Sunday 20th September, 2015
Southampton may have beaten Louis Van Gaal’s men back in January at Old Trafford but you have to go back to August 2003 to find their next win in the history books between these two sides. Such has been the dominance of the Manchester side in the Premier League over the south coast club that they boast a total of 22 wins in all. However United have failed to keep a clean sheet in the last seven games against the Saints.
Southampton have won just two of their last eleven league games though they have kept successive clean sheets against Watford, Norwich and West Bromwich Albion. United in comparison started the season with 3 successive clean sheets and have conceded just 3 goals in 5 games so far. David de Gea who was recalled to the starting line-up for the win against Liverpool last week has failed to keep a clean sheet in his last 8 appearances for the club.
Morgan Schneiderlin returns to the club where he made his name and there’s also a return to the starting line-up for a fit again Wayne Rooney. Marcos Rojo starts in place of Luke Shaw who suffered a horrific leg break during the week away to PSV Eindhoven. Maya Yoshida comes in for Cédric Soares for the Saints as he is supposed to be better defensively than the Portuguese defender. I may have to beg to differ on that one especially given that Soares can operate as a wing back and has already provided a couple of assists this season.
Ten minutes in and Dušan Tadić has the first real opportunity of note from either sides but his shot goes well wide from 20 yards. Disappointing from the Serbian midfielder. Three minutes later and the Saints are on the attack again, James Ward Prose crosses to Sadio Mané but his shot is saved by de Gea before the ball falls to Graziano Pellè who knocks in the rebound to make the score 1-0 to the Saints and he runs off an with an ode to the rugby world cup and celebrates his goal by pretending to dive in for a try.
So nearly a second goal just three minutes later and it’s that man Pellè again as he turns beautifully and wrong foots Danny Blind but his effort comes off the post. De Gea does not look happy with his defenders there. Saints are all over United at the moment and Louis van Gaal’s men just cannot get a foothold in this game early on. Penalty shout on 26 minutes as Ward-Prowse is brought down by Rojo in the box but nothing given.
34 minutes and United equalise but Juan Mata was clearly offside there. I thought this new offside rule was supposed to make things easier for officials. Take nothing away from man of the moment Anthony Martial whose neat turn left Virgil van Dijk with no chance before slotting the ball in the back of the net for his second goal since joining the club but that shouldn’t have counted. Saints will feel hard done by when they see that replayed back later on.
Four minutes to half time and the ball falls to Schneiderlin after a quick corner kick was sent across the line and pulled back but the French midfielder fails to even hit the target against his old club.
Into the second half and five minutes in Yoshida the quote unquote “better defender” has had a proper mare there as an attempted back pass goes horribly wrong and Martial goes one on one with Maarten Stekelenburg and slots it past him like he’s been doing this for decades. United take the lead in a match that Saints absolutely dominated for the first half hour but now they’re just ball watching. That truly was some awful defending there from the Japanese defender. If that was done in a fight he’d have had to have fallen on his sword for bringing dishonour to his side. Will this spark some sort of come back from the home side?
58 minutes in and we finally see what United pay David de Gea two hundred grand a week for as he pulls of a wonderful one handed save from a José Fonte header. The Portuguese central defender must have thought he’d found the equaliser there from Tadić’s cross.
Twenty two minutes to go and United are in possession in midfield and the ball is being passed around like they’re on the training pitch on a Monday morning. They’re going left, they’re going right, left again and so on trying to find a way through the Saints midfield and defence to get to goal. I hope someone is counting these passes because the number just keeps going up and up and no one is even attempting to challenge for the ball from the home sides point of view. Bastian Schweinsteiger is conducting this like his team mates are his orchestra and finally his balls finds Memphis who shoots and he’s hit the post but the ball rebounds to Mata who isn’t offside this time and he slots it in to make it 3-2. Wow. Apparently United were in possession of the ball for 2 minutes 40 seconds there and made a total of 45 passes in that goal. I believe that’s what the Dutch refer to as Total Football.
Fifteen minutes on the clock remain in this game as Mané goes into the area and he’s seen Chris Smalling stick his boot out and that’s an outrageous dive there. Tom Daley would have been proud of that one. Mark Clattenburg failed to spot Mata’s offside for the first United goal and he’s not booked Mané for simulation. They might as well have pulled someone random out of the crowd to have officiated this game.
Four minutes to go and Mané manages to stay on his feet this time and his ball into the box finds Pellè and he’s made it 2-3 from 8 yards with de Gea just stood flat footed as the ball nestles into the net. Oh how the Italian likes scoring at home for the Saints. Just a pity he hasn’t had any success in locating all those nets in other parts of the country. Can the Saints rescue a point late on here at St Mary’s?
Into the first minute of additional time and another Mané cross into the box this time finds Tadić. They could have done with it finding Pellè instead as his header, or should that be part head / more shoulder is well – pants. Second minute of additional time and Ronald Koeman’s men haven’t given up yet. They started the better team and have finished by far the stronger so why did they look like they stopped trying in the middle of this game. Victor Wanyama forces de Gea into a surely match winning one handed save. There’s the final whistle and United have held on for the win despite late pressure from the home side.
Post-game Koeman decides to highlight United’s defensive frailties. In that case I shall highlight the fact that the Dutchman chose to play Yoshida over Soares who would have provided his side with much more of an attacking threat from the wings. Surely he only had to look at the way Swansea played when they beat United 2-1 to know that van Gaal’s side can be vulnerable defensively. Oh and let’s not forget that almighty fuck up for Martial’s second goal. I think they’re guilty of paying United too much respect once they score the equaliser and only regained their confidence and self-belief when it was too late to save the game. That result takes United up to second in the table two points behind Manchester City. Is that table right? Blimey how did that happen. Oh yeah West Ham won away at City yesterday how could I forget. Come on you Irons!
Two nil & we f**ked it up 