Victorious Wolves boss Vitor Pereira was anxious to play down comparisons between his immediate impact at Wolves and the tortuous bedding-in process fellow countryman Ruben Amorim is enduring at Manchester United.

“It was not Vitor v Ruben, it was Wolves v Manchester United,” said Pereira after his side’s 2-0 win at Molineux. “Ruben is a top coach in my opinion and with time he will show his level.”

However, it is hard to ignore some basic mathematical realities.

In two matches since replacing Gary O’Neil at Wolves, Pereira has guided his new club to two victories. Those six points are one fewer than Amorim has managed in his seven league games as head coach following the dismissal of Erik ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy’s short spell as interim.

Amorim’s five defeats in his first 10 matches in all competitions is the worst performance by any new United manager since Walter Crickmer in 1932. He lost six out of 10.

That is quite some statistic.

Some may argue it is also completely meaningless. Crickmer was part of a bygone age when there was no such thing as a manager – twice he stepped up from his day job as club secretary to “take charge of team affairs”, according to United’s own website.

Amorim is not a manager either. His title as coach was a change from the past, part of the collective responsibility the new structure instigated by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe that has been put in place.

But Amorim is the man who must find answers, starting with his side’s continual inability to defend set-pieces.

“Of course, we analyse every match and try to understand the spaces we can explore,” was Pereira’s almost sheepish reaction when asked if Wolves had targeted United goalkeeper Andre Onana by trying to score directly from a corner.

Goalscorer Matheus Cunha had already given the game away speaking to Amazon Prime.

“I meant to go for the goal,” he said. “We trained that during the week.”

United must have been setting some kind of unwanted record in English top-flight football by conceding twice directly from corners in the space of a week given Son Heung-min did exactly the same thing for Tottenham in the EFL Cup.

It would be embarrassing enough if that was the extent of United’s set-piece woe.

That would be to forget the two goals they conceded at Arsenal in that fashion, Nottingham Forest’s early goal at Old Trafford earlier this month and, after that, Dean Huijsen’s opener for Bournemouth on 22 December.

“When you are jumping, the slightest touch – against Tottenham it was on the arm, today it was the back – makes it really hard to catch the ball,” said Amorin. “That’s it.”

Amorim dismissed Wolves’ second goal, in the ninth minute of stoppage time, because it came at a point when United were chasing the game.

That task was not made any easier by the dismissal of skipper Bruno Fernandes for the third time this season when, having already been booked in the first-half, clipped Wolves captain Nelson Semedo at the start of the second to trigger a second yellow, a red, and suspension for Monday’s Old Trafford visit of Newcastle.

“I am always frustrated with a red card but it can happen,” said Amorim. “He wants to go for the ball but the other guy touches it first. There is contact but it is tough on him.”

If there was fortune in this success for Wolves it came only through the fact Cunha has yet to face the Football Association over a misconduct charge for his actions in the melee after the home defeat by Ipswich earlier this month.

So crucial is the Brazilian to Wolves, it is difficult to imagine they would have achieved this success without him. The potential for a long ban hung as heavy over Molineux as the mist that remained throughout the evening.

“He is a top player, a special player,” said Pereira. “He knows he lost emotional control [after the Ipswich game] but he is a very good person.”

Pereira also spoke about the “energy” in his dressing room, the determination of his players and the connection with the supporters. This he has achieved, in less than a fortnight.

For Amorim, the struggle goes on.

After Newcastle comes a visit to Anfield and a meeting with old rivals Liverpool. Two years ago, United lost 7-0 there. They have already been beaten 3-0 at home by Arne Slot’s side this season.

The worry about what is to come from a period that also includes a trip to Arsenal in the FA Cup third round is palpable.

“It’s a tough moment and we are far from the end of this moment,” said Amorim, who left Marcus Rashford out of his matchday squad for the fourth game running.

“I manage but I haven’t trained. They [players] need time to train because they are changing completely their way of playing. It is hard on them.

“In this moment we just have to survive and win sometimes. Like I said on the first day, we have to fight these bad moments.”

Asked how long this might take, Amorim offer no cause for optimism: “I have no idea. No idea.”