That win also belongs to Ole for having brought back a mental strength to a team who, under Jose, didn’t have the tools to come back. Now we do.
PL W FA Premier League
Southampton 2:3 Manchester United
Post-match discussion
Sun, 29 November 2020
Great win. As I'm sure many have said Cavani needs to be our first choice striker. Ole will have to watch his minutes but he should start the next two matches.
I love Bruno but this is his second phase of a number of matches in a row where he gives the ball away too many times. Yes, he is trying to be creative but there is a time an place.
Telles started very well but faded in the second half. He is a player though and I'm looking forward to watching him more.
De Gea knee looked very swollen when he was walking off for the half. I hope it's not long term but we are in good hands with Henderson.
Matic and Fred made me nervous the whole match. I'm just not confident they can keep the ball. Fred does not have composure and Matic perhaps has too much composure. Maybe we can get a RW and DM in January and we could be a very good team.
I love Bruno but this is his second phase of a number of matches in a row where he gives the ball away too many times. Yes, he is trying to be creative but there is a time an place.
Telles started very well but faded in the second half. He is a player though and I'm looking forward to watching him more.
De Gea knee looked very swollen when he was walking off for the half. I hope it's not long term but we are in good hands with Henderson.
Matic and Fred made me nervous the whole match. I'm just not confident they can keep the ball. Fred does not have composure and Matic perhaps has too much composure. Maybe we can get a RW and DM in January and we could be a very good team.
Finally got a correct scoreline this season in the predictions as well.
There were a lot of positive individual performances, but if we’re looking for a few players to slag, the two culprits above all were Rashford and Greenwood. Forwards have off days, so I’m not worried, but at this point we should expect to see Greenwood bury the chances that he has.
Although he didn’t play, I hope Martial made use of his time off by closing watching Cavani. Martial has the boots, but he lacks the heart of a champion. It’s not too late for him to learn that football is about a lot more than having talent.
Although he didn’t play, I hope Martial made use of his time off by closing watching Cavani. Martial has the boots, but he lacks the heart of a champion. It’s not too late for him to learn that football is about a lot more than having talent.
I think the counter-attacking long-throw by Henderson was the first I recall seeing from a United goalie since Schmeichel. It was so unusual that it registered in my mind.
Nont nonsensical since it's been a while we showed we could capitalize on other teams losing pts.
So you know what im implying right? Feel good about your post?
Did anyone notice, no one absolutely no one celebrated united first goal. Not even a simple hi-five, not even a fist in the air, not even courtesy glance at each other. Bruno collected the ball and ran back to half line, didn't even look at Cavani. Cavani didn't look either, straight back to half line. As soon as Bruno scored Rashford on the left turn back straight to half line.
I like that.
I like that.
Best second half in ages. Under pressure of being two goals down. Amazing.
You saw a different match. Fred and Matic were both off the pace and sloppy, with Matic slowing things way down and Fred being a training cone when in any 1 v 1. And VDB was a dynamo that kept our tempo high and kept the ball moving. VDB is 10x the player that Fred is. I’m a fan of Matic but today he was poor.
Yeah. Rashford and Martial can either learn how to play like a central striker, or they can compete against each other for that wide spot.
We're gonna have to eventually get a proper striker in.
Absolutely true. The squad is learning that kind of things from Ole. That's something that is priceless to me. The funny one is VdB, he clinches his fist, but sees nobody is celebrating, and he goes back to the half line!
This is tied in with my comment about serial losers and those three being important mentality drivers in the team. Even the second goal, Lindelof ran around giving it this whoop whoop and he is an absolute pretender when it comes to having an impact on a game with mentality and drive and driving the team in a game. I have this weird feeling from watching Maguire and him interact that Maguire doesn't like him. Blew up deluxe after conceding the first goal.
Donny gave a subdued fist pump, I think the team just knew their performance was embarrassing up until that point and the job was well and truly on from there.
What a beautiful game of football! Last few years have been tough on all of us and this game was sort of an assurance that things can get better.
I don't think United put a foot wrong at any time. We did have phases of being slow but this team is playing week in week out so going at it for 90mins would be impossible. They also deserved the first two goals as they were very well taken. But I think in general the defense maintained a very good shape and Telles was very much important to that.
Cavani was brilliant. You could see the glimpses in the previous games where he was moving the ball effortlessly but today along with that he was a fox in the box. As much as fun it is, Cavani cannot play all games so we need to plan and purchase accordingly in January.
