Raise your hand if you had this game, at home versus Sheffield United, as the night the Manchester United undefeated streak ended. Yes, the Blades, who literally had the worst point total after 19 games in Premier League history sprung the upset over Manchester United.
Prior to Manchester City’s dominating win over West Bromwich Albion yesterday, this match was set to be a battle of first versus last. City leapfrogged United for top of the table, but the Red Devils could have reclaimed the penthouse had they won, like almost everybody thought they would.
Instead the basement boys, who just less than a month ago lost this reverse fixture decisively, pulled out a 2-1 win, the club’s first at the theatre of dreams since 1973. United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had no real explanation for what happened.
“It wasn’t to be,” the Norwegian said in postgame.
“The second goal we conceded is so poor, so sloppy. Lose the ball so easy, get back into position but just stop getting out to the ball. Three or four decisions that were completely out of character.
“Surprised with the world as it is, we’ve been very consistent. It just hit us today. We will dust off the sad feeling and go again.”
OGS rotated his side, which seems like a major mistake now, but hindsight is 20/20. Coming into this match it felt the perfect time to let some starters take a rest. United were certainly lacking in the central/defensive midfield, and that’s because Scott McTominay and Fred were on the bench.
“That magic was missing, that little bit extra,” Solskjaer continued.
“There was not space to run into. They defended well. We didn’t have the right ideas or the solutions weren’t there.”
Only the second win of the campaign for Sheffield, they deserve some credit too. We can’t just bash United for underperforming, we must also plaudit the Blades for rising up.
“Amazing result, really was a must-win for us and I’m chuffed for the boys, they put in a great shift,” said Chris Burke, who scored the game winner for the visitors.
“Amazing feeling and amazing for me to get the goal, I am buzzing for the boys and hopefully we can take that into our next games. We showed great courage and great determination.
“We show great character and never stop, every game we have showed great football but just not taken three points.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.