OK, we’re going to wrap things up here. Well done to Southampton: that’s three wins in a row, and they’re up to eighth. Man United stay in fifth, and Louis van Gaal is presumably preparing for a tetchy press conference. Thanks for reading. Goodbye.
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Honestly, that was so disappointing from Man United. They started slowly, and the first half was a total non-event, but they never really picked it up in the second, a little 15-minute flurry at the start of the half aside. Southampton were solid in defence and posed an intermittent threat, but it was all set up for a 0-0 until Adnan Januzaj gave away a stupid free kick with three minutes left – and then the Man United defence stood and watched as Charlie Austin headed the winner. There were some seriousldisgruntled home fans at the final whistle.
Final moments elsewhere. Follow them here!
Well, Saints did it, but that was a terrible performance from Man United. They barely had a shot. Really poor.
Full-time: Man Utd 0-1 Southampton
And Saints hold on for the win!
90 min +5: Januzaj flashes a shot wide! It fell to him in the box, and he tried to hit it with bend, but just the wrong side of the past. It sat up nicely for him, and he might have hit the target.
90 min+4: Ninety seconds left. Smalling feeds Lingard, who pumps it into the box. Rooney finds some space and crosses from the left, but it’s hacked away.
90 min +3: Great take from Forster, and it takes all the pressure off. Groans around Old Trafford.
90 min + 2: Fonte hacks clear. McNair has it. Long for Smalling again, but Southampton clear the danger. But that’s a trip in the centre circle, and United will pummel it into the box.
90 min +1: Saints have the ball in the Man United right-back slot. Perfect game management. United can’t get it.
90 min: Really good save from De Gea to keep out Romeu’s left-foot shot from 15 yards after Southampton’s strikers combined.
89 min: Well, there’s still time for Man United, but they can’t get themselves going. McNair goes long for Smalling, who’s been pushed up in attack, but Fonte wins the header. Five minutes of stoppage time.
88 min: Well, what a sequence. Januzaj’s foul on Austin in the corner was absolutely ridiculous, and Ward-Prowse crossed accurately, as he is wont to do, and Austin was totally unmarked, and just pushed a header beyond De Gea from six yards. A Manchester United farce.
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GOAL! Man Utd 0-1 Southampton (Austin 87)
The substitute!
86 min: Januzaj’s first action is to give away a brainless free kick by the corner flag, for a push on Austin he didn’t need to make. Chance here.
85 min: Borthwick-Jackson off, Januzaj on. He scored twice for the U21 side against Southampton in the week. More of that please!
84 min: Cedric goes down the right-hand side, and gets into a position to cross, but Borthwick-Jackson sticks doggedly to him, and it’s out for a throw. Adnan Januzaj is coming in. With five minutes left. What’s the point?
82 min: United are trying, but they’re so ponderous. Nothing happening in attack at all. Rooney’s been quiet today. Actually, so has Martial. And Lingard. And Herrera. Etc etc etc.
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80 min: Saints look the more likely to score at the moment, but it just seems hugely unlikely that this game won’t end scoreless. Here’s Thabo Mokaleng: “Would anyone mind thawing out Louis Van Gaal from his cryogenic slumber and asking him to rouse his moribund ‘title challengers’?”
79 min: Charlie Austin replaces Mané before the kick is taken, and he goes right into the six-yard box. Ward-Prowse’s ball in is excellent, and Long heads over! A chance, although Blind leaned in and did enough to put him off.
78 min: Lingard runs at Targett, and finds Martial inside, but he’s eased off it by the Saints defence. Now Long does very well up the other end to win a free kick from Chris Smalling, who didn’t need to dive in. Good position from the left flank.
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76 min: There’s just lack of care from these two sides. It’s been better since the break, but nothing to get really excited about. Too many sloppy passes; too little adventure.
