Southampton vs Manchester
United
2nd September 2012
St Mary's
FT
Southampton 2-3 Manchester United
MUFC
Goals: van Persie (3)
Fulham
Goals: Lambert, Schneiderlin
Starting
X1: Lindegaard, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Cleverley, Carrick, Kagawa,
Valencia, v.Persie, Welbeck.
2nd win of the season and 2 consecutive victories heading
into the international break. I was not pleased enough with the performance as
for 65 mins Southampton dominated the game and deserved to take all points. I'll
give us credit for coming back, that showed heart but overall performance
wasn't good enough. Firstly what an achievement for Sir Alex Ferguson;
1000 games! To have a win percentage of 60% and to have managed in 1000 games is
unheard of. A fantastic and great man and I'll have a blog about him up soon. I
think personally this international break has came at a perfect time as it
gives players time to recover and gain full fitness, and also to give the
players a rest. The players won't be tired but I use the word rest as in take
time off to come to terms with what below par performance we've gave;
considering the task for this season. I would like us to come back strong
against Wigan at home, to take us into Liverpool. I would like to see the
partnership of Rio and Vidic in the Wigan game to take us into the Liverpool
game, with that being the 3rd game in a row alongside each other.
The Lindegaard inclusion vs Southampton was a very strange
choice by Sir Alex especially his reasons. Sir Alex said De Gea was 'dropped'
because of his error against Fulham which could of cost us all 3 points. In the
previous 2 games and last 6 months of the season last campaign he kept us in most
games with sensational saves. De Gea is only 21 and the boy in my view doesn't
seem a confident lad and to drop him this early on can't do him much good. I
would have understood slightly if he said it was rotation and because of
Lindegaard's very good performance mid-week for the U21; but he didn't say
that. Lindegaard didn't look much different to De Gea vs Southampton, he didn't
look any more commanding and also his kicking was poor. Ferguson is known very
making big decisions and I guess it was his way of giving him a kick up the
backside. I think Ferguson tried to tell him you can't do this all season, we
need consistency from the goalkeeper.
United after conceding looked to step up their game slightly
and not long after of improving their game they equalised through van Perise
which was 1 of 3 for him. Danny Welbeck knocked it out wide to Antonio
Valencia, who in acres of space crossed it in aiming for van Persie, the slip
of Clyne may have been constantly though van Persie controlled it fantastically
on his chest and volleyed it home. It was hit very well to put United on
level terms, when that went in you thought United would change gear to put this
game to bed; this however wasn't the case!
In the early period of the second half like the first half
we started of well for the first 5-8 mins, we seemed slightly on top and created
a very good chance. A well delivered cross by Valencia picked up Patrice Evra
who drifted into the box which led to a downward header being saved by Davis.
Through some absorbing of pressure Southampton regained the lead on 55 mins
through Schneiderlin.
Through a slip by Evra a cross by Lambert which seemed easy to defend became
dangerous as Schneiderlin headed home a free header.
United were on the brink
on conceding a third, it was all one way traffic as Lindegaard denied Puncheon with a near-post save after the
he skipped past Evra so easily! Sir Alex threw on Paul Scholes and Nani for Tom
Cleverley and Kagawa; which Scholes completely changed the game. United started
to slowly become on top as Southampton slowly dropped deeper in their own half.
United were handed a lifeline when another awful pass by goalkeeper Davis
allowed Nani to find van Persie and he was tackled from behind by Joos
Hooiveld. You then couldn't of seen a worse penalty! Van Persie stepped up and
dinked the ball to the left side of the goal, where the keeper dived, who
knocked it easily away. Thankfully that wasn't costly and later apologised for
his mistake. He stated that he changed his mind at the last minute and was
planning to blast it.
With time against United with 3 minutes ago the pressure was
building against Southampton and United were able to get 1 goal back to make it
2-2. A Rafael cross, picked up a free Rio Ferdinand who headed against the
bottom of the post, but the rebound came back out and van Persie was first to
bounce sliding in the equaliser. It was completely United dominating in
possession.
Van Persie was on his hat trick and we were entering
stoppage time and on Sir Alex's 1000th game we pulled off a 3rd goal! In stoppage time, we completed the
rescue act with a bullet header by van Persie from Nani's corner, which sparked
glorious scenes in the away end of St. Mary's.
Review Finished
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