This Southampton team is literally one of the worst Premier League teams ever, so I'm not sure I'm buying that. But you can only get three points per game and we did. So hey, god bless.
PL W FA Premier League
Manchester United 3:1 Southampton
Post-match discussion
Thu, 16 January 2025
No. We were bossed for roughly 75 minutes. Created and missed a sitter, got lucky with a couple saves, but we were staring down the barrel of an ignominious defeat until Amad intervened.
Southampton did feck all in the 2nd half. We made the subs in the 51st minute and we were very dominant from that point on
That was horrendous, as bad as any performance post SAF
I know it's mostly fatigue (or I hope atleast) but it's so annoying to see us play majority of games on the back foot against teams who are inferior to us. Really annoying.
After the subs, the type of game we played, we really need to learn to do that from the start. Amorim needs to instill that mentality, kill these teams from the first whistle and put the game to bed.
After the subs, the type of game we played, we really need to learn to do that from the start. Amorim needs to instill that mentality, kill these teams from the first whistle and put the game to bed.
absolutely typical! (as John Cleese should have said)
I turned off my stream in minute 79....and woke up to this...
I turned off my stream in minute 79....and woke up to this...
Amad, De Ligt, Zirkzee and Collyer were the only ones out there tonight.
Feels like we see this every other week. At least we showed a bit towards the end. Zirkzee, Amad and De Ligt can hold their heads up. The rest were not at it. Brighton is going to be a tough game
Feels like we see this every other week. At least we showed a bit towards the end. Zirkzee, Amad and De Ligt can hold their heads up. The rest were not at it. Brighton is going to be a tough game
Just highlights the limitations in our squad. We haven't many players who can play well, consistently. And we have a squad of limited quality.
Mainoo needs to sort himself out. He should take a look at Amad. Does he (Mainoo) want to become yet another good young talent, who just ends up an average player with the odd outstanding performance?
Amad, Mainoo, Garnacho. These are v good, young players.
We need to thank Onana too. He kept us in the game.
Everyone is getting a chance under Amorim.so it exposes players.
Mainoo needs to sort himself out. He should take a look at Amad. Does he (Mainoo) want to become yet another good young talent, who just ends up an average player with the odd outstanding performance?
Amad, Mainoo, Garnacho. These are v good, young players.
We need to thank Onana too. He kept us in the game.
Everyone is getting a chance under Amorim.so it exposes players.
Sorry, meant when he went to the right in Yoros position, he bullied the winger who gave Yoro a torrid time.
They are but they had new manager, who had them playing us off the park, like Newcastle did till Ruben's tactics change.
It wasnt pretty, but nevertheless we got the 3 points and even won by more than one goal.
I am quite confident in saying if this was last season the much more likely outcome would of been SOTON scoring a late winner.
I am quite confident in saying if this was last season the much more likely outcome would of been SOTON scoring a late winner.
Reasonable perspective. I hope you're right.
It doesn’t matter, they’re still a PL team, playing under a new manager who will inject some energy into the squad, with everyone wanting to impress him. They had an excellent winger who gave Yoro a torrid time and some impressive young players in Dibling et al.
Obviously the overall performance was nowhere near the standard we expect but with an utterly useless striker and a squad full of Ten Hag’s appalling signings, what do you expect? Antony and Garnacho both squandered golden opportunities, fatigue definitely played a factor but the subs made a huge impact and were key in turning the game around.
They will feel gutted not to have got something from the game but it was a huge win for us, possibly the most important one of the season so far. It takes the pressure off us a little for the game against Brighton at the weekend, who are going to give us a real game based off their performance against Ipswich last night.
More than that perhaps a striker who has extreme levels of intensity, along with other players who have very high levels of intensity too. I believe that is the reason we are lacking domination in these games. If you see some of our play, we are putting in crunching tackles and we are making calm passes (albeit slowly), so the argument that the players aren't physical or are scared doesn't make sense to me. This is just because they are intense at all, the majority of them anyway, in these small games and that's because in the past they've not been
Nice theory but you can pretty much bet your life on it that you will see the exact same performance level against Brighton. Languid, slow, sloppy, shite, it’ll be the exact same thing.
Brighton also played last night so we both go into that game with similar recovery period.
It’s mentality for me, at the minute these players seem to be able to raise their games for the best teams and I wonder if that’s because they’re so afraid of a hammering against those kind of teams that their mentality changes for those games to siege mentality.