Rashy, Martial will soon be in spotlight for their performances. Rashford especially has been getting enough game time and has been blowing a bit more cold in hot and cold. This is going to be a very important season for him.
Also please bubble wrap Bruno and give him Z security! That man is priceless.
I don't think United put a foot wrong at any time. We did have phases of being slow but this team is playing week in week out so going at it for 90mins would be impossible. They also deserved the first two goals as they were very well taken. But I think in general the defense maintained a very good shape and Telles was very much important to that.
Cavani was brilliant. You could see the glimpses in the previous games where he was moving the ball effortlessly but today along with that he was a fox in the box. As much as fun it is, Cavani cannot play all games so we need to plan and purchase accordingly in January.
Rashy, Martial will soon be in spotlight for their performances. Rashford especially has been getting enough game time and has been blowing a bit more cold in hot and cold. This is going to be a very important season for him.
Also please bubble wrap Bruno and give him Z security! That man is priceless.
Yes, but movement without the ball. Awareness, footballing intelligence. I hope Rashford in particular has the humility to watch and maybe learn from Cavani. Probably not, I suspect; I fear Rashford is destined to be one of these players, a likeable lad who will always have potential, but lacking in the habitual, on-tap, take-it-home killer instinct. No one will be happier than me to see this proved wrong. He has energy, speed, enthusiasm, and an eye for goal. Off the field he has shown his innate decency, he's a local lad, a product of the youth system. Fingers crossed he comes of age with a vengeance.
No way of knowing if Maguire likes Lindelof. Who cares. But you do touch on an important point. There is now a core of grown ups. They want to get the job done, and know how to do it, if everyone pulls their weight. Maguire, Matic, Bruno and Cavani. Adds a lot of spine to the team when they are on the field together.
I did like that.
On the flip side, I actually thought there was a bit too much celebration after the second goal. The job was only half done at that point.
This drove me insane.
Why Telles isn't taking our every corner is a mystery, let alone every corner from the right.
Enjoyed the game. We were clearly the best team (except from the last part of the first half). I had expected Southampton to press us really hard, and instead it was us pressing them. Good game plan and execution. If we had taken better care of our chances, we could have secured the victory a lot earlier. I am shore there is a lot more to come from our young wingers/strikers, who is only 23 (Rashford) and 19 (Greenwood). They usually get more consistent when they get older. Smart to get Cavani in so early, he really showed what being a striker is all about. Just a shame he is 33 years old and have been very injury prone. He might need a lot of restitution between his games, and I am shore they will rest him properly. I must admit I am positively surprised by Cavani, and he might end up being a genius deal. Love his spirit and skills on the pitch, and his attitude of the pitch.
I can't tell you how much I hate agreeing with Shearer (actually I got there first so he's agreeing with me) but first half we had no width and no focal point up front. No idea what Ole's plan/tactics were. We still need at least one world-class winger but having a real centre forward made a huge difference by itself.
Cavani gets a 10/10 from me - must be the first in my caf history of someone who only played 45 mins and sums up what I've been saying about Martial and Rashford for seasons now: they don't seem to be learning and will never score enough goals to launch a United challenge for the title. I think Cavani made more movements and found more space in his first 10 mins yesterday than Martial and Rashfordmake in whole games.
Elsewhere, sorry but I do blame DDG for the second goal (not even sure where he was for the first: reminded me of David James going on walkabout) and still need to be convinced that AWB is good enough. I did think Lindelof had another good game and reads the game better than the other defenders, Maguire only rally looked dominate once we got to 2-2.
Donny had a reasonable game and can at least pass the ball although sometimes I'd like him to be a bit near confident near the opponents' goal and Bruno drove us forward even if some of his passing wasn't at his usual high level.
Overall, the game left me exhausted! United have once more become a team that is so difficult to watch sometimes!
Cavani gets a 10/10 from me - must be the first in my caf history of someone who only played 45 mins and sums up what I've been saying about Martial and Rashford for seasons now: they don't seem to be learning and will never score enough goals to launch a United challenge for the title. I think Cavani made more movements and found more space in his first 10 mins yesterday than Martial and Rashfordmake in whole games.
Elsewhere, sorry but I do blame DDG for the second goal (not even sure where he was for the first: reminded me of David James going on walkabout) and still need to be convinced that AWB is good enough. I did think Lindelof had another good game and reads the game better than the other defenders, Maguire only rally looked dominate once we got to 2-2.
Donny had a reasonable game and can at least pass the ball although sometimes I'd like him to be a bit near confident near the opponents' goal and Bruno drove us forward even if some of his passing wasn't at his usual high level.
