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| United Caught Watching Against Wolves |
Although the result will keep the Reds at the top of the standings, their 29-game Premier League unbeaten streak came to a screeching halt against the league's worst team.
Unsurprisingly, Sir Alex Ferguson was only going to make one change to the team that beat Aston Villa with Rafael displacing John O'Shea at right-back, but Rio Ferdinand picked up an injury in the pre-match warm-up, which saw Jonny Evans called in to provide cover.
However, that did not change effect Sir Alex's choice to keep the fan-favorite 4-4-2 formation in place of the normal 4-3-3 that he tends to goes with away from Old Trafford.
With very few goals ever scored in this fixture at the Molineux Stadium, the United boss decided to keep the first-choice striking partnership between Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney.
Recap
However, it was the visitors that were ahead inside of three minutes after some slack defending from Wolves.
Nani latched onto a great ball from Darren Fletcher, but his markers, both Elokobi and Christophe Berra, invited him to shoot and he made Wolves pay with another left-footed goal.
Some nice passing saw Berbatov tee up Rooney, but his shot lacked the power to beat Wayne Hennessey as the goalkeeper did well to hang on to it.
Again, Nani was given way too much space by Elokobi, but this time his shot with his right foot was directly at Wolves goalkeeper.
The late central defensive change cost United as Wolves drew level in the 10th minute.
The organization from the corner kick was poor, and Elokobi, who has been terrible at the other end, hammered his unchallenged header passed van der Sar.
The game was very wide open and both teams were being allowed space to pick out the passes, but the end product from both teams was not good enough.
However, United earned a corner, and with Berra draped all over him, Nemanja Vidic got his header off, but Rooney could not direct his volley on target and Wolves cleared the half-chance.
Nani crossed the ball in towards Berbatov, and the Bulgarian's two touches gave him a chance to get a toe-poke, but it lacked the accuracy to really trouble Hennessey.
These two players linked up again a few moments later, but Nani's cross was too soft, and Berbatov could not direct his header on frame.
Wolves were not given in though, and they were enjoying decent spells of possession, which led to Matthew Jarvis laying the ball off to Kevin Doyle, but the striker tried to wiggle his way through the box instead of shooting.
United was becoming a bit sloppy at the back, which was giving the home side more and more confidence as the game was wearing on.
Rooney was chopped down by Richard Stearman from about 25 yards out, but Nani's free-kick flew just over Hennessey's cross bar.
From another set piece, Wolves had another good chance to score, but van der Sar denied Jamie O'Hara's base line shot with his feet.
Rafael was deemed to wipe out Milijas' feet by the referee, and the ensuing free-kick took a massive deflection off the United wall, which, thankfully, ended up as a corner kick rather than in van der Sar's net.
Michael Oliver, who waved away to certain penalties, gave Wolves another free-kick on the edge of the area, and the home team were in front.
Milijas struck the free-kick into a very dangerous area, and Doyle was the most determined and headed the ball in from just three yards out.
Evans made a very positive run from his center-half position, and Karl Henry, who is a very controversial midfielder, tugged him back to earn the first yellow card of the match.
The referee then missed another very poor challenge by Berra as the Wolves' center-half went straight through the back of Rooney, which left Sir Alex screaming on the touchline.
On the verge of first half stoppage-time, Rafael made a bombarding run down the right-hand side, but his cross was put over the Wolves' bar by Nani.
The halftime whistle came, and the Reds need to perform yet another late second-half comeback, or their advantage at the top of the league will be severely loosened.
Looking to provide a breathe of new life in the second half, Sir Alex decided to bring Paul Scholes on for Michael Carrick.
Like he did in the early going of the first half, Nani had a good chance to cut inside on his left, but his left-footed shot did not force Hennessey into making a save as it a few yards wide of the far post.
O'Hara earned the second yellow card of the match as he, too, pulled back Fletcher to stop a certain counterattack from United.
United started to get more on the ball, and Scholes picked out Berbatov with a similar ball to the one he played to him against Blackpool, but, unfortunately, nobody was there to get on the Bulgarians's cross.
Wolves hit United with a counterattack, but O'Hara's weak shot was well cut out by Fletcher, however, the referee should have booked the new loan signing after he wiped out the United midfielder with his wild attempt to win the ball back.
Rafael got passed his marker and drilled a cross into the Wolves' area, but Scholes could not direct his effort on target as it dribbled agonizingly wide of the far post.
Mick McCarthy saw O'Hara treading a fine line so he brought on Kevin Foley, who scored against United in the Carling Cup back in October, to add another defensive minded player on as well.
A graphic hand injury to Rafael allowed a flurry of changes by both managers with Evans and Berbatov coming off in favor of Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez for United and Steven Ward replaced Adam Hammill.
Following the substitution, Sir Alex might rue the change because Rooney was shown a yellow card for a cynical challenge on Ronald Zubar.
The game started to flail out, and the best chance was a wild effort by Nani, which should have been a real worrying sign for United.
Wolves created a half-chance for themselves, but Jarvis' cross was a bit too early to pick out Doyle's near post run, and United could breathe a huge sigh of relief.
A wonderful timed jump by Chicharito saw Rooney given a chance at goal, but Berra did well to block the shot out for a United corner.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, the Reds were beginning to get a little bit more on the ball, but there was no real movement from the United players.
Nani threw a cross into the box, but Rooney had his back to the goal, so he laid it off to Scholes whose shot deflected out for a corner to United.
The Wolves goalkeeper pulled off a great save from an effort by Scholes, but the United midfielder was booked after he used his hands.
There was a bit of steam boiling over when Doyle tried to waste time after the whistle had gone for a free-kick in his favor, so Giggs wiped out his feet in frustration.
McCarthy made his final change bringing on former United youth player Sylvain Ebanks-Blake to replace Milijas, who played a role in both of the Wolves' goals.
Wolverhampton saw the match out and Manchester United suffered their first loss in 10 months in the Barclays Premier League.
Matchball
Rafael showed real heart and determination to try to add some life to the United attack with some driving runs down the right flank.
Ratings
E. van der Sar - 6; Rafael - 7, J. Evans - 4 (C. Smalling - 6), N. Vidic - 6, P. Evra - 6; Nani - 5, M. Carrick - 5 (P. Scholes - 6), D. Fletcher - 5, R. Giggs - 5; W. Rooney - 5, D. Berbatov - 5 (J. Hernandez - 5)
Goals
Nani (3')
Statistics
Possession: 58%
Corners: 6
Shots (On Target): 14 (4)
Fouls Conceded (Suffered): 12 (9)
Bookings: W. Rooney, P. Scholes
Attendance: TBD
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