Ugly win, lovely goal
Joy on the road at last as United fight the good fight for the second time in a week
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Southampton 0, United 1
It’s not just in politics that a week is a long time. Last Monday afternoon United were bottom of the Premier League table, the butt of a thousand jokes. By Monday night they were 14th and by Saturday they were seventh. Now they are eighth, which will do for the moment. Erik Ten Hag has turned the tanker around with two victories, both full of the fighting spirit he demanded after the Brentford imbroglio. After losing two fixtures they had won last season, United have now won two that they failed to win then. The only embarrassment at Southampton was a second appearance for their ridiculous new third kit, which should surely have been binned after Brentford. It’s so close to the colour of the grass that the players deserve a fair amount of praise just for spotting each other.
This was another clear step forward. Following their first win of the season, Bruno Fernandes’s revamped team have now managed a first away win since Leeds in February, and a first ugly win since West Ham in January. It’s hello again to the hard-fought 1-0. The sheet was clean but the football was often scruffy – and that’s fine, because usually when United go to Southampton, they leave with a frustrating 1-1. This game could easily have finished that way too, had Southampton, still missing Danny Ings, been able to find a cutting edge.
United’s defenders are setting the tone. And it’s at the back that Ten Hag has made the biggest impact. He has swept out Solskjaer’s favoured back four: Victor Lindelof may only be out because of injury, but Aaron Wan-Bissaka is unwanted and Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw are benched at least until the Europa League comes along. The back four that faced Liverpool and Southampton – Dalot, Varane, Martinez and Malacia – included none of the defenders who had a shocker against Liverpool last October. The new back four kept their places at Southampton, and kept up the intensity.
Even an ugly win may contain a beautiful move. The sequence that led to the goal was gorgeous – an elegant latticework of swift movement and crisp passing. Rafael Varane slipped the ball to Anthony Elanga in the wing-back zone. He ran at the defence, then fed Jason Sancho, who released Dalot on the right wing. Marcus Rashford made a sharp run to occupy the centre-backs and free up space behind him for the No 10, Fernandes, who met Dalot’s cut-back with a cool calm volley into the corner of the net. Fast and fluid, this was the f—ing good football that Ten Hag was talking about on Sky last Monday. Not content with scoring a captain’s goal, Fernandes immediately made a statesmanlike move, running over to Cristiano Ronaldo on the touchline to gather him into the celebration. After marring the Liverpool triumph with flashes of petulance, Fernandez was growing into the captaincy before our eyes.
Now Ten Hag faces a new challenge: having to rotate. United go to Leicester on Thursday night before entertaining Arsenal on Sunday and Real Sociedad the following Thursday – the first three games out of six in 18 days. After the international break, which will only be a break for players spurned by their national managers, they then have 13 games in six weeks. Their Europa League draw, though it looks gentle in terms of opposition, is tough in terms of travel. United may even have two XIs, in which case the Solskjaer defence could well be reunited in a Europa team looking something like this: Heaton; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Garner, Fred; Elanga, Ronaldo, Garnacho. More likely, there will be some mixing and matching, with the Indispensables (on current form: Dalot, Martinez, Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford, Martial when fit) being asked to become the Indefatigables. The five-sub rule will really help, and Ten Hag used it better this week – getting Martial back for 45 minutes against Liverpool, and giving Casemiro a cameo at Southampton that was enough for him to show his class. Can they do it on a sleepy Saturday lunchtime at St Mary’s, we asked after Liverpool. Yes, they can.
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.