Overall, the game left me exhausted! United have once more become a team that is so difficult to watch sometimes!
Yeah, I went off on a weird tangent there reading it back.
Because that should make him to run across the pitch to get back to his position?
Tbh I have no idea why Telles should take right corners instead of Bruno. Maybe he is better than Bruno, but the gap must be very small. Not worth the risk of making our LB to run across the pitch I think. Liverpool let Robertson taking left corners even when they have TAA.
I think Bruno outside the box to shoot any ball coming is a really good option. Maybe something similar can be thought of for Telles when Bruno is crossing on the right side.
If I remember correct, the roles were switched around against Basaksehir mid-week. I remember Bruno taking at least two corners from the right side, while Telles was luring outside the box. Two times Bruno hit the corner kick directly at Telles outside the box, who then tried to first time a shot. Didn't work out neither of the times.
Maybe they are just trying out different things at the moment.
I see but Telles is not as good as Bruno in long shot I think.
Anyway, teams must revert back to their defensive shape and reorganize asap once they lose the ball. So Telles taking right corners is a bit too risky I think.
Yeah you're right. But clearly Telles is not as good as Bruno in this. Anyway imo it's still the safest and most sensible option so far.
No I hear you, you're right. We have massive improvements to do on corners anyway. We need to find Maguire, Matic, even Lindelof better and more often, maybe Cavani and/or Rashford, Martial, Greenwood. But we score a variety of goals now and that is something that is good as it makes the team more unpredictable.
I saw this. Brilliant.
Also loved the massive pile on in the 93rd minute.
Football Artistry at its finest seeing Cavani running off to the corner flag before the net had even rippled for the 3rd goal.
No one's performance was embarrassing yesterday. That was why Ole said after the game that he would have been happy even if it ended 2-2. Southampton scored 2 goals from almost the only 2 occasions they were anywhere near our goal. The first was a brilliant corner, and the second was an amazing free kick. It happens. For the rest of it we were playing well and creating chances without taking them. Seriously, if you can't be happy with that performance and mentality then you will never be happy. Even during the Fergie years we played a lot worse than that and managed to scrape over the line in matches. And in most cases the opposition was not as strong as yesterday.
What a game! Had to duck out after watching the first half, could only keep up with the "action" on my phone (ESPN's app is, and always has been, terrible) but finally got to watch the second half this morning (I'm 5 hours behind the UK).
First off, credit where it's due: Southampton are a good squad. Their two goals were textbook setpiece goals. Any mistakes we made were slight - those were good goals.
I really thought we were the better team for most of the game, the exception being about 15 minutes around the second goal. Not sure what some are expecting, though... The overall quality of the league is high and the Southampton are a top-half squad. Winning league games week in/week out is hard, especially against teams like this.
Cavani! Oh, my! A great call by Ole when Greenwood wasn't having a great outing. Top notch play for 45 minutes. I know a lot of folks want him starting, but I don't know he can handle more than 60 minutes. Splitting time between Greenwood and Cavani might be a good answer here.
Rashford had a decent game, he just isn't making good decisions at the right time near goal. Van de Beek was great in this formation - looks like his position among the rest has been worked out. Bruno was Bruno. Fred was Fred. Matic was, well, Matic, which means of late that he's capable of defending and getting the ball, then losing it in possession or in passing.
The forward press is a thing. And we did it well today, just couldn't capitalize. Soton had a lot of possession in their own half and you can't score from there.
Best thing I can say about our defense is that none of them made any straight-up bonehead moves. AWB and Telles did some good things on attack. Telles looks pretty much a drop-in replacement for Shaw. He does some things better, even.
On fitness... Soton were absolutely done at 80 minutes. The difference in our fitness at this point is incredible, we have an entire squad that can go 90+ minutes and still look sharp.
Lastly, I hated to see De Gea go out like that. Hoping it's not too bad and he can return quickly, but... I like Henderson's presence in the box. David is a great shot-blocker, but I think Dean will be a better all-around keeper and we need that.
First off, credit where it's due: Southampton are a good squad. Their two goals were textbook setpiece goals. Any mistakes we made were slight - those were good goals.
I really thought we were the better team for most of the game, the exception being about 15 minutes around the second goal. Not sure what some are expecting, though... The overall quality of the league is high and the Southampton are a top-half squad. Winning league games week in/week out is hard, especially against teams like this.
Cavani! Oh, my! A great call by Ole when Greenwood wasn't having a great outing. Top notch play for 45 minutes. I know a lot of folks want him starting, but I don't know he can handle more than 60 minutes. Splitting time between Greenwood and Cavani might be a good answer here.
