Manchester United 4 v 2 Sheffield United

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Manchester United 4 v 2 Sheffield United
Wednesday 24th April 2024

MUFC musings - 2023/24 season, matchday 33

Bruno Fernandes inspired United to a 4-2 win against bottom of the table Sheffield United last night. The captain now has 7 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games. His energy,  commitment and urgency are absolutely vital to the team.

Of course, United being United, made it harder than it should have been! With 85% of possession in the first 30-minutes, we still somehow allowed Sheffield United to take the lead on 35 after a poor pass out of defence by Onana.

Maguire scored before half-time, yet within 5-minutes of the restart United were behind again!

Antony was rightly hooked for Diallo and the youngster has to start at the weekend. He offers a greater threat than the Brazilian, more energy and a better attitude. It's no contest. I can understand that Ten Hag wants to give Antony a chance, his head will go down if he is dropped. Yet it must have dawned on the boss that this signing hasn't worked for player or club. Antony is not good enough.

Sheffield were not ahead for long and Fernandes converted a penalty on 61-minutes, leaving plenty of time to find a winner.

United dominated and played some decent football, but it took something special to break through the Sheffield defence and Bruno was the man to do it. Fernandes rifled in an outstanding goal from 25-yards.

View from the Stretford End for Bruno's goal

Hojlund scored a 4th after some lovely build up play, a much needed goal for the Danish striker who has taken time to fully recover from injury. Hojlund has also been starved of service. He knows where the goal is and hopefully he'll go on a little goalscoring run through to the end of the season.

It should be noted that the 250th graduate of United's youth academy made his debut towards the end of the game. Young Wheatley looked lively and with such a lack of options upfront, I'm sure he'll make further appearances before the end of the season.

Next up at Old Trafford is Burnley in a rare Saturday 3pm kick off. It has to be another 3-points as Sheffield United travel to Newcastle. The Magpies lost away to Crystal Palace last night (never an easy place to go), leaving United 3-points ahead in what looks like a straight 2-team race for 6th place. Newcastle's goal difference is essentially another point for them though.

All in all, a good performance from an injury hit United. Bruno and Garnacho offered the greatest threat with their running and movement. Adding Diallo to that duo on Saturday should result in another win and some more goals.

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