Ryan Giggs has this evening provided his take on the penalty drama from Manchester United’s stalemate with Wolves.
Wolves stall United
The Red Devils travelled to Molineux last night, for their 2nd Premier League outing of the season.
United got their campaign off to a blistering start the weekend prior, with a 4-0 drubbing of Chelsea at Old Trafford.
And, on the back of city rivals Manchester City’s dropped points at home to Tottenham on Saturday, Solskjaer’s men headed into proceedings aware that a 3-point haul would see them leapfrog current joint-table toppers Liverpool and Arsenal.
Sadio Mane celebrates after scoring during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
But, when all was said and done at Molineux, United failed to get the job done.
A dominant first-half display on the part of the Manchester giants saw Anthony Martial hand the visitors a deserved lead just before the half-hour mark, with Solskjaer’s men having looked in full control of proceedings.
However, a major shift in the flow of the clash following the interval, set in motion by Adama Traore replacing Matt Doherty, eventually resulted in Ruben Neves levelling things up ten minutes into the second-half, with a trademark strike:
If you’ve not seen this yet, stop whatever you’re doing!
An unreal view of an unreal goal! @rubendsneves_
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 20, 2019
The remaining half hour-plus saw few clear-cut chances carved out, save for one golden opportunity for visitors United.
A burst into the Wolves box with 68 minutes on the clock saw Paul Pogba draw a foul, with the Frenchman having dusted himself down before stepping up to take the spot-kick himself.
Pogba’s effort, however, was brilliantly stopped by the diving Rui Patricio, a save which, when all was said and done, secured a share of the spoils for the hosts.
Rashford steps aside
The majority of the post-match analysis last night unsurprisingly surrounded Pogba’s missed spot-kick, with a particular emphasis on why the Frenchman, and not Marcus Rashford, stepped up to take the penalty.
Rashford took on the responsibility of the Red Devils’ first spot-kick of the season, two weekends ago versus Chelsea.
The English attacker stepped forward with supreme confidence versus Frank Lampard’s men, before dispatching his ensuing effort beyond the helpless Kepa in superb fashion.
A short discussion between Rashford and Pogba last night, though, saw the latter overrule his younger teammate, with Rashford having looked relatively content to allow Pogba to pull rank.
‘Should have been Marcus’
United legend Ryan Giggs, however, has urged Rashford not to allow such a scenario to unfold again moving forward.
Speaking in an interview with Optus Sport, Giggs revealed his opinion that the 21-year-old should be ‘demanding’ spot-kick duties:
‘[Rashford is a] centre-forward, scores a goal in his first league game, penalty. You get another penalty in the next game, you’ve got to be demanding to take it.’
‘It’s a shame, he was really disciplined tonight, Pogba.’
‘Pogba has not got a great record either of scoring penalties. He doesn’t score every penalty he takes.’
‘It seems like whoever wins the penalty gets to take it. I wonder if [Harry] Maguire or [Victor] Lindelof win the penalty, who gets to take it?’
‘I was surprised. I’m not surprised that Paul Pogba stepped up, because he’s that kind of player, which is obviously encouraging.’
‘I’m just surprised when you’ve scored a penalty the game before, that you get a penalty the next game you don’t take it. So you open up to criticism then, because if Marcus misses it then OK, you can miss a penalty. But now everybody is talking about why Marcus didn’t take it, why did Pogba take it?’
‘It should have been Marcus. It’s a strange one because before the game you usually have a designated penalty taker and you would think it would be Marcus after scoring last week. Like I say, he’s done it the week before.’
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