When it comes to the art of winning ugly, it is a trait that Manchester United seem to have mastered so far this season.
The Reds secured their fifth Premier League win of the campaign on Saturday evening, beating bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane. Goals either side of half-time from Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot clinched all three points on an emotion-filled evening in South Yorkshire.
When it comes to the art of winning ugly, it is a trait that Manchester United seem to have mastered so far this season.
The Reds secured their fifth Premier League win of the campaign on Saturday evening, beating bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane. Goals either side of half-time from Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot clinched all three points on an emotion-filled evening in South Yorkshire.
Though United’s second-half performance merited all three points, their showing over the course of the full 90 minutes was far from perfect. They were sloppy in possession for long spells and, certainly in the first half, failed to take the game to their opponents in the way manager Erik ten Hag would have wanted.
They failed to dictate proceedings in the first half against a team that had been walloped 8-0 by Newcastle United in their previous home game. After the interval, however, United were much improved, enjoying more of the ball and putting the Blades under sustained periods of pressure.
However, it took a moment of brilliance from Dalot to unlock a stubborn Blades defence for a second time. His strike maintained United’s record of clinching each of their victories in the league this season by a one-goal margin.
They spent a lavish amount of money in the summer, strengthening several key areas within the squad, but they are still yet to come up with a polished 90-minute performance this term. As a caveat, however, it is important to be mindful of the amount of injuries they have had to contend with.
Though everyone associated with United, however, would prefer it if Ten Hag’s troops could turn up the heat and start to make life a little bit easier for themselves, the art of being able to dig in and find a way to win should not go unnoticed. Victories by a one-goal margin, as crazy as it can sometimes sound, can often be the best victories, with those being the ones that you look back on come the end of the season and recognise their importance.
“It has to be a turning point and also a restart,” said Ten Hag, speaking after the dramatic win over Brentford prior to the international break. “The spirit is good. The team is together. We have shown that. These games give fuel to the dressing room.”
Though it wasn’t pretty, United did build on that win by edging out Paul Heckingbottom’s side, producing another performance that was built on fighting spirit, as opposed to free-flowing football. The trip to Bramall Lane marked the beginning of a vitally important three-game week for the Reds, with back-to-back home games against FC Copenhagen and Manchester City up next.
The Champions League meeting with Copenhagen on Tuesday is, without any shadow of a doubt, a must-win game for United. They have lost their opening two fixtures in Group A and failure to beat the Danish side would leave their hopes of advancing to the last-16 hanging by a thread.
With that in mind, though everyone of a United persuasion who walks into Old Trafford on Tuesday night will want to see some glitz and glamour, it must be considered that a 1-0 win would be acceptable. United, it seems, are not in a position to blow teams away yet, meaning another slender win would be no great surprise.
If they can add a couple more one-goal margin victories to their tally this week, nobody will be complaining.
