Manchester United faced Southampton on Saturday, in the sixth round of matches of the Premier League this season. Manchester United continued their run of great form this season and continued to lead the league table, along with domestic rivals Manchester City, with 16 points in 6 matches. With the Manchester derby coming up next weekend, Mourinho would have not wished to drop any points against the Saints and his team did not disappoint, as Romelu Lukaku was the only goalscorer in the game, as the Red Devils beat their opponents 1-0 on the night.
They had won against Everton last weekend, with an emphatic margin of 4-0 and pulled off a win against Championship side Burton Albion with a 4-1 scoreline. This would have given the fans hope of yet again easy win, though the game was close and produced just a single goal.
The Saints had earned 8 points from their 5 matches previously and were situated in 9th position in the table. They did offer United a good challenge, after their win over Crystal Palace, with a solo goal by Davis.
Starting Eleven :
Southampton : (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper : Forster
Defenders : Cedric, Hoedt, Yoshida, Betrand.
Midfielders : Oriol Romeu, Lemina ; Tadic, Davis, Redmond.
Attackers : Long.
Manchester United :(4-4-2)
Goalkeeper : De Gea
Defenders : Valencia, Jones, Bailly, Young.
Midfielders : Matic, Mata, Fellaini, Mkhitaryan.
Attackers : Lukaku, Rashford.
The way Pep Guardiola’s team is dominating games in the top flight of English football, it will surely be a warning for the Red Devils that they need to lift their game even further and can’t get complacent.
Though a win is a win, it was a narrow one and Mourinho will want his team to start scoring more goals once again, with the kind of goals that are being scored week in and week out, buy the top teams especially.
There have not been too many dull moments in City’s campaign so far this season and they just can’t stop scoring and their rivals will have to keep up with them, if they wish to challenge them or the other top teams for the league title.
The fatigue factor will also slip into the squads, as the season goes on, with both the Manchester based sides playing in the Champions League as well. They will have to focus on the domestic cups too and there might be many ups and downs, along the way.
Mourinho will want to work on improving his team’s performance and will be happy that they managed to take all three points from the match.
He will be also focused on the derby match coming up, which could hand his side the initiative at the top of the table, if they are able to beat their fierce rivals.
With Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool, all winning on the night as well, the pressure is on at the top of the points table and only time will tell which team eventually manages to take the lead.
