Manchester United defeated Southampton 3-0 at St Mary’s to pick up their second league win of the season.
Russell Martin’s side came into this match without a point from their opening three games but began brightly, with 18-year-old Tyler Dibling repeatedly troubling Diogo Dalot. But the match turned when Andre Onana saved a Cameron Archer penalty won by the impressive Dibling. Within a couple of minutes, Matthijs de Ligt had headed United into the lead, before Marcus Rashford had his first shot and then first goal of the 2024-25 season to make it 2-0 at half-time.
Southampton rarely threatened a comeback after the break, and United fans were treated to a first sighting of Manuel Ugarte in the closing 20 minutes. A late red card for Jack Stephens for an ugly challenge on Alejandro Garnacho — who went on to score United’s third goal — capped off another disappointing day for the promoted side.
Carl Anka and Mark Carey analyse an important win for Erik ten Hag’s men.
An important afternoon for Marcus Rashford
“Not only today, but he’s in a good place and he needs a goal or an assist,” Erik ten Hag said of Marcus Rashford before the game.
“Last game, he had very good crosses. That moment will come, we will wait for that momentum and then he will fly. All strikers want to score and from my experience, once a striker starts scoring they are going to fly.”
Before the trip to the south coast, Rashford had not managed a shot in his opening three Premier League games this season and was without a goal in a United shirt since May.
The 26-year-old looked devoid of confidence before the international break, particularly against Liverpool where he had multiple opportunities to run at his man but elected to turn back and play the safe pass. But with his team-mates off representing their countries, Rashford knuckled down and worked on his fitness and finishing — and it seems to have paid off.
On 40 minutes, he had his first shot of the season. On 41 minutes, he had his first goal of the season. A typical Rashford finish saw him shimmy inside before a targeted effort to the far post. It might not have been the cleanest of strikes, but the forward is off the mark for the campaign. He will now be hoping to hold onto the momentum that his manager has patiently allowed him to build.
Mark Carey
How important was Onana’s penalty save?
Ongoing rehabilitation from a calf injury meant Luke Shaw missed out on a homecoming trip to St Mary’s. Diogo Dalot continued in his place at left-back. The left flank has been a problem position for United for much of the calendar year and those struggles were evident for much of the first half against Southampton.
Russell Martin’s decision to swap from a 3-5-2 to a 4-2-3-1 meant academy graduate Tyler Dibling had a surer platform to run at United’s defence. The teenager made the most of it, giving Dalot twisted blood on more than one occasion. It was a first-half performance from the Portugal international with shades of a torrid Champions League outing against Villarreal in 2021-22. Southampton spent much of the game’s early stages pressing high, progressing the ball well out wide and beating United to important second balls.
Things went from bad to worse at the half-hour mark, when Dibling nudged the ball past Dalot on the left and sprinted to the byline. The ball looked at risk of going out, only for Dalot to stick his leg out and fell Dibling just inside the box.
A disappointing 30 minutes of football for United looked to get even worse as referee Stuart Atwell gave a penalty to Southampton. Yet Andre Onana snatched momentum back for Erik ten Hag’s team by getting down low and to the left to save Cameron Archer’s shot, before then saving the second attempt.
United took the lead five minutes later when Matthijs de Ligt met Bruno Fernandes’ cross at the back post and headed the ball past Aaron Ramsdale. Six minutes after that, Marcus Rashford made it 2-0, cutting inside from the left wing and curling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
United were second-best for much of the first half, but went in at half-time 2-0 up. And it all started from a double save from their goalkeeper.
Andre Onana stops Cameron Archer from 12 yards 🤩
A brilliant chance for Southampton to take the lead early on 🫣
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/sZYoUbQOZ9
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 14, 2024
Carl Anka
Why Zirkzee’s link play is a window into the future
At the start of the summer, any fan thinking of Joshua Zirkzee as the answer to Manchester United’s goalscoring issues would be to misunderstand the core attributes of the 23-year-old Dutchman.
He bagged the winner against Fulham on the opening day, and will continue to chip in with a smattering of goal contributions throughout the season, but his link play between midfield and attack is undoubtedly the strongest part of his skill set.
He showed plenty of examples of that against Southampton, frequently coming towards the ball to offer himself to a teammate before releasing a first-time pass to runners ahead of him — often Amad Diallo.
He was plucking balls out of the sky with a deft touch, nutmegging Southampton players on the halfway line before zinging a ball forward to Amad, and he was even tracking back to United’s defensive line when Southampton’s Ben Brereton Diaz hared forward on the counter-attack.
He could, and maybe should, have scored himself in the early stages with a weak effort on goal and in the latter stages with a blocked shot when given time in the box. But even when he doesn’t score, it is clear that Zirkzee still contributes towards United’s overall attack — which cannot be said of all players who have led the line for Manchester United in recent years.
With Rasmus Hojlund nearing a return to spearhead United’s attack, the Dane must be licking his lips at the prospect of Zirkzee playing behind him and providing the service that United craved last season.
Mark Carey
What did Erik ten Hag say?
The Manchester United manager was satisfied with his side’s work on the south coast. Speaking to TNT Sports he said “We have to win every game and we did today. Sometimes you have to find a way to win. First minutes of the game we had some problems but after Andre [Onana] stopped the penalty and the goal by Matthjis de Light, the game was all ours.”
Ten Hag was also pleased with Marcus Rashford’s performance. “It’s very important. We spoke before the game and it is so huge for him, for every striker, when the season starts you want to be on the scoring list. Now he has his first, I’m sure more will come. We had the chances to kill the game off, I don’t know how many. We had several to go to 3 or 4-0.”
What next for Manchester United?
Tuesday, September 17: Barnsley (H), Carabao Cup third round, 8pm BST, 3pm ET
Saturday, September 21: Crystal Palace (A), Premier League, 5.30pm BST, 12.30pm ET
Recommended reading
- Manchester United’s Barcelona board meeting and what the new football executives do
- What it’s like for a footballer to leave Manchester United after 14 years – a diary
- Manchester United fan survey results: Happy with transfers but many expectations unchanged
- Angel Gomes: First England call-up makes my ‘difficult’ Manchester United exit worth it
(Header photo: Getty Images)
