Southampton 1 - 2 United

Lindegaard

O'Shea Smalling Evans Fabio(Brown)

Obertan Scholes Anderson(Nani) Gibson(Giggs)

Chicharito Owen

I expected this starting line up today. It was quite a strong starting XI, strong enough to face a League 1 club I thought. But I was terribly wrong! Southampton did 'a Blackpool.' They were excellent during the first half but faded out during the second. Owen and Chico spared our blushes today but it was all thanks to the introduction of Nani and Giggsy.

United were awful during the first period. The amount of misplaced passes by our midfielders was simply jaw dropping. Gibson and Anderson seemed to have forgotten the basics of passing. They gave the ball away cheaply and were rightly substituted. At that time bringing on Berba and Rooney seemed to be more appealing but Fergie opted to stick with the starting strikers and replace the under performing midfielders. Obertan, in my opinion, was lucky to escape being withdrawn. He was very poor just until the 60th minute, when the determined Nani and Giggsy were introduced to this game and sparked United into life. Suddenly the passing was perfect again while the pace had noticeably quickened. Obertan managed to look threatening on the right and even created a goal. Still, he has to do much much more to win me over!

Chico might have been caught offside far too often but his movement and finishing is really good. Owen looked really determined today. I find his run, just like Obertan's, ridiculously funny but his goal instict is still there. He had a good chance during the first half and a cross of his even hit the woodwork! Could prove to be really handy during the upcoming second half of the season but I'm not too sure about that. At the back captain O'Shea had a good game while Evans and Smalling were OK. Fabio did his best and might have picked up an injury. It was good to see Wes Brown back though! He might have been prone to that odd howler in the past but I still like the lad. We did terrifically well when he got through a season without any injuries. What about Lindegaard? The first positive thing is that we have a backup keeper whose name I can spell. The second positive thing is that he looks confident in goal and passes the ball well even when under pressure, however, he wasn't really tested today and he couldn't do much about the goal.

I heard(maybe I misheard it) the Red Army singing the Ronaldo chants during the game. It was quite emotional, those chants still send shivers down my spine!

"...running down the wing, hear United sing...Viva Ronaldo"