Match report and talking points of the Red Devils’ lucky escapes

Manchester United avoided a humiliating defeat against Premier League strugglers Southampton on Thursday night thanks to a late hat-trick from Amado Diallo.

The 20th-placed visitors held on to a deserved lead in the first half until Amad began his late run of goals from the 82nd minute onwards. However, the unbearable display that preceded the attacking dramatic intervention will be a big concern for Ruben Amorim.

“It’s my job to be worried,” United’s head coach warned before the game. If the Portuguese coach thinks about his team’s performance in the first 82 minutes, he will play extra time.

How the match unfolded

Despite his side’s terrible record – lowest points tally after 20 games Premier League history – Southampton coach Ivan Jurić had a glimmer of hope in his eyes ahead of the trip to Manchester. “We’ll have chances,” predicted the new head coach, “so I’m optimistic.” That confidence was not in vain.

Southampton they came into Thursday’s contest with just 12 league goals between them – meaning six individual players can do better this season – but looked like scoring every time they went forward. Tyler Dibling slipped past an overzealous Lisandro Martinez just before the half-hour mark, weaving his way upfield before releasing him. Onana got a meaty paw for a low shot and leaped to his feet to smother Mateus Fernandes’ attempted rebound.

UnitedThe number one rebuffed those in yellow but couldn’t deny his team-mate. Mateus Fernandes’ devilish corner deflected off Manuel Ugarte’s shoulder and slipped between Onana’s grasp to give Southampton a deserved lead in the 43rd minute.

Staring down the barrel of one of the club’s most embarrassing defeats in modern history, Amorim were in desperate need of goals: in came… Antony.

Even after the introduction of a winger who is awaiting his first league goal since April 2024, and two further changes, United remained firmly at the back. Sulemana continued to have his way with an increasingly unhappy Leny Yoro, without stopping his penetrating darts with a goal.

Although they played well, this was still a Southampton team boasting single-digit points after 21 games. Garnacho managed to dispossess James Bree on the hour mark, drilling the ball across the field for Antony to slide onto. However, with the goal open, Amorim’s superb performance somehow conspired to deflect the ball away from Aaron Ramsdale’s unguarded net.

The former Arsenal goalkeeper saved Fernandes from an acute angle before Amad finally equalized for the hosts in the 82nd minute. Casually weaving through a crowd of neon yellow shirts, United’s surprise star of the season slotted the ball under Ramsdale.

Christian Eriksen came off the bench late on and soon joined Bruno Fernandes as the only players in red capable of passing with any flair. The veteran Dane crosses the second half with a wonderful one-two across Southampton’s threadbare back line and into the stride of Amado, who held out Kyle Walker-Peters to fire United into the lead with 50 seconds of normal time.

Amad rounded off the contest by pouncing on Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ loose touch in stoppage time. It may have been a night to remember for Amado, but it was a night Amorim might want to forget.

Check out the Man Utd vs Southampton player ratings here.

It’s easy to forget how quickly Amad turned around a United career that was in danger of stalling. The player, who arrived at United in January 2021 – during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign – for a fee that could rise to £37m, had never played the full 90 minutes in back-to-back Premier League games until Amorim took over in November. United were very pleased to see the contest on Thursday.

Amado was undoubtedly released from the shackles of the Portuguese boss, who was overseeing his star conclude a new long-term contract earlier this month, but only entered the game against Southampton in the closing stages. Under the influence of heavy pressure from the visitors in the first hour, United’s full-back spent more time at full-back than on the wing.

However, as Saints’ limbs began to tire – particularly those of his opposite number Kyle Walker-Peters – Amad eventually crept down the field and into his favorite phase of the game. Half of his twelve goals for United have come in the last ten minutes, including all three in midweek.

Amorim’s challenge to his players Going into Thursday’s game, it was simple: prove you can handle the pressure of performing in a game everyone expects you to win. The late delay earned them mixed reviews at best.

Heavy in possession whenever anyone other than Bruno Fernandes had the ball and utterly inept at the back, the only impressive aspect of United’s play was how effectively they undermined all the good work built up by their spirited performances against Liverpool and Arsenal.

The Portuguese manager made three changes within ten minutes of the restart, ditching the midfield duo of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte who had impressed so much at Anfield and the Emirates after a couple of indifferent displays.

Amorim warned that his players “must deliver” before the game. Amad eventually did it, but the rest was missing.

Not too long ago, Manchester United fans would only actively covet Harry Maguire if they wanted help moving a sofa or something off the top shelf. But in the center of the back three, the bulky defender becomes commanding, no longer lead legs, but steel toes.

Matthijs de Ligt took Maguire’s position as the anchor of the back line against Southampton. A former child prodigy who still plays with the ferocious gaze of a Labrador puppy, this sense of reckless enthusiasm has permeated his fellow central defenders.

Leny Yoro was kept busy by Kamaldeen Suleman until Amorim mercifully hauled him off in the final ten minutes, while Lisandro Martinez had a torrid evening against an even trickier customer.

When then Southampton manager Russell Martin was told the Red Devils were considering a bid for his star striker Tyler Dibling earlier this season, he couldn’t help but laugh. “They told me some rumors about Man Utd, one was an offer of £21m,” he reflected. “I’m not sure you’ll get his left leg for that.”

The former coach’s high rating was justified by Dibling’s one-hour torture of Martinez.

United’s Argentine centre-back has apparently been instructed to stay tight with Dibling whenever Southampton have the ball, theoretically free to track the roaming full-back with the safety of two other centre-backs behind him. Nevertheless, the man nicknamed ‘The Butcher’ was constantly clever.

Dibling not only rounded Martinez in open play, but headed the ball for the corner that gave Southampton the lead in the first half.

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