Ruben Neves hails four ‘really strong’ Manchester United stars after Wolves win

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Ruben Neves admits Wolves struggled to cope with Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen, Jadon Sancho and Antony during Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

Now, we do have to take issue with one thing the Portugal international said during his post-match press conference.

Manchester United? ‘Really clinical up front’? Are you sure?

‘Clinical’ is not a word many Red Devils supporters would use to describe a team which managed 27 shots on goal but had to wait until stoppage time to seal three valuable points this weekend. ‘Wasteful’ is perhaps a more accurate description.

Not for the first time in recent months, Man United created chance after chance, and missed chance after chance.

Manchester United stay patient in Wolves win

Daniel Bentley, impressive on debut, certainly played his part; the former Bristol City keeper making fine saves to deny Antony, Casemiro and Sancho.

“I’m really happy and proud of his performance today and hope he has lots of success in the future,” Neves says of the seldom-seen shot-stopper, who also earned praise from both Ten Hag and Bruno Fernandes at full-time.

“It was a really hard game. They started the game really well and pressed us a lot. They are a really strong team in the counter-attacks and when they have the ball in the middle of the pitch, because then they have very fast players up front.

“It’s really hard to defend against them. All their chances have come on the counter-attack because they are one of the best teams doing that.”

Fernandes pounced on a Wolves error in the build-up to Anthony Martial’s opener; his slide-rule pass making Antony’s second Premier League assist a formality. Supersub Garnacho added a second off the bench; showcasing the composure many of his team-mates lacked, while adding to his growing collection of ‘clutch’ moments.

Aura, thy name is Alejandro.

“With Bruno and Eriksen doing passes, and Sancho and Antony running a lot, it’s really hard to play against them,” Neves adds. “They did the same for the goals. It’s really hard.

“The second-goal (from Garnacho), we were all up front trying to get a point here and they scored, but the game was like that. We tried to play, and they scored the goals at what they are better at.”