmare for Dean Henderson! Maguire passes to him and instead of just booting it clear he gives Burke a chance to close him down and block his attempted pass. The ball rolls loose, and Burke touches it back to McGoldrick, who hammers into the empty net!
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4 mins: A corner kick for the home side. You’d have thought set pieces could be important for them tonight, so let’s see what they’re made of.
2 mins: The Blades have started rather brightly. “The photo of the gushing sprinklers in full glory makes me wonder if Solskjaer’s men are about to meet their Waterlog, er Waterloo,” smirks Peter Oh.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! The game is on!
The players are on the pitch! Can one United keep their 100% away run running? Can the other United haul themselves out of their stinking cesspit of misery? Time to find out!
And we’ve now heard from Chris Wilder:
We have to get on with it. It’s a ruthless division, and you have to quickly get over it. It wasn’t a very good performance, where we set our bar, not just this season but over three or four years, it didn’t sit well with me and I’m sure a reaction today will be seen. Hopefully we can cause them problems.
They’ve got some fabulous players, so we’re going to have to defend very very well, but we want to have a threat as well. If we’re sat on the edge of the box for 90 minutes we’re going to get beat, so we want to force the issue when we get an opportunity to play. They’ve got some world-class performers. This is a world-class football club, in the top three, top five of world football. There’s a big gulf in terms of the clubs but we’re going to try to close that gap tonight by being aggressive, trying to put some pressure on them. But we’re going to have to play really well tonight to get a result.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a chat:
I’ve picked a team that I feel is ready for this game. I think Dean [Henderson] has played really well, of course he did really well last time against West Ham when he played in the league. I’ve got two great goalkeepers, and today is Dean’s chance. We’ve seen loads of their games and they’ve been tight games and they’ve missed loads of chances, so we know it’s going to be a very difficult game. Without the fans it’ll be a bit different to last season. We just have to take one game at a time and keep improving. Today is a test, a challenge, and one we didn’t pass with great colours last season. 3-3, but we had 20 minutes then when we were scintillating.
Here’s a reminder of the occasionally ludicrous goings-on in that game:
Apparently there hasn’t been enough rain recently.
So Oli McBurnie is indeed out with the shoulder injury that was troubling him in the build-up. He, Jagielka and Sharp all drop out of the Sheffield United side that lost at Southampton on Sunday, while Robinson, Burke and McGoldrick come in. Manchester United make four changes: Dean Henderson replaces David de Gea at the ground where he starred on loan last season, while Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic and Anthony Martial also come in, and Shaw, Fred and McTominay drop out.
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The teams!
The team news is in, and these are tonight’s star attractions:
Sheff Utd: Ramsdale, Baldock, Basham, Egan, Robinson, Stevens, Berge, Ampadu, Fleck, Burke, McGoldrick. Subs: Sharp, Mousset, Jagielka, Norwood, Verrips, Osborn, Brewster.
Man Utd: Henderson, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Alex Telles, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, Martial, Rashford. Subs: De Gea, Mata, Fred, James, Shaw, van de Beek, McTominay.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
The Blades starting XI. 👊
— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) December 17, 2020
United manager Chris Wilder makes three changes for tonight’s home game against Man Utd. Oli McBurnie misses out with injury.#SHUMUN 🔴 pic.twitter.com/BnKvmmHkmE
😤 Another big away day awaits... here's your United XI 👇
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 17, 2020
🔴 #MUFC
#️⃣ #SHUMUN
🏆 #PL
Hello world!
It’s the battle of the Uniteds, a match between the team that sits bottom of the home table with one point from six games (despite having only hosted one of the top six) and the side that tops the away table with a maximum 15 points from five (not to belittle this achievement, but the nine away games they have scheduled for the next four months include visits to Leicester, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham). The killer stat heading into this game is that the last time a top-flight side had one point or fewer after 12 games it was Manchester United, and it was October 1930. That is the year nineteen hundred and thirty of the common era.
If it helps, United won their 13th game that year. They still got relegated, mind.
Meanwhile the man who scored both Sheffield goals in their last victory over Manchester United is now 52 and five sixths. And here is his pre-match message:
Crunch time for the Blades tonight, characters needed, give your all,leave everything out there on the pitch. Be a leader, be brave be the one who creates the spark,be infectious. Make sure your body language is saying I’m in this with you . You can never get these times back!
— Brian Deane (@deanobri1968) December 17, 2020
Listen, let’s be blunt here: there seems little chance for the Blades, even against a wildly inconsistent Manchester United side, but hey, football, isn’t it? Well, let’s hope so.
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