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Manchester United got back to winning ways as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Southampton at the St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday.
After a slow start to the match, Andre Onana’s penalty save sparked United into life and the players didn’t look back from that point.
Matthijs de Ligt broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, as he headed in a sumptuous cross from captain Bruno Fernandes.
Six minutes later, Marcus Rashford doubled the Reds’ advantage with a curling trademark finish into the bottom-right corner.
United dominated for large parts of the second half before substitute Alejandro Garnacho grabbed a third to ensure all three points were in the bag.
Erik ten Hag’s men had 57% possession in comparison to Southampton’s 47% share of the ball. United registered an impressive 10 shots on target from their total 20 cracks at goal. The Saints on the other hand had six shots, with four of these requiring Andre Onana to intervene.
United put together 606 passes with a pass accuracy of 57%. The home team strung 465 passes with a pass completion rate of 87%.
One of United’s outstanding performers was De Ligt. After an extremely tumultuous international break with the Netherlands that saw him make multiple costly errors, the defender responded in excellent fashion.
Beyond his goal, he was a rock at the back as he slotted perfectly right next to Lisandro Martinez.
During the time he was on the pitch before being taken off, De Ligt made an outstanding six clearances. He also made one interception and put in twice as many tackles.
The 25-year-old made a clearance off the line that kept United in the game.
The former Bayern Munich man delved into five ground duels, winning three of them. He was a monster in the air as he won all three of the aerial duels he contested.
De Ligt registered 78 touches of the ball and found his teammates with 59 of the 64 passes he attempted, managing an individual pass completion of 92%. One of his passes was a key pass.
He had a total of two shots on target, the second one being when Diogo Dalot teed up the ball for him but it was blocked by a Southampton player.
(Stats obtained from Sofascore)
United’s next assignment is an EFL third-round clash against Barnsley on Tuesday.
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2024-09-14 13:54:59
