Twice in a week Manchester United has come from behind to win. Twice Sir Alex Ferguson’s side has displayed a level of ineptitude that threatened defeat. Indeed, much like United’s tie with Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday, Ferguson’s outfit was second best for much of today’s FA Cup Fourth round tie with Southampton.
Yet, with a will-to-win that is second to none and two second-half goals from Michael Owen and Javier Hernández, United qualified for the fifth round for the eight time in the past nine years.
Ferguson can take little heart from his team’s performance though despite the win, with several fringe first team players covering themselves in very little glory. Southampton manager Nigel Adkins, by contrast, will rue the energy that ebbed away from his side in the last half an hour of an absorbing cup tie.
“The first half we struggled all the way through it,” said United assistant manager Mike Phelan.
“The played extremely well and the system they used was working to plan. Our system wasn’t. We changed it a little bit at half time and then we tried to make amends in the second half by introducing a couple of new players.
“We’ve played players who are not getting as many games as we’d like to give them and we tinkered a little bit with the formation, which is unusual for us. The difference was the formation change – it changed the game.”
Ferguson though contributed to United’s first-half malaise, selecting for the second time in the week, a side devoid of balance and width. With Owen in an unfamiliar role behind strikers Gabriel Obertan and Hernández, and Darron Gibson making another strong case for permanent exclusion from the squad, United’s play was sloppy, casual and shapeless for much of the opening hour.
Southampton played with greater confidence from the start, but with rumoured United transfer target Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struggling to impose on United’s unfamiliar back-four and début goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, the home side was restricted to long-range free kicks.
But United rarely threatened save for Owen’s miscued cross that hit corner of post and bar, and another speculative effort from the former Liverpool striker that flew wide.
Indeed, the home side always looked the most threatening and Richard Chaplow took full advantage of Jonny Evans’ poor clearance and Chris Smalling’s hesitancy to lash past Lindegaard on the stroke of half-time. The stunning finish reward for Southampton’s bright play.
Little changed in the opening minutes of the second period, as United struggled to find any rhythm and the hosts sought a second. The Saints left-back Dan Harding almost doubled the advantage, toe-poking a shot wide after a stunning run through United’s defence.
It was enough for Ferguson, who hauled off the ineffective Gibson and Anderson for Ryan Giggs and Nani, finally offering the width United had lacked for an hour. Those supporters of a crueller disposition might argue the former pair saw an hour more than necessary.
And the changes paid almost immediate dividends as United injected both pace and width into the game. First Nani crossed for Owen to poke wide from close range before Obertan delivered for the striker’s equaliser. There was a touch of fortune to United’s goal though, with the Frenchman’s crossing hitting Danny Seaborne and sitting up for Owen to head home on 65 minutes.
Ten minutes later and United sealed the win as Giggs, influential once again, intercepted Ryan Dickson’s pass and played in Hernández to strike home his second goal in a week.
“Obviously they played well, they’re flying high in their division, and always in FA Cups – no matter what standard you’re playing against – it’s always really tough for sort of 45 minutes or an hour,” said goalscorer Owen, who scored his tenth goal for the club.
“Inevitably, you know, the better quality – and it’s not fitness, obviously they’ve got to run more to keep up with us in many ways and then they tire – and it’s often the way that the better teams come good in the last half hour.”
That United was the better team in name only for much of the matters little now; Ferguson can at least look forward to the Reds’ inclusion in Sunday’s fifth round draw ahead of Aston Villa’s visit to Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
Yet the Scot must also be concerned with his squad’s quality after Gibson, Anderson, Obertan, Smalling and Evans all disappointed. On this evidence alone Ferguson must surely wonder whether Gibson or Obertan will ever make it at the club.
No such worries about Hernández though, who continues to impress during his debut season at Old Trafford.
“He’s only had one chance and he’s scored – one chance, one goal is a tremendous ratio,” Ferguson told MUTV.
“He has great feet in and around the box and gets his shots away quickly with hardly any backlift. His workrate is fantastic and he’s always on the move.
“Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves, but in fairness I maybe meddled with the system by trying a diamond in the middle of the pitch.
“Manchester United are used to playing with width and I think that [the system] was a problem for us. It wasn’t working at all.”
