Man United have somehow managed to drop points once again in the Premier League, this time being held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton at Old Trafford.
This is United’s second draw on the trot in the Premier League and the two dropped points mean they have once again failed to renter the top-four in the table. United have moved above Arsenal thanks to this draw but the Gunners have played two games less than Rangnick’s side.
The story of this game was pretty similar to what we have been seeing from this Manchester United side in the previous few matches where they absolutely boss the first half only to crumble and throw away their lead during the second half of the matches.
They scored a brilliant counter-attacking goal in the 21st minute but Southampton managed to level things up in the 48th minute thanks to Che Adams. The first 45 minutes was a showcase of a really dominant performance from Man United but in the second half, a lot of their players failed to deliver.
Ralf Rangnick should overall be content with the performances but his side just cannot seem to kill off matches by scoring a second goal and this is something which he needs to sort out as soon as possible or else they will even fall out of the top six.
Man United players ratings:
De Gea: 6.5/10
The keeper did not have much to do during the match apart from picking the ball from the inside of the net. He did miskick a clearance which could have resulted in a Saints goal.
Varane: 7.4/10
The Spaniard has taken no time to find his feet at Man United and it was another authoritative performance from Varane.
Harry Maguire: 6.8/10
Maguire though has been at United longer than his defensive partner but the England international just cannot seem to settle down. He did have the chance to score a late winner only to be denied by Forster.
The England defender managed to win only 50% of his ground duels and was dribbled past three times.
BREAKING: Harry Maguire has invented no-look defending. pic.twitter.com/edByOG5FoA
— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) February 12, 2022
Diogo Dalot: 7.2/10
The right-back was pretty solid overall as he had a passing accuracy rate of 84% and made as many as six recovery runs.
Luke Shaw: 7.3/10
Shaw was selected ahead of Alex Telles and the left-back justified his selection by perfectly complementing Sancho and Rashford but his defensive play still looks a bit fragile and he needs to work on it if he wishes to hold onto his place in the side.
Paul Pogba: 7.9/10
The Frenchman was superb on Saturday as he had the license to roam around with freedom in the middle of the pitch. Pogba joined in on attacks and surprisingly he also went out to help in defence.
This was easily one of the best performances which Pogba has produced this season and there’s no denying that he will be starting ahead of Fred for the next couple of matches.
Paul Pogba's game by numbers vs Southampton:
87% long passes completed (7/8)
85% pass accuracy
74 total touches
40 passes completed
9 ground duels won
3 aerial duels won
1 chance createdAnother huge performance. Sadly, just the 1 point.
Individual positives only 🥲#MUFC pic.twitter.com/GjPKjrP57M
— Red & Black Edits (@RednBlackedits) February 12, 2022
McTominay: 7.5/10
The Scottish international has been playing as the lone defensive midfielder in the past few matches and it’s safe to say he has repaid the faith of his manager. On Saturday, he was dribbled past just once and he made two key recoveries.
Bruno Fernandes: 7.4/10
Bruno made the key pass from which Man United scored their only game of the match and if the United forwards can start making some wiser decisions in the final third then Fernandes’ contributions will come more into prominence.
The 27-year-old made two key passes during the 90 minutes he was on the pitch.
Rashford: 6.9/10
Rashford provided the assist for Sancho but barring that, the England international was really poor. He is still short of confidence since he can rarely dribble past defenders and almost all of his crosses did not even get past the first line of defence.
Ralf Rangnick took him off in the 82nd minute but the way he performed, the manager should have substituted him off long before.
Jadon Sancho: 8.1/10
Sancho is finally looking like the player for whom Manchester United paid so much money and he scored United’s only goal of the match.
He is finally back to enjoying his football as he is eager to get the ball at his feet and run at defenders. He had an xG of 1.32 and if he was more composed in the final third then Sancho should have had two and not one goal against his name.
Cristiano Ronaldo: 6.6/10
We know a lot of people won’t believe it but Ronaldo was actually the worst player on the pitch for Man United. CR7 had several great chances to end his goal drought but he just can’t seem to find the back of the net currently.
He missed one major chance in the first half and in the second half he drew a good save from the Southampton keeper. The forward had an xA of 0.01 and an xG of just 0.51.
Six games without a goal 😵
Cristiano Ronaldo's worst drought since 2009. pic.twitter.com/Rd2twF4Pkm
— GOAL (@goal) February 12, 2022
Substitutes:
Jesse Lingard – N/A
Anthony Elanga – 6.3/10
Elanga came on the pitch to replace McTominay and while the youngster did add more bodies inside the Saints box but he did nothing to trouble Hassenhuttl’s side.
