United went down to Southampton needing a win but came away disappointed.
There was a feeling that Manchester United had to get a positive result at St Mary’s on Saturday to quell any panic setting in for the season ahead. In a game that bore similarities to both the Wolves encounter and last week’s defeat to Crystal Palace, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s young team fell short again.
Things looked okay early on after Daniel James’ thunderous effort set United on their way after some neat build up play. For large parts of the first half, though, sloppiness had set in. Misplaced passes was the theme of the day as the Reds gave up possession on numerous occasions with simple balls not meeting their targets and going out for throw ins.
The second half became even more difficult. Much like the lethargic post-interval period at Wolves, United were on the ropes in the first part of the second half and eventually suffered as Victor Lindelof unsurprisingly lost a headed dual with Southampton’s giant centre-back Jan Vestergaard.
What followed was then painfully similar to United’s efforts to break down Palace. Especially when the Saints went down to ten men, Solskjaer’s boys simply didn’t have enough ingenuity to break a team down that was happy to sit back and the game resulted in another frustrating draw and an even bigger gap between us and the teams at the top.
As ever after the game, we asked the The Devil’s Trident fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for their Fan Reviews – here’s a selection of them for this week;
Kerry Gibson
Absolutely dire again. Just like watching the end of last season. No passion ( Pogba, well, no words). Rashford looked knackered from the start it’s just a disgrace, a laughing stock. The Scousers and City fans must be loving it.
James Bray
Very frustrating but we have to give him (Solskjaer) time. He’s getting rid of some shite slowly. The defence is a lot better and will get better. We’re lacking in midfield and up front and how Rashford got that huge contract is beyond belief. He’s so one dimensional.
Kevin Watson
We looked quite good in spells and fantastic finish from Dan James. Gave the ball away far too often though throughout the game, Pogba was driving me nuts with his lack of ball retention as were a few others.
Ole is doing the right thing as far as trying to move deadwood on but nowhere near enough quality came in unfortunately. The question is was he not backed? Was he backed and thought he had enough quality? Or do top notch players no longer want to come to Manchester United and would rather go elsewhere? Very difficult to see us being top 6 this season, never mind top 4 if I’m honest.
Dave Smith
Southampton vs Man United has created some bad memories in the past, but this time around I was hoping for a different outcome. I don’t know what it was but we didn’t start great, seemed a bit sloppy again with passing and possession. Dan James scores a glorious goal to put us 1-0.
We were playing okay an were winning but we needed that second goal. Chances were few and far between and then, as expected after a brilliant save from De Gea moments before, Southampton equalised on the hour mark.
15 mins later Southampton go down to 10 men. We literally had like 20 mins with a man advantage and couldn’t find the winner! There are positives from this game like James’ goal and Wan-Bissaka’s quality defending but there are too many negatives. 5 points from a possible 12? It’s just not good enough!
Leicester City are next and they are in terrific form. I’d definitely start with Greenwood; he seemed to show some spark when he came on and just didn’t have enough time to make an impact. Let’s learn from this and move on.
Andrew Wall
We were heading into this game looking to get the three points to give us some confidence going into the international break. However, the game ended in frustration as we could only draw with Southampton.
The first half, especially the first ten minutes. we were a bit tentative. Players were losing control of the ball. There was the moment were Lindelof gave the ball away in the defence and we could have been caught out by the opposition. It seems there had been lack of communication between him and Pogba.
Then, we put a flowing move together which resulted in Daniel James superb strike to give us the lead. We then grew into the game more as we had more possession and were creating chances but not able to take them.
We let Southampton back in for the last fifteen minutes of first half but we went in at half time with the lead. I felt confident going into the second half that we were going to get the second goal and be able to control the game. But second half, we were giving the ball away a lot more as passes were going astray.
Pogba lost possession a number of times but it appears he might have been nursing a hamstring injury. Rashford should have got on the end of a couple of crosses that came into the six yard box to score. He did not have his best game.
We let Southampton back in with their goal as our defence were not sure who was marking who in the six yard box when the cross came back in after De Gea’s save.
Daniel James look good again today and Juan Mata was great with his movement getting into small pockets of spaces. You could see Southampton’s game plan was to sit back and we were trying to break them down. We were getting the chances but were not clinical with them.
We go into international break with things to work on. I read that some United fans calling for Ole to be sacked already. This makes no sense at all. He needs to be given time to impart his blueprint and bring in players and move on players who do not have a future at United.
Mark Warburton
We needed to buy a quality number ten in the summer and that’s showed in every game up to now. I’d start Greenwood and Gomes going forward as they are real talents and deserve a proper run in the first team. Otherwise, it’s going to a real push for fourth at best!
Gavin Scott
I think we need a quality number ten and have Rashford as an impact sub to bring on. He’s seriously not good enough to play the 90 minutes.
Josie Lewis
We just cannot sustain a good performance for 90 minutes. The constant losing the ball is so annoying and Pogba is the main culprit. He shows no appetite for tracking back and trying to retrieve the ball either.
Dan James is proving to be an excellent signing, though. He’s lightning quick with a great eye for goal. I really think it’s time to play the kids now. Tuanzebe alongside Maguire, Garner alongside McTominay in midfield. We should play Gomes in the number ten role – he’s a younger, quicker Juan Mata. Mason Greenwood should play up front with Rashford moved out wide. If we don’t get our act together quickly our hopes of top four will be over before the end of September.
