1. The protege won the tactics battle but the master won the war
Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman’s relationship, from their time at Barcelona until their friendship soured at Ajax, dominated the build-up to this game, promising some spice and tactical intrigue.
From the start, Van Gaal pulled a surprise by starting with a 3-5-2 formation. Koeman admitted in his pre-match interview that he was surprised by United’s set-up but he referred to Arsenal’s approach earlier in the season, when the Gunners dominated United in the opening 20 minutes, as a textbook way to outwit that wingback system.
Southampton successfully exploited the space out wide and pressed very high to force Manchester United into making mistakes when they had possession. It all worked well for the Saints.
Van Gaal’s tactical switch in the first-half clearly showed that Koeman won the tactical battle, but the United boss had the last laugh as he left with all three points.
2. Another match-winning performance from Robin van Persie at St Mary’s
Van Persie was clearly the man of the match because of his goals and link-up play in the second-half. The Dutch forward had all of United’s shots in this game and he made the difference with his clinical finishing.
In his first season at United, Van Persie scored a hat-trick at Southampton to help Sir Alex Ferguson’s men overturn a two-goal deficit to win 3-2. The Dutch forward clearly enjoys visiting St Mary’s and he now has seven goals in seven visits since his days at Arsenal.
3. More lessons from another failed test of character
Southampton have now lost three consecutive games against their so-called superiors in a period in which they needed to prove their character. The defeats all came with different lessons that Koeman’s side need to take.
Against Manchester City, the Saints lost their tactical discipline when they chased the game against 10-man City only to get punished on the break. At Arsenal and in this game, the Saints actually dominated but lost because they failed to capitalise on their opponents’ mistakes and got punished for theirs at the other end.
4. Manchester United got away with it again
There were games at the start of the season when you could not help but feel sorry for Manchester United because they got less than they deserved, like the 0-0 draw at Burnley and the 5-3 defeat at Leicester City but now Van Gaal’s men have been riding their luck in recent games.
They played poorly at Arsenal but they somehow left with maximum points. They could have dropped points in their last home game against Stoke City when Mame Biram Diouf missed a couple of good chances to make it 2-2 towards the end of the game.
In this game, a couple of United players were poor; Juan Mata struggled in central midfield, Marouane Fellaini frequently lost the ball in dangerous areas and their defence alarmingly lost its shape until Michael Carrick dropped into the back-three to add some composure.
As a team they only mustered three shots, the lowest by a Premier League side this season, and fewer than any Manchester United side in the entire 11-year history of Opta statistics. Yet they not only avoided defeat but they left with maximum points.
5. This game was essential to Paddy McNair’s development
McNair has been a joy to watch for United fans who love to see academy players make the step up and succeed at the highest level. He aced arguably the most difficult test for any Premier League defender when he marked Sergio Aguero after Marcos Rojo got injured and Chris Smalling was sent-off in the Manchester derby.
The teenage defender has had fairly decent performances until this game when he was strangely bereft of confidence in possession. After a solid start to his senior career, he probably needed this bad game to help him further develop mentally.
