Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Manchester United: 3 reasons why the Red Devils drew the game | FA Cup 2019-20

Manchester United came into the FA Cup third-round tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers away at the Molineux looking for respite. It's been a bumbling Premier League season so far, and the FA Cup tie was an opportunity for some much-needed reprieve.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chose to rotate his squad and rested heavy hitters like Anthony Martial, Fred, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Marcus Rashford who later came on in search of a winning strike.

Leading the United offensive was the young Mason Greenwood, and team skipper Ashley Young was handed a start. On the other hand, Nuno Espirito Santo chose to bench his talisman Raul Jimenez, however, he brought him on after half time.

It was a somewhat tame game offensively, as both sides combined only mustered 2 shots on target. There were some close calls in the match, as Juan Mata missed the target by whiskers, a Wolves goal was disallowed, and the likes of Rashford & Jimenez came on to have shots hit the crossbar.

In this article, we analyse a few reasons why the FA Cup third-round tie ended in a stalemate.

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#3 Another tame offensive performance from Manchester United

Tahith Chong

Manchester United hasn't dazzled often offensively this season, as they have consistently sputtered when attacking, especially when up against defensively cunning teams which are quite content to sit deep and breakaway on the counter.

United came into the game with a somewhat underwhelming midfield, as the aged Juan Mata & Nemanja Matic were paired with Andreas Pereira. It wasn't the most creatively competent combination, as poor form and creative incompetence were evident in the midfield display.

Up-front, there wasn't a focal point for the attack, as Mason Greenwood was more often than not AWOL, choosing to drop into midfield to pick up the ball, negating his primary offensive duties.

At the end of the encounter, the Red Devils had a total of 12 shots and didn't manage to hit the target, continuing their awful form offensively, as in the last 5 encounters they have now failed to score on 3 occasions.

#2 Sergio Romero to the rescue

Sergio Romero

We don't often see a lot of Sergio Romero, but whenever he does take to the pitch, he always proves to be an able deputy to David de Gea.

In this encounter the Argentinean proved his worth once again, as in an encounter where the chances on target were paltry, he was a capable last line of defence. Wolverhampton Wanderers had just 2 shots on target, and perhaps the best chance in the encounter came in the 13th minute, as the Argentinean masterfully thwarted Matt Doherty.

Leander Dendoncker flicked the ball to the 27-year-old Irishman from a corner kick situation, and Doherty had ample time to volley the ball towards goal, but Romero produced a stunning one-handed save to keep the scores level.

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#1 The onfield referee and VAR make the right call

NO GOAL - Handball

In the 77th minute of the encounter, Manchester United fans had another taste of the all too familiar bitter flavour of an upset, albeit for a couple of seconds.

Matt Doherty seemed dogged in his efforts to breach the United goal line, as a couple of minutes past the hour mark he once again got to the ball deep in United territory, rising higher than Harry Maguire and his cohorts to head the ball past Sergio Romero.

The Irishman wheeled away in celebration, but the referee quickly disallowed the goal. Amid a hint of protest from the onlooking home team players, VAR ran a check and upheld the referee's decision.

Replays showed that the referee's keen eye caught what was a blatant handball, because Doherty's scored perhaps a bootleg version of Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal, as the header bounced off his arm before it evaded Romero and crossed the goal line.