Manchester United appeared cool, calm, and collected as they secured a comfortable 3-0 away win over the recently promoted Southampton.
Coming off a second straight defeat before the international break, Man United were in desperate need of three points in order to restore confidence in their supporters, particularly given the mounting frustration being directed at manager Erik ten Hag.
It was the newly promoted team that appeared more likely to score early on, with Tyler Tibling weaving past Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez to take a shot that hurtled toward the far post. It was only a full-stretch save from Andre Onana that kept the game goalless.
15 minutes in, United finally got their first goalscoring opportunity when Bruno Fernandes threaded a through ball to Amad Diallo in the box. Amad laid the ball off to Christian Eriksen, who found Joshua Zirkzee in the centre. While Zirkzee did well to spring forward and connect with the ball, his shot was saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Soon after, it was Tibling who was tormenting the United defence yet again, dribbling past Dalot and leaving Martinez rooted to the spot as he drilled in a cross. Fortunately, an alert Matthijs de Ligt managed to get a foot in to clear the ball out of danger.
On the half-hour mark, Dalot took out both of Dibling’s feet within the box, handing Southampton a penalty. Cameron Archer squared up to the spot, however Onana made a phenomenal dive to the bottom right corner to save Archer’s shot. While the ball rebounded back to Archer, his header was comfortably saved by United’s shot-stopper.
Moments later, a galvanised United surged up the field, with Zirkzee taking an opportunistic long-range effort that the keeper tipped out for a corner.
Then, the magic happened. Eriksen played a short corner to Fernandes, whose cross found the head of Matthijs de Ligt, who put United into the lead against the run of play.
With five minutes to go in the first half, Rashford was on the counter-attack, taking a shot that Ramsdale parried out for a corner.
Eriksen then drilled in a cross that was just slightly too deep for the United players in the box to connect with. Amad collected the ball near the edge of the box, laying it off to Rashford who shifted it to his right foot and swung in a curling effort that beat the keeper and doubled United’s lead. It was a spectacular effort from Rashford that will hopefully mark a turnaround for the player following a prolonged period of poor form.
Moments later, United came close to scoring a third, when De Ligt’s shot was blocked from close range.
As United came back out for the second half, they appeared to be the more driven team, surging up the field on the counter-attack only for Zirkzee’s effort to drift wide.
Rashford booted a close-range effort over the top moments after, while Zirkzee laid off the ball to Mazraoui in the attack that followed, only for his blocked shot to be scooped up by Ramsdale. United looked a lot more confident during the opening minutes of the second half than they did for the majority of the first 45 minutes.
Eriksen was shown a yellow card in the 57th minute for holding onto the jersey of Mateus Fernandes. By this stage, United fans were surely wondering when new signing Manuel Ugarte would be brought on for his debut.
After one hour, Ramsdale pushed Rashford’s ferocious long-range attempt over the crossbar for a corner. Rashford’s confidence has obviously increased following his goal.
The moment United supporters had been waiting for finally arrived in the 72nd minute. A clearly fatigued Eriksen was replaced by rookie Manuel Ugarte, and Alejandro Garnacho and Harry Maguire took the places of Rashford and Mazraoui, respectively.
Moments after coming on, Maguire continued playing after a Southampton player collapsed. Another peculiar yellow card from the ref.
After physical discomfort, Martinez came off for Jonny Evans. United will no doubt be concerned about an injury relapse for their star centre-back.
With 12 minutes left on the clock, Southampton’s Jack Stephens was shown a red card for producing a wreckless, studs-up challenge on Garnacho, sending the Argentine crashing to the ground. It’s been an incredibly strict refereeing display this afternoon.
Four minutes from time, goalscorer De Ligt made way for Casemiro, who had a point to prove after his chaotic performance against Liverpool before the international break.
The announcement of six minutes of extra time gave United plenty of time to score a third goal and thoroughly defeat the hosts. When Zirkzee received the ball in the middle of the box, he slotted it to the right, but the keeper dove the incorrect way, allowing a defender to get a leg in and stop the effort.
Dalot found Garnacho in the center, and his thundering drive struck the upper right corner of the net as the final whistle blew. Shortly after, the final whistle blew, signaling a big improvement over United’s previous two performances. When United plays Barnsley in the League Cup on Tuesday night, maybe they can build on this victory.
