PL D FA Premier League

Southampton 1:1 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sun, 22 August 2021

UncleBob

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You have to laugh otherwise you'd cry. People slate Sounness and rightfully so but some of the passun merchants on here make him sound reasonable and unbiased.
It's a bit funny, but mostly sad, how shit our fanbase has become.
You have a thread full of twats blaming everything on one player, said player gets subbed off with 30 mins to go and nothing, absolutely nothing, changes.
Yet, apparently, the problem is still the player that has gone off :lol:

Mint.
 

UncleBob

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Southampton (0.62) 1-1 (2.15) Man Utd

It is a bit of a freak result.

If we keep doing this rest of the season, we will be fine.
If we keep playing like we did against Southampton, we're in for a disaster of a season
 

petek.782

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Fantastic first half?
Fantastic first half, dreadful second half. Lacked urgency!
French Pogba sticking around which is beautiful to watch.
Martial, Sancho and Fred all suspect - not sure what the point of Scott. Matic is done IMO.
 

mav_9me

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Southampton (0.62) 1-1 (2.15) Man Utd

It is a bit of a freak result.

If we keep doing this rest of the season, we will be fine.
Hard to believe that's the final XG after we gifted them a few chances in the last 20 mins.
 

mav_9me

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Before everyone loses their shit (too late), lets see what we're like with Varane and Sancho both starting with Cavani upfront. If we're still struggling then i'll start to be concerned. What is very clear and has been for about 12 to 24 months is that we're still 1 midfielder short. Not getting one this window is borderline ridiculous given our lack of options.

Martial needs to have a long hard look at himself because his lack of effort in games in comparison to James and Greenwood is stark. No excuses for him. That was a very poor performance today.
If Martial and Matic continue to get games, that's a huge indictment on Ole. Can you imagine SAF tolerating that first half from Martial?
 

UncleBob

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If Martial and Matic continue to get games, that's a huge indictment on Ole. Can you imagine SAF tolerating that first half from Martial?
Being realistic, what's the difference between first half Martial and second half Greenwood up top? Pretty much feck all.
 

mav_9me

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Being realistic, what's the difference between first half Martial and second half Greenwood up top? Pretty much feck all.
Difference is 2nd half particularly in last 25 mins we couldn't keep the ball, so the attack couldn't get involved in the game.

Also of course Greenwood showed so much movement and did also get the goal.
 

UncleBob

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Difference is 2nd half particularly in last 25 mins we couldn't keep the ball, so the attack couldn't get involved in the game.

Also of course Greenwood showed so much movement and did also get the goal.
Don't be daft, we had the same on and off periods with the ball in the first half and we could barely get Greenwood or Martial involved. Difference is that one player gets the blame for it.

There were barely any differences, whatsoever, between Greenwood and Martial up top against Southampton, and that was with and without Sancho on the pitch.

The problem wasn't up front.
 

Bulldog United

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Ole was more worried about protecting the away record than getting a win.

Seriously, what kind of shit was that. Such a cowardly approach.
Avoid defeat in our next game and then a new unbeaten away record belongs to us. It would be abnormal not to care about creating a massive piece of league history.

I expected us to win today obviously, but we could easily have lost with that glorious chance they missed near the end.

A point is not a terrible result playing away here.

We're gonna be in a title race this season for sure.
 

Lentwood

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My thoughts on the game after a few hours to reflect.

Overall, we have to accept it will be harder to pick up points on the road this year, due to fans being back in the stadium. Away draws are probably not going to cost us a league title, even if they can be frustrating.

The rub of the green went against us today. The Southampton goal was very lucky and how we didn't get the ball over the line during that mad early scramble I will never know. Also, I think it was a foul on Fernandes in the build-up to the first goal. You would get that more often than not.

In general, I thought it was a classic early season United performance. Slugglish, over-confident, lethargic and lacking in direction at times.

Maguire looked very casual at times. AWB and Shaw didn't use the ball well on more than a few occasions.

Fred and Matic is a mid-table PL midfield, so that's exactly the kind of performance we got from them. Fred energetic but chaotic on the ball. Matic so slow and cumbersome, basically playing as an extra CB at times.

Martial was anonymous and I genuinely think we should cut our losses at this point and take whatever fee we can get. I would rather Elanga, Mejbri, James or Hugill have his minutes, if we absolutely must have someone extra in reserve for Cavani, Greenwood, Pogba, Rashford and Sancho.

Pogba was good. Bruno and Greenwood tried hard but it was a day were nothing really quite clicked.

It's very obvious we are minimum two signings away from genuinely competing. We have to sign a proper CM who can pass, tackle, get about the pitch and do all of those things with composure and authority. We also need a world-class CF who can link play with our midfield and wide-players.

