3 Reasons Why Manchester United were held to a 3-3 draw by Sheffield United

Manchester United were 20 minutes from defeat and 3 minutes from a win but the insane game eventually ended in a draw. In what was a rollercoaster of a game for both sides, it'll be a bittersweet end for Ole Gunnar Solkjaer and Chris Wilder.

Sheffield United controlled the game entirely in the first half, preventing Manchester United from creating anything meaningful while looking dangerous in attack at the other end. Their two goals in the first half forced United to change tack and something seemed to click for them in the second half as they got back into it.

A spell of eight minutes is all it took for Solskjaer's men to get back in the game, equalise, and go ahead. It may have been simple for the home side to accept the comeback and let match dawdle to an end but they showed a burst of quality and determination to nick another goal and equalise.

15 minutes of horror for Sheffield United

Rashford capped off an 8-minute spell when Sheffield United looked hapless

Chris Wilder's teams are never without a gameplan. It seemed evident from the starting whistle that they had identified United's left flank as a weak point and consistently tried to create overloads down that side. When the play got crowded on that wing, a quick switch of play opened it up again.

Everything went to plan for about 60 minutes and just when they were starting to settle for the result and set up shop, Manchester United had a fortunate breakthrough with the ball landing at Brandon Williams' feet and the teenager made no mistake in a crowded box.

For the 15 minutes that followed, Sheffield seemed to have lost all sense of a plan. They were all over the place and the likes of Daniel James had plenty of space to operate in and run at the defenders. Not only did they go ahead but they could have gone ahead if they had taken all their chances.

Only late on did Sheffield start to regain composure and get at the Manchester United defence, just about in time.

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The battle for midfield supremacy

Lundstram's shot was blocked but Fleck was nearby to sweep home the rebound

A big part of the reason Sheffield United had the better of the first half was their sheer numbers in the middle of the park. Manchester United won no clean second balls, everything was contested and Sheffield often came out on top in a physical contest.

Fred and Andreas Pereira found themselves in an uphill battle going up against Lundstram, Norwood, and Fleck in the middle with McGoldrick dropping in to support them. Juxtapose that against a static Antony Martial, some fairly aimless movement from Marcus Rashford, and Daniel James holding his wide position, meaning that the midfield duo were isolated.

The second half saw two key changes in the system, Jesse Lingard replaced Phil Jones to make it a midfield three and the forward line dropped a few metres closer to the midfield. That nullified Sheffield United's numbers and allowed the likes of James and substitute Mason Greenwood to take on players, while Martial could drop into spaces to receive the ball as Sheffield were pushed back.

Impact of the substitutes

Mason Greenwood scored his first Premier League goal for Manchester United

Jesse Lingard coming on for Manchester United provided the visitors with much-needed midfield support whether it meant an extra man to receive the ball or another runner taking away players and creating space.

The other change made by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was to send Mason Greenwood on in place of Andreas Pereira. The youngster was keen to take players on and was successful in driving the home defence back. He, of course, had a more tangible impact on the game when he got on the scoresheet to equalise for Manchester United.

Sheffield United had their own game-changing impact as Oli McBurnie who came off the bench scored their 90th-minute equaliser. However, it's also important to note Callum Robinson's impact as the change of shape when he came on provided Sheffield more bodies in the final third while Manchester United were tried to see out the game.