Put them up against a team we’re expected to beat and it’s atrocious. Also Amad didn’t actually play 120 mins on Sunday and I wouldn’t say he or Bruno looked tired last night. They were just making the wrong decisions. Bruno was much better once he dropped deeper.
Get outta here with your sense and logic!
How could we get outplayed by the worst team in the league for 70 minutes. I don't understand this.
We go toe to toe with the best teams in the league and then have to witness this.
Was it a masterclass tactic by their new coach?
Was our players not motivated?
Tired from the 120 min against arsenal?
I couldn't enjoy the Amad hattrick because it was such an depressing 70/80 min before that.
I just feel confused how this team can be such an roller-coaster in their performances.
We go toe to toe with the best teams in the league and then have to witness this.
Was it a masterclass tactic by their new coach?
Was our players not motivated?
Tired from the 120 min against arsenal?
I couldn't enjoy the Amad hattrick because it was such an depressing 70/80 min before that.
I just feel confused how this team can be such an roller-coaster in their performances.
Amad was superb but let us not forget Onana kept us in the match.
Believe me, it was.
I wish the same excuses would stop being played round and round. Things like needs time. needs a transfer window, injuries etc and now we have too tired. Yeah there might be a point in there but its just excessive. Too tired, too tired, too many games, too tired. They played Sunday and should be ok by Thurs. They are professional athletes and were playing Southampton. Maybe another top team and it would be an excuse but not Southampton.
The problem was not tiredness it was tactics but the tactics was because of not having the right players. Its not the players fault and its not Amorims fault. It just is what it is. We dont have wing backs and a decent striker and that screws this system. Once Dalot went we were even more screwed. We pushed Amad and we let Mazroui sit. This fkd us in 2 ways. Because Mazroui wasnt pushing then that left them an out all day long on their right side. It was easy for them to play out. This in turn would push Mainoo left to cover. Which in turn left Ugarte covering massive areas and so it spiraled. On our right side Amad pushed leaving Yoro isolated with Suleman dude. It was further fkd by Garnacho not dropping in the right spaces and allowing Ugarte to cover. It was just a domino of one weakness affecting another area and another and another. Amorim could fix this by playing Mazroui at RB and Malacia at LB but that would just have caused other problems. 1. Malacia is sht and probably would start struggling against Dibbling. 2- We would be less attacking and since we can barely score goals its a tough balance. This game fell over because 1. Hojlund couldn't hold the ball up. 2. Garnacho is not a 10 and was in the wrong positions 2. We had no proper wingbacks.
The problem was not tiredness it was tactics but the tactics was because of not having the right players. Its not the players fault and its not Amorims fault. It just is what it is. We dont have wing backs and a decent striker and that screws this system. Once Dalot went we were even more screwed. We pushed Amad and we let Mazroui sit. This fkd us in 2 ways. Because Mazroui wasnt pushing then that left them an out all day long on their right side. It was easy for them to play out. This in turn would push Mainoo left to cover. Which in turn left Ugarte covering massive areas and so it spiraled. On our right side Amad pushed leaving Yoro isolated with Suleman dude. It was further fkd by Garnacho not dropping in the right spaces and allowing Ugarte to cover. It was just a domino of one weakness affecting another area and another and another. Amorim could fix this by playing Mazroui at RB and Malacia at LB but that would just have caused other problems. 1. Malacia is sht and probably would start struggling against Dibbling. 2- We would be less attacking and since we can barely score goals its a tough balance. This game fell over because 1. Hojlund couldn't hold the ball up. 2. Garnacho is not a 10 and was in the wrong positions 2. We had no proper wingbacks.
Lots of factors but I think the main one is simple psychology. There was no pressure against Liverpool and Arsenal. We were away and expected to lose both games easily, so with nothing to lose the players played with freedom and gradually gained in confidence.
Then you’re playing the worst team in PL history at this stage of a season. Every other team beats them, so suddenly there’s expectation again. You know you shouldn’t underestimate them but you subconsciously always will, and the players start overthinking what they’re doing because in the back of their heads they’re thinking we should be winning by this point. It’s the fear of messing up something easy that can almost become a self fulfilling prophecy. Add that to how bad we’ve been at home. I think it’s natural for a team with suc frail confidence to have played this way. Frustrating, but I understand it.
