Sheffield United players celebrating after a 2-1 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday (Getty Images)
Bottom of the table, Sheffield United stunned Manchester United 2-1 last Wednesday putting a severe dent in the title hopes of the former champions. Goals from Kean Bryan and substitute Oliver Burke helped secure a rare win for Sheffield United this season as United’s indifferent home form continued. United captain, Harry Maguire got the consolation goal for the hosts.
After a wonderful performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday, many would have predicted that the Red Devils would have tormented The Blades with a handful of goals. It was the perfect opportunity for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men to somersault over rivals Manchester City back into top spot in the league.
United had been on an unbeaten run dating back to November and would have gone into this game positively thinking of easily grabbing three more points, or so they thought. Although playing as the underdogs, The Blades barked rather loudly in the 23rd minute when Kean Bryan scored a flicked header from a John Flecker’s corner, which ricocheted off the back post and went in.
Sheffield United continued to build confidence and gained momentum as the game progressed, creating several more chances of their own. Anthony Martial had a 29th-minute goal ruled out as Harry Maguire had previously fouled goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the 6-yard box. However, the former Sheffield man Harry Maguire leveled things with with a cutting edge header off a Bruno Fernandes corner kick. The game was looking up for Manchester United at this point, hoping that their coming from behind luck would have followed them in this game, having done so on seven previous games.
This time it was not to be as Sheffield United responded 16-minutes after Maguire’s equalizer. After failing to clear their lines properly, substitute Oliver Burke’s placement shot was deflected via Axel Tuanzebe onwards goal passing David de Gea, who was sent the wrong way.
Ironically although tabled at the bottom of the league, Sheffield United brought to Old Trafford a top-tier defensive performance. They were able to neutralize several Manchester United attacks and secured three points for only the second time this season.
Manchester United may well have been complacent in this matchup as their performance was below par, which begs the question of this roller-coaster performance capturing the league title. Marcus Rashford was not at his usual best missing several chances, many of which were off-target. Other team members were also off their game, and the forward movement lacked fluidity and a purposeful sense of direction.
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