Overall, disappointed with the result and the performance but its not a disaster and I'm sure we will improve with McTom, Cavani, Varane and Sancho starting
 

RoadTrip

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I think you can look at this in two ways.

The optimist might say we had a great start and yes, perhaps it was far too early to go all in on the hype but regardless, all teams have bad days in the office during a season and this was one of ours. We showed we can turn it up in the first game and we just need to find that consistency.

The pessimist might say that we knew we could play well on our day but it’s been a consistent problem under Ole that we just give away games too easily in this way. So, might only be game 2, but it’s endemic of the past season or two.

I think it’s too early to tell for sure (of course). I’ve spent too many seasons now since SAF being a pessimistic so for now I want to positive and embrace that hope until it’s really clear we aren’t making the steps forward that we should.

Irrespective, we must address our CM position. Fred, McTominay, Matic - all decent squad options, but playing two of them is just a glaring weakness. We need to buy someone for one of those roles of real quality. And then when Sancho hits his stride and Varane gets settled, we really wouldn’t have any big weaknesses in the first team at least.

More broadly I still worry about our depth - partly because our quality doesn’t run deep in most positions, but also because options who you would think are capable don’t seem to be getting their shot (VDB being a key example).
 

Bristol_Red_87

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A performance where we simply went through the motions.

Absolutely no ambition to win the game in the last 15 minutes.
 

mav_9me

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Don't be daft, we had the same on and off periods with the ball in the first half and we could barely get Greenwood or Martial involved. Difference is that one player gets the blame for it.

There were barely any differences, whatsoever, between Greenwood and Martial up top against Southampton, and that was with and without Sancho on the pitch.

The problem wasn't up front.
Not here to trade insults. Take care.
 

mav_9me

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Avoid defeat in our next game and then a new unbeaten away record belongs to us. It would be abnormal not to care about creating a massive piece of league history.

I expected us to win today obviously, but we could easily have lost with that glorious chance they missed near the end.

A point is not a terrible result playing away here.

We're gonna be in a title race this season for sure.
We shall see. I dont see without us signing a CM. Hopefully you are right.
 

soralapio

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It's been two games.
Bloody hell :lol:
Here's the thing though: football didn't pop into existence two weeks ago. Football's been here for a while, Ole's been here for a while, these very same problems have been here for a while.

So it's not "it's been two games", it's "it's been three years of this same shit and it just doesn't look like these problems have gone anywhere".
 

Andersons Dietician

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If Martial and Matic continue to get games, that's a huge indictment on Ole. Can you imagine SAF tolerating that first half from Martial?
I’d imagine he would have torn into his midfield like he did to Carrick and Scholes about not getting the ball in to the forwards in good positions and if they couldn’t he’ll get people who can.

He said that to Scholes and Carrick. Imagine what he’d say to Fred, Matic, Pogba and Bruno.
 

Mike Smalling

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Disappointing results, but let's calm down a little. We had a poor spell in the last part of the second half, but overall I thought we did enough to win the game - especially considering it was a clear foul for their goal. Just didn't take our chances.

Midfield and overall quality in our build-up play is a key concern though. It needs to be fixed.
 

Buster15

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Avoid defeat in our next game and then a new unbeaten away record belongs to us. It would be abnormal not to care about creating a massive piece of league history.

I expected us to win today obviously, but we could easily have lost with that glorious chance they missed near the end.

A point is not a terrible result playing away here.

We're gonna be in a title race this season for sure.
And so will Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool.
Question is whether we are good enough to finish above those 3.
Do we have a strong enough squad.
And most importantly, do we have as good a manager.
Ole is ok when things are going well.
But is he as intellectually as astute and see things quickly enough.
And is he decisive enough to be able to change the course of a game.
 

Matt851

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If Martial and Matic continue to get games, that's a huge indictment on Ole. Can you imagine SAF tolerating that first half from Martial?
Exactly

Matic starting today was just plain bizarre we needed some technical ability in the midfield to help us beat the press. Either pogba or dvb could have provided. I also cant get my head around the patience shown to martial, when he his performances have consistently been way below the required standard over the last year. Different position but this contrasts with the lack of opportunities offered to dvb

Its so glaringly obvious the midfield needs strengthening that its concerning if ole cant see this. We should be selling James and Lingard to fund this. Both decent players but offer very little beyond what our young players can
 

Solius

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The players clearly aren’t fit enough to last 90 minutes yet and likely got through the Leeds game on adrenaline and knowing they’d have no choice but to run a lot. They’ll be flying soon enough.
 

