PL W FA Premier League

Southampton 2:3 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sun, 29 November 2020

drmuji

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Am I the only one who thought Ward-Prowse should've been off for that challenge on VDB?
I know it will be an unpopular opinion but sometimes tier 1 English players in Premier league get away with murder. I remember once a referee calling Rooney, wazza , in the game after he had badly tackled somebody. Can't still forget John Terry taking the yellow card out of referee out of the hand. Maybe i am biased but thats how I feel. Had it been fred making that challenge he would have sent off
 

MrSingh2002

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Ole rarely gets the formation and lineup both right.

Today he got the formation right but should've started Cavani and another midfielder instead of two CDMs.

He finished with the right formation and players on the pitch and that's why we won. Greenwood against giant centrebacks was not the right choice. That was made clear as day when Cavani comes on and with his heading ability scores two goals.

Ole has to now start VdB and Cavani in most formations and lineups.

Or he can continue leaving them out and pay for it.
 

pre Munich Red

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Fergie-time stuff - great to see it, Cavani another Ibra?
Greenwood, what’s the story?
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Great win, but the first half is worrying. Particularly the set piece for the first goal. It was very poor, and De Gea needs to have more of a presence when the ball is delivered so close to him.

Great second half though. Even without the goals, Cavani's all around play was really good. Great link up, held the ball well, he's a big presence defensively from set pieces too. He looks fit as feck too, never stops running. His header for the winner was superb. To stoop down for a whipped ball coming over his shoulder, it looked impossible.
 

Tibs

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Great comback!

If we're playing 4 2 3 1, Cavani has to be at the top

We've been going on about our defence being average for ages - but our attack needs to step up...need to be more lethal, selfish and clinical in front of goal. Maybe get Cavani to run training sessions for the strikers
 

Nik70

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Started the 1st half well, Southampton could barely get into the game. Greenwood missed a good opportunity. They then scored from a corner, was very good delivery but pretty poor defending by Rashford who lost his man. We then had another top opportunity but Greenwood hit it at the keeper and Brunos rebound shot was saved close. Southampton then scored again this time due to a bad error by Fred giving a free kick away right on the edge of the box. Beautiful free kick though, De Gea smacked his knee into the post trying to save it. We then struggled after that panicked a bit before finally grabbing control of the game in the final few minutes of the 1st half.

The Caf imploded at this point as you can imagine. But we were the better team imo and it was frustrating that we threw away 2 goals like that after having such a good start.

Cavani came on for Greenwood and Henderson on for De Gea at half time. The rest of the 2nd half was about United slowly building momentum and pressure. We had lots of the ball, looked fitter and sharper across the pitch and we were able to get Cavani into the game around 55minutes in. Once Cavani was getting the ball Southampton bricked it. Cavani got the ball on the right and crossed it into the middle of the box where Bruno slapped it in. At this point it looked inevitable to me that we'd get a 2nd, the real question is whether we could get the winner. The rest of the match we kept building pressure and Southampton was going deeper and deeper. We had lots of chances and Cavani was the one with the composure to knock them in. Very good game by us, think we got it tactically right from the start we just made dumb individual errors and got punished at set pieces.

Very good performance by us and another game when we didn't really look that tired. Open play we looked far more inventive and were getting decent chances. Very promising.
Good summary. As you mentioned we missed a lot of chances and in addition to the ones mentioned above, Rashford should've scored early in the second half when we were still 0-2 down. Lots of great performances from our players and a good team performance against a decent Saints team. Cavani really impressed me with his work off the ball in addition to his assist and goals.
 

MrSingh2002

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Henderson, VdB and Cavani should now be automatic first choices.

We have questioned De Gea, Pogba and Martial for far too long.

We've questioned whether De Geas focus is what it needs to be. We've questioned whether Pogba is a team player and responsible enough to play as a CM. We've questioned whether Martial actually "wants" it enough.

They have been 3 of my favourite players for the past 5 years but now they have to make way for hungry players. Henderson, VdB and Cavani will show them what is required. It's a no risk policy. Either De Gea, Pogba and Martial respond and play like the world class players they could be or we write them off and sell them at the end of the season.