Pretty or effective it was not but a cup victory nonetheless.
Match Facts
Southampton – 442 – Bialkowski; Harding, Fonte, Butterfield, Seaborne; Schneiderlin, Guly (N’Guessan 79), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Barnard (Dickson 73); Chaplow (Gobern 84), Lambert.
United – 433 – Lindegaard; Fabio Da Silva (Brown 46), Smalling, Evans, O’Shea; Anderson (Nani 58), Scholes, Gibson (Giggs 58); Owen, Hernandez, Obertan.
Attendance – 28,792
Man of the Match – Ryan Giggs
Possession: Southampton 49% – 51% United
Attempts: 12 – 11
On Target: 6 – 6
Corners: 5 – 3
Fouls: 13 – 6
Only just… it was never in doubt second half
Even at 0-1 it was clear we were going to win
really sid? even at 0-1?
if gibcunt had stayed on for the whole 2nd half? and that brazilian twat too? southampton could have scored another on a couple of occasions before our goals – with those 2 pricks staying on, i would not be as confident as you
Psh, you worry too much
Once we had width and movement it was never in doubt
We turned it on and stopped at 2
Did not have a chance to watch the game, how did Lindegaard do?
He was good actually. Looked pretty nifty with his feet and generally safe with his hands.
Everytime United play with irishman in the team, they’re shit.
What the hell was that formation?
Since Keano, you mean! You’re right tho. Gibbo isn’t even a proper Eire lad, just a wanna be fenian.
I only mean this season, even Sheasy was a player once!
It was 4-3-1-2. Perhaps the first time Man Utd tried such formation (one without recognizable wingers/wide midfielders) – certainly the first time I’ve seen Man Utd play the formation. Although the away games at White Hart Lane and at San Siro last season featured quite similar formations, both line-ups included a winger/wide midfiedler on one flank.
Didn’t work for three reasons.
a) in 4-3-1-2, two outer central midfielders have to work their asses off to provide auxiliary width and runs from deep. Anderson and Gibson were far too stationary.
b) Full backs also have to be more attacking and be the primary providers of width. Fabio did okay but O’Shea failed pretty bad.
C) because of the midfielders and fullbacks being … well shit, one or two of the front three had to pull wide all the time, leaving the one remaining central quite isolated.
fergie is a cunt. why he insists on playing ridiculous formations with only one winger, 2 very similar strikers who can’t hold the ball up and darren fucking gibson in midfield is beyond me. it was clear as day that it wasn’t going to work, there was no balance, and no out ball. what a cunt.
our right wing had gibson in front of o’shea. what the fuck was fergie thinking? arrgh, i hate him sometimes.
He’s 69 years old now.
Gibbo has to go. He can probably take Johnny Evans with him too. Smalling needs a little longer to prove his worth, and I still can’t decide if Obertan is good or simply mediocre.
What we MUST do however is get back on the training ground and practice the rudiments such as, oh, PASSING!
And a word to Fergie: 4-4-2!
yeah, obertan is a strange one. i keep feeling that he has the talent to be superb, but he rarely shows any productivity.
I am quite mystified with Evans’ form this season.
He was the same player who was a major factor for United having the maximum number of clean sheets last season in the entire league.
Yet this season,both he and Rooney look utter shite.
Obertan will probably go out on loan or be sold. Don’t need him if SAF is looking to bring in Alexis Sanchez.
Fergie admits he meddled with the team too much http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,13864_6710056,00.html
“Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves but, in fairness, I maybe meddled with the system somewhat this afternoon,” he told MUTV.”
“We tried a diamond in the middle of the pitch and, of course, Manchester United are used to playing with width all the time and I think that was a problem for us.”
“It wasn’t working at all. We had some possession of the ball but we never really threatened. We had two or three shots from the edge of the box.”
GIBSON… My mate, a girl, who claims to be city, but doesn’t really know shit…
Her: “That Gibson bloke, he’s fucking useless isn’t he?”
Me: “He’s worse than O’Shea, I wonder if Taggart’s bumming him now instead”
Her: “What?”
Nevermind…
I’m sure SAF will clean house come this summer. O’Shea and the rest of these dreamers will be gone.