5 Things Learnt From Manchester United’s Win Over Southampton

Manchester United were frail, it seemed like they came into the match to earn a draw at most and the fact that they had boiled through four teams before their trip to the St Mary stadium makes it more difficult to comprehend. The victory wasn’t because they were lucky as the word luck has been greatly undermined in recent times. Louis van Gaal’s side ran off with their first fifth consecutive victories since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement because the Saints couldn’t take their chances and in fact presented on a platter of gold, the two goals with which the game was won. At the moment, the Red Devils are third on the log and here are five things we learnt from Monday night:

Poor play, Great win: agreed, the Red Devils were below par and in fact were frustratingly lethargic for most parts of the game. The Saints came at them waves after waves but Manchester United still held their ground to secure the win. David De Gea once again produced fine saves, Ashley Young showed some wonderful displays last seen when he was at Villa Park and Robin van Persie also put up quite a show.

4 defender strategy: when will Louis van Gaal realise that the 3 defender formation is too frail to be continuously deployed in the Premier League. It is understandable if he uses such when the defence was in disarray due to injury but how about now that he has few more options? The Saints knew that there were 3 guys at the back and all they needed to do was so spread the ball to the wings, our centre-backs will then be forced to split leaving the goalkeeper without adequate protection.

Robin Proves doubters wrong: the Dutchman has been hapless since last season but after some flashes of brilliance at the World Cup, many believed that he would be able to replicate such form when the league commences, unfortunately, the former Arsenal man made himself the subject of heavy criticisms when he reduced himself to a passer-by during games. If it wasn’t for the incessant injury crisis affecting Radamel Falcao, perhaps poor old Robin would have been shipped off to some Turkish outfit by now. However, he came in strong against Southampton on the south coast and showed the Old Trafford faithful that he still got few tricks left up in his sleeves. The brace took his goal tally to 7 this season.

He is Young and Awesome: Ashley Young has been an outcast for so long at Manchester United. Many felt he didn’t live up to the expectations that made Ferguson splash the cash to price him away from Aston Villa. But the Englishman has been great of recent even in the unnatural position of a wing-back to which he is been currently displayed. He put up some outstanding performance last night.

Manchester United makes it five: away from the criticisms, let us enjoy the frenzy at least for the moment. This time last season, the Red Devils were plummeting down the log like a deflated parachute but now, despite their mediocre performances, they have recorded five straight wins and are now third on the table. For me, I think I’ll drink to that!