74 min: There’s a mouse on the pitch! The camera just caught an image of the little chap bobbing towards the touchline. Mildly diverting, and there’s a joke somewhere about an offside trap, if anyone should care to construct it for me? Ward-Prowse looks long for Mané, and it’s laughably overhit.
73 min: Herrera played a quick free kick, but Mike Jones got in the way, and suddenly Southampton broke! Mané fed Long, and wanted the return pass, but Long dallied, took a heavy touch, and the chance was lost. Mike Jones is relieved!
71 min: But then Targett shows some enterprise down the left, and forces a corner off Lingard. Ward-Prowse is a master at set pieces, but Blind heads away the first ball, and then Rooney completes the clearance.
69 min: It’s just gone a little quiet again after those substitutions. Targett falls in a heap, and it’s a Saints free kick on the left flank. Bertrand goes back to Fonte. Looks like Southampton are happy with a 0-0.
67 min: Ward-Prowse fires in a set piece from about 50 yards, and Smalling does very well to win the first header. Romeu’s follow-up effort is into the third tier.
65 min: This second half definitely been an improvement, although it’s all relative, I suppose. (Herbie Rides Again might be better than The Love Bug, but it’s still a film about a car with a mind of its own.) McNair strides forward, in leggy fashion, and wins a corner. It’s taken short by Mata, and then Herrera, gormlessly, is offside.
Double change for Saints: Ward-Prowse on for Tadic, and Romeu on for Clasie. I like Clasie: he’s good possession, covers the ground, and likes a tackle.
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63 min: Saints have just regained their composure: I think that break for the Darmian injury did them some good. Activity on the Southampton bench, too: Ward-Prowse and Romeu set to come on.
62 min: A deep one, and Wanyama was totally free at the back, but his header is wide! It was tough to get the power – the cross was just hung up there – and United had a man on the line in any case, but that was a chance.
61 min: Saints win a corner, and Tadic’s ball is looks for Long, but McNair does just enough. Another corner!
60 min: United medical staff on the pitch. Actually, looking back, that wasn’t a great challenge from Long. Did he really need to make it? Darmian can’t go on: he might well have cracked a rib. Paddy McNair is on in his stead.
58 min: It seems as though Darmian can’t continue. He really took a whack from Long: both players were looking at the ball, but Darmian arrived first, and got clobbered. He’s hurt.
57 min: Was that a foul on Herrera? Nothing doing from referee Mike Jones, and Lingard has a go from the edge of the box. It’s blocked, and then Southampton break: Mané does brilliantly to run past a clutch of red shirts, but Darmian does really well to stop Long meeting the cross. Both players are winded, and we’ll take a pause.
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56 min: There’s much more purpose about Man United, and Schneiderlin, who never went beyond the centre-circle in the first half, gets free in the box, left-hand side. His cross is cut out, and it’s a corner.
55 min: Corner for United, who have perked up significantly. Blind looks for Schneiderlin round the back, but it’s overhit.
54 min: Unlucky from Man United: that was very good play. Lovely forward pass from Herrera to find Rooney, and Mata ran beyond the striker, tried to link up with Martial, but just couldn’t find the pass. Southampton blam it clear, but that was much, much better from the home side.
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52 min: Blind has been characteristically skilful this game, and that’s a good ball for Mata, in a pocket of space betwixt defence and midfield: he looks for Martial through the centre, but that’s good defending from Fonte, and it’s a goal kick.
51 min: Wanyama does well to hold off a posse of defenders and feed Cedric, and his cross causes panic in the Man United defence. It’s eventually cleared, and now United can break: Lingard sends in a fizzing cross in a good area, but no no one attacked it, and it’s behind for a corner.
48 min: I love that Blind takes the corners for Man United. Are there any other instances of teams deploying their centre-backs for corner-taking duties? Hmm, I’ll have a think, but we can at least rule out Andy Linighan. Blind’s ball in is decent, but it’s headed clear.
