Southampton 2-3 Manchester United
When the fixtures for the season were announced Southampton fans must have though that it was a practical joke. Their opening day fixture was to be against Manchester City and just a fortnight later they'd have to play Manchester United, tough didn't begin to described 2 of their first games. Despite this they put up a very spirited battle against Manchester City and again refused to roll over for Manchester United.
The match started brightly for the Red Devils who forced the Saints to concede a corner with in around 90 seconds as the visitors looked for an early goal. The home sided however defended well and grew into the game quickly as they started to look threatening around the 10 minute mark. With their confidence growing in front of our eyes Southampton actually started to look the better team and then they did the unthinkable as they took the lead via a Ricky Lambert header around 16 minutes in.
Shocked by the goal United realised they had a game on their hands and fought back swiftly with an equaliser just 7 minutes later through Robin Van Persie's volley which showed the class of the Dutchman. Having equalised United then looked for the lead with Van Persie getting a number of chances though the Dutchman failed to recreate the magic that had seen him scoring his first. This saw the team going into the half level, a scoreline that was perhaps fair due to the stout defending of the home side.
The second half saw United coming close before Southampton, for the second time in the match, took an unexpected lead this time it was Morgan Schneiderlin heading in from close range. The goal, almost a carbon copy of the Saint opener showed that United really do have defensive issues even with Anders Lindergaard replacing David De Gea.
The second Saints goal really forced United into action with Paul Scholes and Nani replacing Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverly. The involvement of Scholes almost had an immediate impact with the ginger haired maestro playing in Robin Van Persie within seconds of being on the pitch but Kelvin Davis saved his team. Manchester United were starting to turn the screw and the pressure caused some serious kamikaze work from Southampton with Kelvin Davis making an awful pass out followed up by a stupid challenge by Jos Hooiveld on Robin Van Persie inside the penalty area. Van Persie sadly failed to net the spot kick with Davis making a mends for his lapse of concentration.
After a spate of substitutions it seemed as if United were going to suffer their second loss of the season until Robin Van Persie netted his second of the day reacting quickly after Rio Ferdinand's header failed to find the back of the net. With just 3 minutes left it looked almost certain that the Saints were going to get at least a point from the match, it was what they deserved in all honesty, however Robin Van Persie was reading from a different script and manage to secure all 3 points for United as he completed a memorable hat-trick and truly did make amends for the missed penalty.
Whilst Nigel Adkins may feel slightly aggrieved by the fact his team got nothing from the match he should probably feel ecstatic at his teams performance. Not only were the Saints a match for United but Adam Lallana looked exceptional, Ricky Lambert has proven he can score against anyone one and the team proved they have no fear. Often we think it's unfair to judge a team on losses to the top teams but it's more than fair to judge Southampton on their two performances against the Manchester teams which have proven that they can live with anyone in the league. This is not a team that is going to be intimidated, it's not a team that is going to give up and most importantly it's not a team that will betray their manager.
Alex Ferguson's season hasn't been what he'd have expected. A loss in their opening fixture to Everton followed by successive 3-2 victories in matches they were expected to ease to victory in isn't a sign of the United of old. This is a United team that is genuinely struggling, despite showing a championship winning spirit to come from behind twice here (and once against Fulham). The signing of Robin Van Persie, despite the high price tag, has proven to have been an excellent one with the Dutchman netting 4 goals in 2 starts despite the penalty miss. United's manager however will need to be worried about his defensive unit which so far looks poor and, as with City, United cannot expect to score 3 goals every time they are going to win a game.
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