September 1, 2019 The Mail on Sunday^ PRemieR league SPORT 125
Southampton (4-2-2-2): Gunn 7; Cedric 6, Danso 5.5,
Vestergaard 7, Bednarek 6; Romeu 6.5, Hojbjerg 6; Ward-Prowse 6,
Boufal 6 (Armstrong 71min, 6); Ings 5.5 (Yoshida 77, 6), Adams 6 (Long
62, 5.5). Booked: Armstrong. Sent off: Danso (73min). Subs (not
used): McCarthy, Stephens, N’lundulu, Valery.
mancheSter united (4-2-3-1): De Gea 6.5, Wan-Bissaka 7,
Young 6, Lindelof 6, Maguire 6.5; McTominay 6.5 (Greenwood 82, 6.5),
Pogba 6; Periera 5.5 (Lingard 68, 6.5), Mata 6.5 (Matic 68, 6), James 7;
Rashford 6. Booked: Maguire, Young. Subs (not used): Romero,
Rojo, Tuanzebe, Chong.
referee: M Dean (Wirral) 6.IT is not just Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
who enjoys reminding everyone of
Manchester United’s past glories.
United supporters like to remem-
ber how things were, too, and on
days like this, you can forgive them
the nostalgia.
At St Mary’s they toasted heroes
of yesteryear — Eric Cantona, Matt
Busby, even Robin van Persie.
Then, after 10 minutes, the travel-
ling jukebox repeated their new
take on an old classic.
If Ryan Giggs used to tear you
apart, United fans want you to
know that Daniel James is the heir
to his throne. They are big shoes to
fill. But here the 21-year-old netted
his third goal in four games — a
fine strike from just inside the box
— to put United on course for a cru-
cial win.
Yet for all of Solskjaer’s insist-
ence that his side are on course,
and all the promise in his new
attacking unit, old frailties continue
to haunt them.
Even £80million signing Harry
Maguire was powerless to prevent
6ft 5in Jannik Vestergaard rising
above Victor Lindelof to score his
first goal in English football and
earn a share of the spoils.
Kevin Danso’s red card with 17
minutes to play gave United
renewed hope but they failed to
turn the screw.
Asked whether United fans may
have to put up with short-term pain
for long-term gain, Solskjaer said:
‘We have a clear plan. We believe in
the players and the way we do
things. You can say it’s a long-term
one but we’ve deserved to win the
last three games as well. We know
we’re on the right track.’
Yet in their past three games, 52
shots have brought United three
goals and three points. They have
not won in eight away games —
their worst record since 2014. Since
victory over Paris Saint-Germain
in March, they have won just three
of 16 games in all competitions.
Had there been no sum-
mer break in the middle
of this run, the alarm
bells would be ring-
ing even louder.
S o u t h a m p t o n ,
meanwhile, have
now gone three
g a m e s w i t h o u t
defeat. Manager
Ralph Hasenhuttl
admitted the red card
ended his side’s chances
of victory but the man-
ager refused to blame Danso,
instead ruing his own decision not
to bring the defender off following
his first booking.
‘I’m very proud of my team but
also the whole stadium, the crowd
— how they pushed us, energised
us,’ he said. ‘In the end it was only
about our character and mentality
and the guys showed a lot of it and
we deserved to get the point. We’re
very happy.’
The mood is less buoyant at Old
Trafford. Solskjaer has been lauded
in some quarters for ridding his
squad of so much dead wood. But
even he has admitted United are
now a striker short after Romelu
Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez left.
One glance at the United bench
and the attacking options of Jesse
Lingard, Mason Greenwood
(17) and Tahith Chong
(19) — illustrated how
t h r e a d b a r e t h e i r
squad is.
T h e v i s i t o r s
started sloppily
until James got the
ball on the left and
drove into the box.
Juan Mata’s intelli-
gent run drew Cedric
and gave James the
chance to cut on to his
right foot. He took it and fired
the ball into the corner.
At the other end, meanwhile,
David de Gea was given very little
to do in the opening period.
Sofiane Boufal fired just wide
from outside the area but during
the first 45 minutes, De Gea’s con-
cerns came mostly when United
had the ball.
The home side pushed high and
United invited pressure by insist-
ing on playing out from the back,
their cause not helped by Paul Pog-
ba’s inability to keep the ball.
But Saints rarely threatened.
Aaron Wan Bissaka was particu-
larly impressive — the 21-year-old
kept Boufal quiet for long periods
and almost doubled United’s lead
with a volley that flew over.Ten minutes into the second
period a neat reverse pass by
James Ward-Prowse delivered the
ball to Che Adams. But where
James took his chance, Saints’
young new signing fired wide from
seven yards.
Yet from a corner three minutes
later, Ings’ near-post header was
beaten away by De Gea. Danso col-
lected the ball and crossed for Vest-
ergaard to equalise. That prompted
Hasenhuttl to run on to the pitch,
and Solskjaer to turn to two of his
more experienced heads.
Lingard and Nemanja Matic were
introduced as Saints smelled blood.
But their hopes of turning one point
to three were extinguished when
Danso — already on a yellow card
— hacked down Scott McTominay.
Instead it was United who pushed
for the winner. Marcus Rashford
forced another sharp save from
Angus Gunn before Greenwood
came on as a final roll of the dice.
It didn’t pay off.By Daniel Matthews
AT ST MARy’S STADIUM
1
1
Southamptn
Vestergaard 58Man United
James 10 Solskjaer'supbeat but
numbers
just don’t
add up...
10-man Saints hand United worst start in 27 years
gO figuRe: wheRe iT’S g One wROng
5
Manchester United have taken
just five points in their opening
four Premier League games, last
picking up fewer in their first four
games of a Premier League
campaign in 1992-93 (four points).10
United just can’t stop
leaking goals on the road.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have
now shipped goals in each of their
past 10 away games, a run dating
back to a 2-0 win at Chelsea in the
FA Cup in February.8
United are now winless in their
past eight away matches in all
competitions, their worst run since
going nine without a win between
April and November 2014.19
In United’s past 19 matches
they have managed to keep
just a solitary clean sheet — their
opening-day 4-0 win against
Chelsea. Their previous clean
sheet was gleaned in a 0-0 draw
with Liverpool at Old Trafford in
February.pauL pogBa will remain at
manchester united this
season despite lingering
interest from real madrid,
writes daniel matthews.
real boss Zinedine Zidane
claimed he could still make a
late move, with the transfer
window open for european
clubs until tomorrow.
united have resisted
attempts by pogba and his
agent mino raiola to engineer
a switch to the Bernabeu andfollowing his side’s 1-1 draw
at Southampton, ole gunnar
Solskjaer said the midfielder
will be at old trafford beyond
the end of this window.
‘paul pogba will be playing
for us,’ he said. When asked if
pogba was happy with that,
the united boss added: ‘i’ve
just said that.’
pogba, who gave the ball
away 20 times, limped heavily
as he left the stadium after
appearing to twist his ankle.Pogba staying, insists Ole
Pain game:
Pogba can’t
hide his
anger as
United toil
againSouthampton are
winless in their past
nine home games
against Man Utd in
the Premier League
(W0 D4 L5)0