- Zirkzee coming on and looking like Drogba on steroids with his hold up play just highlighted how incredibly crap Hojlund was and has been in general for a while. What is he offering? When the opposition go man for man you are kind of relying on your front man to either run in behind or hold off his marker with the ball so the team has a means of getting up the pitch. Zirkzee did the latter with such ease yet every time the ball was played up to Hojlund you'd swear he was trying to fight off an army of invisible demons while having both his legs amputated. The worst player in a team thoroughly outplayed by the worst side in the league is not a good place to be.
- In contrast Zirkzee did very well. He came on and it suddenly looked like we were playing against Southampton.
- Yoro slowly tortured to death in front of a live television audience.
- Why did we not move Yoro, or take him off, or give him any help, until the 85th minute of the game? Can someone explain this to me in a way that doesn't make it seem incredibly stupid? When we eventually did move De Ligt over to his position, it took him all of about 2 minutes to put a stop to the nonsense with a mad man tackle. This could have happened in the first half or at any point earlier in the game and resulted in a much easier evening?
- I love Amad. Something that annoys me though is he gets an awful lot of goals and assists that are purely down to him trying harder than our other players. Like he catches the opposition out where they've grown accustomed to our players being lazy/timid.
- In contrast Zirkzee did very well. He came on and it suddenly looked like we were playing against Southampton.
- Yoro slowly tortured to death in front of a live television audience.
- Why did we not move Yoro, or take him off, or give him any help, until the 85th minute of the game? Can someone explain this to me in a way that doesn't make it seem incredibly stupid? When we eventually did move De Ligt over to his position, it took him all of about 2 minutes to put a stop to the nonsense with a mad man tackle. This could have happened in the first half or at any point earlier in the game and resulted in a much easier evening?
- I love Amad. Something that annoys me though is he gets an awful lot of goals and assists that are purely down to him trying harder than our other players. Like he catches the opposition out where they've grown accustomed to our players being lazy/timid.
Praise Amad.
...why do we sit so deep? Wing backs especially. Mazraoui seemed hesitant to go forward. Think that was one of the main issues first half - put us on the back foot.
...why do we sit so deep? Wing backs especially. Mazraoui seemed hesitant to go forward. Think that was one of the main issues first half - put us on the back foot.
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They are but two of their most recent premier league away games was draws against Fulham and Brighton and the heaviest defeat they have shipped on the road this season was 3-1.
Because we don't have any actual wing backs in our squad.
I don’t think it was deliberate in this game. The wing backs were pushed back, because Southampton’s new manager plays a man to man system, and they did a great job for 60 minutes. Dibling and Sulemana are quick, direct, and strong with the ball, but also excellent in jumping to press. The angles they were closing off were good, and it strangled us because we just aren’t very good yet. You have to give credit where it’s due. They’re in a dire situation but they were very good last night.
Not sure many have. Most keep saying they should be able to play 120 minutes, but being down to ten men for so long will have taken an physical toll on them.
They are a better team than the results because they are even worse than us in front of goal.
Fair points
Seriously. That is ridiculous.
Yes. It’s all very well saying you have to leave everything on the pitch and be stretchered off “dead”, but we know human limitations. We need to somehow manage human energy, too. Too many posters seem to think they are watching a video game
You cannot keep to any system the manager wants if you lack basic composure, a lot of these players are just not disciplined enough.
The manager wants every player to know his specific role in the system but it falls apart if two or three players lose their heads.
Just need a few better players, its as simple as that.
The manager wants every player to know his specific role in the system but it falls apart if two or three players lose their heads.
Just need a few better players, its as simple as that.
Sometimes an emotional high can be hard to come down from as well. I always find I struggle to sleep after United get a win like Sunday rather than a loss. Your emotions are all over the place and the adrenaline is going nuts. This season as long as they are safe I will cope with them turning up for the big games, then the club will have to deal with the squad in the summer.
I wouldn't go off the deep end too much, overall you were the better team, just look at the stats
60% possession
23 shots to their 13
48 touches in the box to their 18
4 clear cut chances to their 0
De Ligt, Amad, Onana and Zirkzee looked great, Bruno just keeps going and going. Yoro had his first blip, but that happens, Hojlund is also struggling for confidence at the moment, but look at the turn around in Zirkzee, written off as shit just a few games ago, Hojlund is capable of far more than he's shown in the last few games.
Things could have been very different if Garnacho had scored early on and on any other day he would have done from that chance. You look so much better than you did under ETH, this team is developing and beginning to show what they can do, enjoy the hat trick and let's see what happens when we meet this weekend, I'm not massively confident about Brighton's chances, but it will be a good game as we're both perking up at the same time.
