Premier League club Manchester United defeated Southampton away at St. Mary’s by 1-0 yesterday. After suffering two consecutive losses by Brighton and Brentford, Man Utd is back on winning ways. Erik Ten Hag played an unchanged side and reaped excellent benefits.
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United ended its losing away streak against Southampton. Rashford took the duty of the lone forward this time as well. After a balanced 20 minutes, Saints goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu denied Anthony Elanga first, and later some bodily defending stopped United from taking the lead.
Manchester United kept possession for the longer durations but Southampton continued to be dangerous. Armel Bella-Kotchap missed the target at the 30-minute mark and later goalkeeper David de Gea denied Che Adams moments later.
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Lisandro Martinez who was bullied by Ivan Toney during United’s visit to Brentford was resilient with Raphael Varane at the back. Bruno Fernandes’s free-kick from the edge of the box at the end of the first half was blocked by Southampton’s wall. It was a goalless half but with plenty of moments for both sides.
4 minutes into the second half, Scott McTominay’s shot was saved by Gavin before Varane’s header went over the bar from the corner. Elanga and Fernandes exchanged quick passes and the former could have scored a goal if not for a brilliant tackle by Bella-Kotchap. It was still 0-0.
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Manchester United finally broke the deadlock at the 55th minute. Diago Dalot’s latched on the ball from Jadon Sancho and his out-swinging cross met Bruno Fernandes in the box. The Portuguese had all the time and space in the world to put the ball in the net with a good volley.
Manchester United secure an away victory
Southampton kept fighting till the end. The appeal for a penalty against McTominay did not materialize before de Gea denied Joe Aribo with a fine save. Erik Ten Hag sent Cristiano Ronaldo and his newest signing Casemiro in the end. Despite intense pressure, United’s defense was able to dig out a victory. 1-0 full-time.
Southampton’s wait for its first home victory since 2003 against Manchester United goes on.
Reactions from managers after the match
“I think we did a lot better [than] against Brentford,” said Erik Ten Hag. “I saw a team on the pitch, good organization, fight for each other, and I think there were also some really good moments from playing football.
“We scored finally in the best part of Man United after half-time. I think that 10-15 minutes was really good. We played a really good possession game and scored a wonderful goal.
“There is a lot of room for improvement, that’s quite clear, but for me that is normal. Communication is always tough, that’s one. Second is cooperation with the team, that is new. A new way of play, so a lot of new facts, and that will not go 100 per cent from the start. But we have to get results, we have to win games, and that is what we went through.
“And we did today, so I’m really happy with that,” said Ralph Hasenhuttl. “I think the performance was very good.
“I [did not] have one player in the team where I could say I wasn’t happy about his performance, and that shows you after the game that you did a good job with the quality we have, with the weapons we have to stress them”.
Manchester United will travel to Leicester City next week while Southampton will host Chelsea on 31st August.