Rashford had a decent game, he just isn't making good decisions at the right time near goal. Van de Beek was great in this formation - looks like his position among the rest has been worked out. Bruno was Bruno. Fred was Fred. Matic was, well, Matic, which means of late that he's capable of defending and getting the ball, then losing it in possession or in passing.
The forward press is a thing. And we did it well today, just couldn't capitalize. Soton had a lot of possession in their own half and you can't score from there.
Best thing I can say about our defense is that none of them made any straight-up bonehead moves. AWB and Telles did some good things on attack. Telles looks pretty much a drop-in replacement for Shaw. He does some things better, even.
On fitness... Soton were absolutely done at 80 minutes. The difference in our fitness at this point is incredible, we have an entire squad that can go 90+ minutes and still look sharp.
Lastly, I hated to see De Gea go out like that. Hoping it's not too bad and he can return quickly, but... I like Henderson's presence in the box. David is a great shot-blocker, but I think Dean will be a better all-around keeper and we need that.
If you look at the first goal Cavani scored, when Bruno shot, he was the only person in the box who was on the move. Natural instinct is to freeze and see where the ball goes, but all great poachers were moving when everyone else was stationary. Lineker, Inzaghi etc
Its not something you can teach very easily, its just instinct and 9 times out of 10 Cavani moves and the ball goes somewhere else. What you do notice if you watch him carefully is that he is always moving and its only noticeable when he does get a goal as a result.
Proper centre forward.
Rashford will never be like that, I know he's only 23 but you either have that ability by 18 or you don't. Can't think of anyone who became a true poacher later on in their career. Greenwood has potential here, he is also constantly moving in the box.
Cristiano is a poacher now so Rashford, Martial, Greenwood can all become one. We should not discount it. It's up to Ole to teach that to them.
The diamond 4-4-2 was used for the whole match. Cavani was a straight replacement for Greenwood in the second half and Ole even commented after the match that he wanted to inject a change but retain the same team shape.
Nah. Don't agree with that one at all mate. Cavani, yes you have that one right. VdB, should be considered more I agree but definitely should not be automatic. He needs to keep working and keep earning it. Push Pogba to be better. Push Bruno to improve.
Same for Henderson. He can keep pushing DDG to improve.
That's because no one in the squad likes Bruno.
This is a very good point and I think we're going to put a lot of teams to the sword in the last 15 minutes of matches this season.
We already have done, see Newcastle and Leipzig as examples. Think they showed a stat yesterday that we'd scored the most goals in the last 15 in the league. Really good omen.
Thought DVD was fantastic yesterday, heard a few people say he was average, i thought he was exceptional moving the ball quickly and with progression as well as being able to retain it under pressure (as well as riding a few hard knocks).
Couldn't believe the analysis on MOTD2 last night, saying Soton were much the better team in the 2nd half, clearly didn't watch the game (or even the highlights!), just lazy interpretation of the scoring sequence to build a narrative.
Only downside for me was DDG, that's two similar free kicks conceded in a week which i think he saves a few years ago....possible opening for Henderson?
We wasted 60 minutes, because they fought and we tried to play it easy.... This team had not enough focus at the start. We were dominant but I could not see the fire which is needed to win.
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 388 ratings.
Score Predictions
144,30,38
- Man Utd win
- Southampton win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 24% Southampton 1:2 Man Utd
- 15% Southampton 1:3 Man Utd
- 13% Southampton 1:1 Man Utd
- 10% Southampton 0:2 Man Utd
- 7% Southampton 2:1 Man Utd
- 7% Southampton 2:3 Man Utd
- 5% Southampton 0:1 Man Utd
- 5% Southampton 2:2 Man Utd
- 4% Southampton 2:0 Man Utd
- 4% Southampton 0:3 Man Utd
- 2% Southampton 2:4 Man Utd
- 1% Southampton 1:0 Man Utd
- 1% Southampton 3:1 Man Utd
- 1% Southampton 0:4 Man Utd
- 0% Southampton 0:0 Man Utd
- 0% Southampton 5:0 Man Utd
Match Stats
- Southampton
- Man Utd
- Possession
- 50% 50%
- Shots
- 10 15
- Shots on Target
- 5 6
- Corners
- 5 9
- Fouls
- 12 12
Referee
Jonathan Moss
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Dean Henderson
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-
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replaced by Brandon Williams
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-
-
-
-
-
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replaced by Edinson Cavani