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47 min: A bit better from the hosts, and Martial’s direct run wins a throw on the left. Now a corner! Put the flags up!
Here’s Justin Kavanagh: “I’m watching this in Philadelphia and it’s a toss-up between staring out the window to watch sheets of snow come down in the back yard or staring vacantly at the TV to watch the slow-motion predictability of Manchester United these days. Actually I take that back—they say no two snowflakes are the same; and God knows every United game I’ve seen under Louis looks the same to me. I’m going with the snow.”
We're back!
46 min: United get us going again. Juan Mata is on for Marouane Fellaini, and who knows, maybe a football match will break out in the second half.
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United are out. Glory, Glory, Man United is playing loudly on the overhead speakers, as though the PA announcer is explicitly mocking them.
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Quelle surprise:
HT scores in #MUFC's last 11 home games: 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 (Zzzzzzz) pic.twitter.com/WgIeE6QN0P
— TEAMtalk (@TEAMtalk) January 23, 2016
It’s half-time around the grounds, and Leicester City might be going back to the top:
Here’s Ciarán Brennan: “I don’t know what’s more depressing, the €7 I just spent on a pint of bitter in this Parisian café or that first half?”
Well, that was tedious in the extreme. Saints were compact and tidy, but created very little, and Man United just seem to be completely without ideas. Very, very underwhelming.
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Half-time: Man Utd 0-0 Southampton
That’s the whistle, and you can hear the boos.
45 min: Two minutes of stoppage time! What’s the point?! Lingard cuts in from the right and has a go with his left foot. It’s well wide – he didn’t catch it right – but Lingard wanted a corner: he thinks it came off Bertrand last. It looked as though the last touch was actually off Herrera, so good on Mike Jones for the decision.
43 min: Herrera and Rooney combine nicely, but Herrera’s cross is beyond everyone.
42 min: It’s very quiet at Old Trafford. This has been extremely disappointing.
40 min: Clasie, who’s been the game’s best player, wins it from Schneiderlin, and feeds Mané – but the Saints striker chooses to pass instead of shoot, and the chance is lost.
39 min: Smalling cuts out Tadic’s cross, but United just can’t make things happen going forward. There are so few options! Martial came short just then, and he had no one to pass to: every United player was back behind the ball.
37 min: Oh, what a chance for Mané! The best chance of the game by a country mile. Lovely one-two between Mané and Tadic, and suddenly Mané was in down the middle. His first touch was wonderful, but then he just couldn’t sort his feet out, and completely missed his kick! Big chance: Saints sliced open the Man United defence there.
35 min: Bertrand took it, and it was a good one, but everyone missed it! Long looked favourite, but he was eased off it by Herrera, and it went out for a goal kick. Herrera wasn’t looking at the ball there, and just blocked the striker from attacking the ball. Anywhere else on the pitch that’s a free kick, but they’re just never given in the box, are they?
34 min: Saints win a corner. All the big defenders join the fun.
33 min: This has been really lukewarm stuff. Both teams are so reluctant to commit players forward. I don’t think one midfield player has run beyond the striker.
Here’s Adam Hirst: “Well at least Fellaini can match Paul Scholes in the tackling department if nothing else. He’s up there with John Fashanu in the elbows department as well. What is he doing in this team?”
32 min: Clasie whipped it in, and Wanyama attacked it, but his header looped up and over. Maybe Wayne Rooney did enough to put him off.
31 min: Cheap free kick conceded by Man United in their right back slot. Bertrand’s last cross was dreadful, but this is a much better angle.
29 min: That was 90 seconds of slightly livelier play. First Saints attacked, but Long’s link-up with Mané was out of tune, and Blind picked up the ball, fed Rooney, who cut in smoothly and shot for goal. Wide of the mark, but at least a marginal improvement.
28 min: Ooh, an anxious moment for Southampton: van Dijk’s pass back to Forster was underhit, and Martial sniffed an opening, but fortunately the keeper was alive to the danger.
