Premiership: Varane, Onana Rescue Rusty Man United

• As stubborn Wolves fall 0-1 at Old Trafford
• VAR saves Keeper Onana’s blushes

Kicking off the new season on Monday night with protests as fans continue to express their upset with the Glazer ownership of the club, manager Erik ten Hag tutored Manchester United started their tricky second album with a win, thanks to French defender, Raphaël Varane’s header against Wolverhampton Wanderers (popularly called ‘Wolves’).

A win far from deserved for the Old Trafford Landlords, the game was also not without a late scare as André Onana collided with two Wolves players in the penalty area when trying to punch out a cross but the VAR saw nothing untoward in the incident.

Varane, a World Cup winner with the French national team, got the job done by nodding home the only goal of the game off Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross in the 76th minute. On his part, Cameroonian-born debutant keeper Onana played with courage on his competitive debut and, unlike in the friendly against Lens, his tendency to roam did not get him into trouble. He made a series of smart saves from Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto, and Fabio Silva (twice) to shut out an impressive Wolves side.

This was far from the performance Manchester United would have expected after a summer of lavish spending but they somehow got away with it, beating an excellent Wolves side 1-0 to start the season with three points. Manager ten-Hag would sure be worried that one of his new signings, Mason Mount had a really disappointing competitive debut. However, the cheering news is that Mount’s fellow new arrival, keeper Onana made four big saves to keep out Gary O’Neil’s rampant visitors, who defied expectations just a week after parting ways with coach Julen Lopetegui.

On the night, Wolves left Old Trafford frustrated having wasted a collection of chances to pick a point or even win the match. However, while the visitors should be happy that their new era does not look as doomed as many feared when Julen Lopetegui left days before the season started, on their part, the Red Devils would be relieved to get off the mark.

Wolves also hit the woodwork and will be wondering how they did not take more from the game. In the end, Wolves were made to pay for wasting their chances. It was inevitable that United, despite being average, would take advantage of the visitors’ failures inside the box to make a winning start to their season