How big are your bollocks Ole?
 

Zlatans Knee

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Ole rarely gets the formation and lineup both right.

Today he got the formation right but should've started Cavani and another midfielder instead of two CDMs.

He finished with the right formation and players on the pitch and that's why we won. Greenwood against giant centrebacks was not the right choice. That was made clear as day when Cavani comes on and with his heading ability scores two goals.

Ole has to now start VdB and Cavani in most formations and lineups.

Or he can continue leaving them out and pay for it.
Everything is easy in retrospect. We started really well and Greenwood could and should have put us 1-0 up. Bruno should have equalised. Most people were very happy with the starting 11.
Why don't we just give him some credit for the subs.
 

gearoid

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Thought we were the better team. To be honest I couldn't see us coming back from 2-0 at half time but saved by a proper No. 9. Impressive work rate, movement and finishing from Cavani.
 

DRJosh

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Cavani has a proper striker’s instinct that we’ve sorely lacked. He is a perfect target man in the box and as we’ve seen a terrific crosser too. Zlatan-esque

I hope this win doesn’t paper over our poor defensive displays against set-pieces.
 

BFernandes

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For me, today's performance exemplifies what we need going forward.

Not one of our three goals today were particularly intricate. Two were crosses into the box from out wide, the other was a cross-come-shot.

Football is a simple game - made complicated by players like Rashford, Martial and Pogba. The former two seem intent on always choosing the difficult option of having to beat several players, the one good thing that Rashford did today was laying on that cross for Cavani's winner.

We look completely different when we have a bit of variety up top. For all of Rashford, Martial and Greenwoods talent, they're too alike and don't provide enough variety. We look so much better with a real number 9 down the middle who acts as that focal point where everyone else can revolve around.

I remember years ago when Ruud was coming towards the end of his days here, and the way we looked a completely different team just by playing Saha instead of him. It can make all the difference having the right man up top. We wouldn't have got back into that game today had we persisted with what we had in the first half.

Obviously Cavani isn't the option long term, haven't seen too much of Haaland other than his goals to say if he's the answer but we need to start playing with an intelligent, predominantly central focal point who allows our other players to buzz around them. You can play two of our other options, but not all three, they're far too alike.
 
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Dr. Dwayne

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Delicious win that.

And i honestly dont get all the fuzz about Soton playing "great football", lots of shithousing from them + a lot of tactical fouls that the ref chose to overlook
Yes, they seriously pissed me off with that tactic in the first half. Watched it fuming and thinking about the Hasesnhuttl thread on here. Shithousing and the same corner over and over. Thrilling approach.
 

Suv666

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Goes to show how important a clinical and lethal #9 is. No team ever wins anything without a top striker,
 

KirkDuyt

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Never seen much off Cavani at PSG, but that's a proper fecking striker's performance. Reminds me of that match where RVP scored a hattrick for a comeback. Which match was that?
 

Cantonagotmehere

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Romelu (sp?) is such a thug. That was a stamp on Bruno and the announcer called it a good tackle.

So glad we beat them.

I was very disappointed how we played after they scored, but that was it. What a great 2 half. Cavani obviously MoM but Fred was awesome. VdB was great, but wish he would be a little more selfish.

What a great feeling!
 

Rams

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Couple of things. First, what a difference a proper world class no 9 makes. Second is the stark contrast between Pogba and VDB. With VDB you’ve got a player with a great footballing brain who knows his limits and always seems to get the max out of his ability. With Pogba you have a player with all the talent and physical ability in the world, yet somehow doesn’t seem to know how to get the best out of it.
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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Wanted to jump in to comment on VDB's quiet excellence today. Bruno and Cavani will get most of the plaudits but VDB was class. He's technically superior to Bruno but completely unselfish and little less rash. VDB and Bruno are complementary players.
 

Man of the Match

Edinson Cavani image Edinson Cavani 95% of 418 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

6.3 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
Compiled from 212 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Southampton
  2. Man Utd
Possession
50% 50%
Shots
10 15
Shots on Target
5 6
Corners
5 9
Fouls
12 12

Referee

Jonathan Moss