Southampton vs Manchester United; 5 Key Talking Points
Southampton 0- 1 Manchester United
Manchester City and Chelsea roared to comfortable wins against Crystal Palace and Stoke City respectively, but Mourinho's Manchester United laid out a marker to the League showing that they were more than willing to win "ugly" as the phrase goes; the 1-0 win thanks to Romelu Lukaku's calm finish in the first half keeps them level on points with their neighbours.
United squeezed through by the skin of their teeth - Southampton threw everything they had at the United goal, but a combination of poor finishing (Romeu missed an open goal from four yards) and some hardy backs-to-the-wall defending saw the home side's wretched run against the visitors continue. It's now 7 games at St. Marys without a win for the Saints against the Red Devils... this time, they deserved at least a point, though.
#5. Ashley Young's crossing places him atop the pecking order at left fullback, but that's not necessarily a good thing.
Young's impeccable cross from the left was met well by Lukaku - and at the other end Antonio Valencia once again helped prove that no matter how good the center-forward is he still needs good crosses to work his magic.
The winger turned ultimate utility-man has proved his worth time and again, but his defensive performance was not the best (not really his fault, come to think of it) and time and again both Dusan Tadic and Cedric Soares exploited the spaces he left on his wing... as much as United need a good crosser of the ball, they need someone who can defend as a left-back.
Having said that., as it stands Young is probably their best option as an attacking left full-back...Till Luke Shaw finds his brain and reattaches it to his body at least.
Guess that's why Guardiola spent a king's ransom on fullbacks, eh?