PoTMS

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I get trying to be positive and being glass half full rather than empty but this "it's only been two games" narrative being peddled around weeds out the optimistic from the delusional.
 

largelyworried

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Overall, we have to accept it will be harder to pick up points on the road this year, due to fans being back in the stadium. Away draws are probably not going to cost us a league title, even if they can be frustrating.
Not so sure. Given the way the other teams are shaping up, I think the winning team in the league will need 90 points this season, maybe more. Which means the winning team will be able to drop no more than 24 points all season. Unless we have an incredible run in head to heads against the other big teams, we’re really going to have to maximise our points against mid and lower table teams. We can probably afford 7 or 8 games where we drop points against those teams all season, home and away. So certainly we can drop points, but the margins are very thin.
 

BusbyMalone

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Here's the thing though: football didn't pop into existence two weeks ago. Football's been here for a while, Ole's been here for a while, these very same problems have been here for a while.

So it's not "it's been two games", it's "it's been three years of this same shit and it just doesn't look like these problems have gone anywhere".
Yeah, agreed

It absolutely baffles me that people can't grasp this concept. There's just no logic to it. To them, it's like the manager should be judged completely on a game by game basis, while ignoring all context. There's just no logical sense to it. "It's only the second game" Yeah, but time existed before today. He's been here for three years!

How dense can you be to argue from this standpoint.
 

Ixion

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Avoid defeat in our next game and then a new unbeaten away record belongs to us. It would be abnormal not to care about creating a massive piece of league history.
I don't think anyone really gives a shit about a record like that. It's hardly a massive piece of history given most fans couldn't tell you who owns the record currently.
 

Kag

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Exactly

Matic starting today was just plain bizarre we needed some technical ability in the midfield to help us beat the press. Either pogba or dvb could have provided. I also cant get my head around the patience shown to martial, when he his performances have consistently been way below the required standard over the last year. Different position but this contrasts with the lack of opportunities offered to dvb

Its so glaringly obvious the midfield needs strengthening that its concerning if ole cant see this. We should be selling James and Lingard to fund this. Both decent players but offer very little beyond what our young players can
Matic isn’t struggling to beat the press because he doesn’t have ‘technical ability’. He has plenty of that, as he’s demonstrated throughout his career. Christ, he has more of that than McTominay and Fred put together. Matic struggles to beat the press because his legs are working about two seconds behind his brain. That’s age, right there.

Agree that the midfield needs sorting and that selling shite like Lingard and James would be a good start.
 

Offside

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A performance where we simply went through the motions.

Absolutely no ambition to win the game in the last 15 minutes.
Not sure it was that. We just couldn’t get a grip of things. Saints were on us. They did well.
 

Dante

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I understand blaming the midfield. Fredic aren't good enough. On paper, they're the easiest upgrades to spot. But it was mostly the attackers that let us down today.

The front four had plenty of chances and should have scored more than 1. Ignore the fact that they have more fashionable reputations than Fred and Matic. The frontline let us down more than the midfield.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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The players clearly aren’t fit enough to last 90 minutes yet and likely got through the Leeds game on adrenaline and knowing they’d have no choice but to run a lot. They’ll be flying soon enough.
Yes, today was frustrating, but fairly standard early season normal, if we get to the other side of the international break and we're still like this then I'll be worried, but I doubt we will be.
 

Noc-Z

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Oh man. The delusion that Lukaku is not top class. The difference is Conte, a world class coach got the best out of him. Ole is a United hero who Let's face it is not a top class coach.
There's a lot of top class players I wouldn't want at United. I was glad to see him go. Anything he done in Italy or does at Chelsea now won't change my mind.
 

RedDevil@84

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Yes, today was frustrating, but fairly standard early season normal, if we get to the other side of the international break and we're still like this then I'll be worried, but I doubt we will be.
Well, one can always find excuses like tired after the break, if we screw up things after the international break.
 

Man of the Match

Paul Pogba image Paul Pogba 62% of 307 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

5.2 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 355 ratings.

Score Predictions

321,8,10
  • Man Utd win
  • Southampton win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 27% Southampton 0:3 Man Utd
  • 24% Southampton 1:3 Man Utd
  • 17% Southampton 0:2 Man Utd
  • 10% Southampton 1:2 Man Utd
  • 6% Southampton 0:4 Man Utd
  • 5% Southampton 1:4 Man Utd
  • 4% Southampton 0:5 Man Utd
  • 2% Southampton 1:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 0:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 2:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 2:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 2:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 0:1 Man Utd
  • 1% Southampton 2:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Southampton 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Southampton 1:5 Man Utd
  • 0% Southampton 1:0 Man Utd
Compiled from 339 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Southampton
  2. Man Utd
Possession
36% 64%
Shots
8 15
Shots on Target
3 4
Corners
7 7
Fouls
12 10

Referee

Craig Pawson