26 min: Man United just can’t get anything going against this three-man Saints defence. Van Dijk, Fonte and Bertrand are very comfortable.
25 min: Daft foul by Schneiderlin on Mané, and this is a good area for Saints. Bertrand crosses it straight out play. What a waste! Davie Provan on commentary sniffs: “That’s desperate.” It sure is.
24 min: Cedric volleys one towards goal after good work from Mané, but that was greedy from the wing-back: he should have passed. It went miles over the bar, and Cedric looks sheepish.
Clasie looks OK to continue, by the way.
22 min: Clasie got caught by Fellaini in a tackle a couple of minutes ago. It looked to be accidental – both players went in hard – but Clasie is in difficulty here.
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21 min: Smalling does well to repel Mané, and then Targett’s cross doesn’t find its intended … yeah, yeah, you get it. Martial goes at Bertrand on the right, but that’s excellent, quick defending from the former Chelsea player.
Clasie is down, and the trainer is on.
20 min: Better from Rooney, who picks the ball up on the edge of the box on the half-turn, and shoots early. It’s wide, but at least it was positive.
19 min: Rooney cuts in and looks for Lingard with a long switch. Lingard falls over. The ball goes out of play. This is rubbish.
18 min: Long looked as though he was away for a moment, but more solid defending from Darmian to win it back. Saints have been fine: comfortable at the back, competent in possession, but they haven’t tested De Gea.
15 min: Well, the reason Wanyama is down is that he took an elbow in the face from Fellaini! Both players jumped, and Fellaini used that elbow for leverage, but he caught the Saints player flush in the face. That was naughty from Fellaini. No card from Mike Jones, but Fellaini needs to cut that out. It’s not cool.
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14 min: A glimpse of some home fans talking among themselves. Not much to see here! Fellaini looks down the channel for Rooney, but Fonte is across quickly to cover. Now Wanyama is down, and we’ll take a pause.
13 min: Wanyama and Bertrand sandwich Martial, who moved infield from the right flank. It’s a foul, but not booking, and Rooney plays the free kick in low. Saints clear the first ball, but Herrera recycles it, and then Blind steps forward from central defence to fire a hard shot at goal. It’s straight at Forster, but it wobbled a bit in flight. A good effort from the Dutchman.
11 min: At the risk of sounding like a complete bore, this game really hasn’t got going yet. A very tepid start.
9 min: Borthwick-Jackson crosses from the left, and it’s straight out of play. Groan.
8 min: Not much to be happening, to be honest. Neither keeper has been tested. Although we’re only eight minutes in, so we shouldn’t damn either team to all eternity. And that’s Martial from distance! In a pocket of space, Martial advanced, pulled the trigger … and it dribbled wide.
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6 min: United give it away in midfield, and Mané accepts the pass, releases Long down the left, but Long’s ball in is cut out. Slack, there, from the hosts: they need to step it up.
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4 min: Not much pattern to it so far: the passing isn’t crisp. Just as it was then, when Lingard, who was running directly at the Southampton defence, gave it away with a sloppy ball.
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3 min: United are pressing high when Saints have the ball. Fellaini is called for a foul on Wanyama in the centre circle. What a fearsome duo of midfield grinders that is.
2 min: Targett looks long for Shane Long, running in behind the defence, but Darmian, whose first season in England has been somewhat uneven, defends correctly.
And we're off!
1 min: Southampton kick off, in their reasonably disgusting green shirts with that navy sash. Man United in red shirts, white shorts and black socks, as is their wont.
Seconds away. Charlie Austin is chewing gum on the bench.
Teams just emerging from the tunnel. Fred the Red gives the Man United players a hi-five, which must be annoying if you’re trying to concentrate on the game.
Here’s a nice moment from United-Saints games past: Pahars on Stam.
