Following the injuries to Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba in recent weeks, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer understandably will have to be creative with the way he chooses his Manchester United team unless they bring in reinforcements in the January transfer window.

The Red Devils have just Fred and Nemanja Matic as their senior options for the deep-lying midfield position, and with the busy Christmas period taking its toll, Solskjaer chose to rest a few players for the FA Cup third round clash against Wolves on Saturday afternoon.

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Whilst Matic retained his place, Andreas Pereira came into the side to partner the former Chelsea man in the middle of the park. The Brazilian's career to date has predominantly seen him play in the attacking midfield roles, either as a number ten or out wide on either flank. Only on two occasions has he played in defensive midfield, and that was back in August 2018, before Solskjaer was manager.

And after seeing his performance against Wolves, the Norwegian will have been left in no doubt as to why it's an experiment he should immediately stop trying. As per Sofascore, the 24-year-old's match rating of 6.2 was the lowest of any United player on the pitch, and when looking at the underlying numbers, it is easy to see why.

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Whilst playing further forward can often see the defensive responsibilities go out the window, Pereira's new position on Saturday afternoon meant he had to show a different side to his game. And he certainly didn't do that. He was dribbled past a staggering five times over the course of the 90 minutes, and won just four out of his 15 total duels. Not to mention the fact that when he did get a hold of the ball, he lost possession 20 times - the most of any United player.

He didn't provide any key passes either, and Solskjaer's team looked toothless as a result. They had nobody to help dictate the game from deeper in midfield, and it was no surprise to see them fail to register a single shot on target in the entire game. The Pereira experiment was a major and unequivocal failure.

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