As of late all the match reports for Manchester United seem to end the same way, as do most of their games. Manchester have failed to inspire much confidence as of late, not just in the team but the manager also.
Saturday's Premier league clash at Southampton would be no exception, when Manchester united failed for the second game in a row to get more than one shot on target. Manchester have now gone 8 hours and 45 minutes without ever scoring a goal at Old Trafford in the first half. So its no surprise that the well known sound at Old Trafford of boo's and jeers were back this weekend.
Ronald Koeman's Southampton team were on the back of a 4 game losing streak before coming to Manchester united, so on paper they should have been fearing an uphill battle with a good team.
The game itself saw Manchester make a catalogue of errors, sloppy performances, and passes with wasted chances even though they were very few and far between. The only chance Manchester had in the first half came from a very speculative effort from 40 yards out from Daley Blind. Rooney, Martial and Lingard would all take shots too but these would all fall well wide, and indeed well wide of their respective talents.
Southampton however would not play much better, as they too failed to produce many clear cut chances to trouble De Gea.
Sadio Mane would fluff a great chance with his shot from the edge of the box, and both Shane long and Victor Wanyama both heading wide from corners.
It took substitute Charlie Austin to break the deadlock for Southampton. Austin was on his debut for the club after being signed from Queens Park Rangers just days earlier on January 16th, for a £4 million.
Just 7 minutes into his debut he had impressed the manager and fans alike after he headed in James Ward-Prowse's free kick passed De Gea. Final score Manchester 0- Southampton 1
With that goal and indeed that win for Southampton they have now won back to back away games at Manchester United, for the first time since 1969.
Manchester now have their lowest points tally ever in the Premier league, just 37 points from 23 games.
With any hope of top flight in the league fading rapidly, fans will still wonder how can Louis Van Gaal still say that ' Manchester still have a chance'? With this result his leadership skills will with out question be under scrutiny. Could Louis Van Gaal soon be 'Louis Van Gone'?
Manchester now face an FA cup battle on Friday with Derby, whilst Southampton face a tough clash at the Emirates with Arsenal on Tuesday 2nd February.
