Manchester United won 3-0 at Southampton. Are they getting back on track? The newcomer could have probably taken the points if they had taken their big chance. Then it all fell apart, and Red Devils fans will surely welcome three points, a breakthrough from Marcus Rashford and a debut for their new signing.
A breakthrough penalty
The clash at St Mary’s was started better by Southampton, who pinned Manchester United down. Russell Martin’s team controlled possession, built up positional attacks and looked good in the pressing. Teenager Tyler Dibling played well with Diogo Dalot, outplaying him several times. And after 30 minutes he won a penalty after a foul by the Portuguese. It seemed that Saints would document their good start by taking the lead. Cameron Archer got the ball in from 11 yards and lost the duel with André Onana. At that point the newcomer stopped playing.
Just two minutes after the ill-fated penalty, United were given the lead by Matthijs de Ligt. A moment later, Marcus Rashford scored and the Red Devils had full control of the match. The hosts haven’t had a single shot since the penalty wasted! As a newcomer fighting for their first points of the season, such a missed opportunity is incredibly costly. However, such a breakdown is cause for alarm. And Onana can be called the unsung hero of the match – who knows how the match would have turned out if he hadn’t sensed Archer’s intentions?
You can also rack your brain wondering about the choice of player. Why did he have to take the ball if he had never taken a penalty in his entire professional career? After all, Ben Brereton Diaz played in attack next to him with a 100% penalty efficiency…
Cameron Archer has never taken a penalty before in his 117 games of professional football. Brereton-Diaz has taken 7 and scored 7. So the obvious thing to do was give Archer the penalty to take. Small, yet important details can be costly
— luke (@louorns) September 14, 2024
Breakthrough after (almost half a year)
Marcus Rashford had been waiting for a goal in a competitive match since March 17th (less three days) and 12 appearances without a goal, he finally scored. The goal kick in the match against Southampton was hardly a particularly beautiful one, although he aimed it through the crowd and into the bottom corner, but aesthetics don’t matter in this case. The important thing is to break the bad streak.
It was obvious that the Englishman had clearly lost his heart. Especially since he had not had a chance to score a one-on-one with Aaron Ramsdale, although from a rather unfavourable angle. He looked more lively and direct – something that was missing in the first matches of this season. After the break, he tried the long-range shots that we associate with him and the ball even clicked. These are good signs. Everyone knows that the Red Devils’ attack is more dangerous with a homegrown player in form. And at Old Trafford they certainly hope that he will finally break the stagnation that has been going on for a long time.
By the way, a cool story – the winger recently promised on Instagram that he would dedicate his next goal to his young fan.
Marcus Rashford has his first goal for Man United since March after sharing a video on his Instragram story of a young fan, promising to dedicate his next goal to him ⚽️❤️
Exactly the motivation the 26-year-old needed 🙌💪 pic.twitter.com/iDDdHy6QJY
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) September 14, 2024
Vote of no confidence in Casemiro?
Before today’s match, Erik ten Hag assured that despite the tragic performance against Liverpool, he had not lost faith in Casemiro. However, as it turned out, Manchester United started the match against Southampton without the Brazilian. Erik ten Hag decided to set up with three creative central midfielders. Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen and Kobbie Mainoo played. In the first 30 minutes, it was clear that such a formation did not eliminate problems with bringing the ball out. The newcomer’s pressing caused many problems for the Red Devils, who regularly lost the ball, including in their own half. After taking the lead, the situation changed, and the 20-time national champions took control of the events on the pitch, but the beginning of the match could have given cause for reflection.
The fact that Casemiro sat on the bench could mean that the Dutchman, despite his public words of support, doesn’t fully trust the defensive midfielder. We had to wait until the 87th minute for the 32-year-old to come on. Earlier, debutant Manuel Ugarte was brought off the bench, likely to take his old place in the starting eleven. Casemiro made a nice pass in the goal to make it 3-0, but it seems that his ratings have fallen since the embarrassment against The Reds. Could he have been relegated to the bench?