Anyway, back to Man United-Saints. No room in the starting XI for Juan Mata, and that could affect United’s attacking thrust. Today’s midfield looks a bit stodgy, and no Carrick or Schweinsteiger to provide those forward passes. Southampton might fancy a point, although their squad looks a bit thin, too. No Graziano Pelle, either – it looks as though he’s on his way back to Italy.
What a match! Great entertainment, and evidently Norwich are even more abject in defence than Liverpool. Are they going down?
It’s some game at Norwich, and they’re just finishing up. Another late goal!
The excellent Rob Smyth is on clockwatch duty today: he’s got all the goals from around Europe. Follow him!
Lots to enjoy about Man Utd v Southampton matches over the years: both clubs’ commitment to attacking football has meant lots of goals, and lots of great moments, especially those involving Matt Le Tissier. Wimbledon-Stoke it isn’t. Read more about the Man Utd-Southampton fixture in this lovely piece by Scott:
It’s all going off at Carrow Road. Goals galore! Follow it here with Scott Murray:
So just one change, I make it, from the Man United team that beat Liverpool: Cameron Borthwick-Jackson comes in for Ashley Young, who needs surgery on a groin injury. Two changes for Saints, and one of them is strange: James Ward-Prowse is canned despite two goals against West Brom, meaning Jordy Clasie returns, while Dusan Tadic is in for Steven Davis. New signing Charlie Austin is on the bench.
Your teams
Man Utd: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Lingard, Ander Herrera, Martial, Rooney. Subs: Depay, Mata, Januzaj, Romero, Varela, McNair, Andreas Pereira.
Southampton: Forster, Cedric Soares, van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand, Wanyama, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Targett, Long. Subs: Yoshida, Romeu, Martina, Ward-Prowse, Juanmi, Stekelenburg, Austin.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
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Hello and welcome
Manchester United have a raft of injuries, a slew of unhappy fans, and a manager under the cosh – but all is not terrible for England’s grandest club. They’re fifth in the league, unbeaten since that gormless display at Stoke on Boxing Day, Wayne Rooney has started delivering again, and they have a nice-looking home game at Old Trafford to possibly take them fourth.
Southampton, the visitors, are your classic mid-table erratics: when they’ve been good, as they were in the 4-0 win over Arsenal and the 3-1 victory at Chelsea, they’ve been very good; when they’ve been bad … well, you know the rest. But they like to play football, not kick people, and they have skill and pace, which is always a bonus: if Tadic and Mané and Clasie can turn it on, Man United’s miserablists could turn their complaining all the way up to 11. Louis van Gaal needs not to lose today.
Kick off’s at 3pm GMT, 10pm ET. Join us!
Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s why Louis van Gaal won’t be panic-buying:
Louis van Gaal has said Manchester United are in the market for a new full-back this month after revealing Ashley Young could be out for the season. Young has been playing full-back for United following injuries to Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw but pulled up during the win against Liverpool last Sundaywith what his manager described as a severe groin injury.
“He must have an operation and you can never tell how quickly the player might return after that,” Van Gaal said. “First of all you have to see if the operation is a success, then you have to make a recovery and see if there is a reaction. It is not something that can be done in a month; it might take longer than that.”
Van Gaal has promoted Cameron Borthwick-Jackson to the first team in recent weeks but feels he needs a more senior and experienced defender to slot in alongside Matteo Darmian. “I like to use young players when possible but the level of Manchester United is high and it is difficult for youngsters to deliver what we ask of them all the time,” he said.
“They are still learning and developing. It is difficult for them to achieve consistency and that is why we are looking for replacements. It is not easy to find players good enough to fit in at Manchester United though. They must be of a certain quality because I do not want to buy players just for the sake of buying, and I do not want to bring in players as short-term solutions. I am only here for the short term but I shall always do everything with the club’s long-term future in mind. I want to sign the sort of player who will still be at Manchester United after I am gone but such players are not easy to locate.”