60% possession
23 shots to their 13
48 touches in the box to their 18
4 clear cut chances to their 0
De Ligt, Amad, Onana and Zirkzee looked great, Bruno just keeps going and going. Yoro had his first blip, but that happens, Hojlund is also struggling for confidence at the moment, but look at the turn around in Zirkzee, written off as shit just a few games ago, Hojlund is capable of far more than he's shown in the last few games.
Things could have been very different if Garnacho had scored early on and on any other day he would have done from that chance. You look so much better than you did under ETH, this team is developing and beginning to show what they can do, enjoy the hat trick and let's see what happens when we meet this weekend, I'm not massively confident about Brighton's chances, but it will be a good game as we're both perking up at the same time.
They didn't get a shot on target second half.
Fatigue shouldn't be used as an excuse this is what rotation is for. Obviously it is a factor but it shouldn't be that baffling to see. The issue was that we looked 2nd best for at least a half until we improved a little to at least match their level. Issue again was missing intensity and sometimes lack of concentration. I agree, having Hojlund in this form certainly is not helping but that shouldnt be the reason to look this clueless. As said below, I am not laying into the team or the manager for the performances, those things happen and it is a process but I think it is important to not toss over such performances just because we somehow forced it with a bit of skill and a lot of good fortune at the very end. The critique is that we didn't match Sotons intensity and determination for way too long, that is the key part because half arsing games is one of the main issues for this team for quite a long time. This is where we have to steer away from it decisively.
This is the issue when you not watch the game itself but look at highlights or stats only. We weren't dominant at all. I personally dont know why some say we were in 2nd half because I don't think we were, the game was more open because we weren't the worse team anymore but matched their level. Not sure how that is dominating. We scored from a happy deflection, a great pass from Eriksen and an absolute clanger from their defense.
Those performances will occur from time to time and thats fine as it is part of the progress but we still have to call them bad performances overall. Especially given that one could say tossing over bad performances as long as the result is good is one of the factors that led to where we are right now...
I bet if you compare first and second halves as well they are quite different statistically.
Let's not kid ourselves. Southampton were the better team for most of the match. For a side bottom of the table they produced a spirited performance - fair play to them. Tyler Dibling is some player, he'll be at a top club soon. Would he fit Utd system? I don't think so, but reminds me a little of a young Gareth Bale.
Anyone else thinks the whole game players were nervous last night. As if there was a sort of mental block since we had 3 loss at home previously made it more difficult for the players?
Not only they spent a lot against Liverpool and Arsenal but it was like they were so worried and scared at home.
Anyways wasn’t great but good win hopefully they got that mental thing out of the and let’s see what we can do against Brighton on Sunday.
Not only they spent a lot against Liverpool and Arsenal but it was like they were so worried and scared at home.
Anyways wasn’t great but good win hopefully they got that mental thing out of the and let’s see what we can do against Brighton on Sunday.
Playing at home has become a burden and it's making them nervous, whereas it should be the opposite. They should feel safe and encouraged to express themselves.
The home crowd aren't helping, but I can't blame them completely with some of the absolute shite they've had to witness since the start of last season. The two things do inform each other though, I think.
Player Ratings
Provisional results
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 294 ratings.
Score Predictions
177,6,6
- Man Utd win
- Southampton win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 30% Man Utd 3:0 Southampton
- 29% Man Utd 2:0 Southampton
- 10% Man Utd 3:1 Southampton
- 9% Man Utd 4:0 Southampton
- 7% Man Utd 2:1 Southampton
- 6% Man Utd 1:0 Southampton
- 3% Man Utd 1:1 Southampton
- 2% Man Utd 4:1 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 2:3 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 1:2 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 0:0 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 5:0 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 0:2 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 5:1 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 6:0 Southampton
- 1% Man Utd 1:3 Southampton
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- Southampton
- Overall possession
- 58.7% 41.3%
- Shots
- 23 13
- Shots on target
- 9 5
- Total touches in the box
- 48 18
- Goalkeeper saves
- 5 6
- Fouls
- 7 10
- Corners
- 5 4
Referee
John Brooks
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Christian Eriksen
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-
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replaced by Harry Maguire
-
-
replaced by Toby Collyer
-
replaced by Antony
-
replaced by Joshua Zirkzee
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-
