Manchester United 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers: 3 Reasons why the Red Devils won the game | FA Cup 2019-20

#1 Individual brilliance

Manchester United v Wolverhampton Wanderers - FA Cup Third Round: Replay

With the speed of Martial, James and Rashford and the technicality of Juan Mata on the pitch, it was expected that United would cause the Wolves defence quite a few problems in the final third. The home team did have a couple of chances to take the lead in the first half, but Wolves stayed strong at the back and refused to budge.

After the break, as the away side grew a little more adventurous, United found more space to run into in the opposition half. And in the 67th minute, a fast and fluid transition from back to front caught Wolves off guard. When Martial received the ball in the half-line, the visitors were already on the backfoot. The Frenchman had Wolves backpedaling and he was conscious enough to catch Mata’s brilliant run ahead of him. Martial played an inch-perfect through ball for the Spaniard to latch into and Mata timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap.

The Spaniard arrived in the box with the Wolves goalkeeper rushing out of his line to close him down. Despite the pressure of two Wolves players on his shoulders, Mata kept his cool and lifted the ball over Ruddy to give United the lead.