Manchester United hosted Southampton FC earlier today at Old Trafford in the Premier League. Manager Erik ten Hag was looking for three points to maintain United’s top-4 run, while Southampton and manager Ruben Selles were looking for any kind of positive result to get them out of the relegation zone.
Before diving in to the match details, a quick shoutout and praise for Match of the Day presenter and former England striker Gary Lineker. He has been taken off air by the BBC for publicly criticizing the frankly inhumane immigration policies recently enacted by the Conservative Party in the UK government. The hypocrisy by the BBC here is off the scale. The author of this blog stands in solidarity with Lineker. Also kudos to former England strikers current MOTD pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer for also standing in solidarity with him and declining to appear on yesterday’s MOTD episode.
The opening 30 minutes or so of this match were fairly tepid from both sides. The play was disjointed and sloppy in midfield, which led to a choppy and staccato flow. Striker Marcus Rashford forced a close-range save from Saints keeper Gavin Bazunu on 16 minutes, but it was a comfortable save in the end. Southampton went close on 24 minutes after United gave the ball away in their own area, with keeper David De Gea being forced into a close-range save of his own after Southampton winger/forward Theo Walcott got his head onto a cross.
The real action started on 34 minutes, when United midfielder Casemiro was shown a red card for a tackle in his own half. Initially, referee Anthony Taylor issued only a yellow card. But the referee in charge of VAR on the day, Andre Marriner, decided to stick his nose into the decision as well. After Taylor was sent over to the pitch-side monitor for another look, he changed his mind and issued a red card to the big Brazilian. The whole decision was utter nonsense, though. The foul in question was a yellow card at most. Casemiro made contact with the ball first, and then the follow-through of his momentum caused him to collide with the Southampton player. Casemiro was visibly distraught by the decision, and rightly so. A red card here is inconsistent with previous decisions made by Marriner and Taylor themselves. It’s a foul and maybe a yellow, but that was it. United were down to 10 men with a minimum of 56 minutes left in the match! More on Marriner and Taylor below.
United forged the next best chance of the half right after the sending off, when midfielder Bruno Fernandes hit a very sweet free kick cross into the box. Center back Raphael Varane was lurking at the back post and he got good contact on the ball, only to be denied by sprawling save from Bazunu. United then should have been awarded a penalty, or at the least granted a VAR review, on 43 minutes when it appeared that Saints center back Armel Bella-Kotchap handled the ball in the box. He was on the ground when Rashford played a low cross in the direction of striker Wout Weghorst, and Bella-Kotchap certainly appeared to use his left arm/hand to knock the ball away from Weghorst. No foul, no whistle, and no VAR check. Absolutely maddening the inconsistent application of VAR in this match. There were no further major chances in the first half, and the teams went to the locker rooms with the score 0-0. Curiously, there was only one minute of stoppage time at the end of the half, despite the VAR review earlier on being well over five minutes of real time.
Due to the extra man advantage, Southampton grew into the game significantly in the second half. Midfielder James Ward-Prowse struck the crossbar on 54 minutes from a free kick about 27-28 yards out. De Gea was nowhere near it, and it just clipped the top of the bar. Walcott then found himself through on goal about ten minutes later, only to be denied for the second time in the match by a strong hand from De Gea. The Red Devils’ best chance of the half came on 68 minutes, when a long-range shot from Bruno beat Bazunu, only for the ball to rebound back off the far post and out of play. Bruno hit it very cleanly, but replays showed that Bazunu got the very tip of his finger to the shot. It would have gone in if he hadn’t touched it ever so slightly.
Southampton’s dominance quickly resumed though, with right back Kyle Walker-Peters striking the far post from just inside the edge of the box after a short corner from Southampton. He was in a ton of space and he was clearly aiming for the far corner, but his shot was just off target. Southampton were in the ascendancy though at that 73 minute mark or so, and in response ETH brought on wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri for more venom in attack. The game slowed down considerably after that, though. Saints were still dominating possession, but their attacking moves usually fizzled out without too much of a threat to De Gea. Taylor again missed an obvious foul on Garnacho which led to a (hopefully not serious) injury for the Argentine youngster. After 7 minutes of what was originally supposed to be just 4 minutes of stoppage time, Taylor blew his whistle and the match ended 0-0.
It’s true that Southampton played well and generally took advantage of having an extra man out there for the majority of the match. I’m not faulting them for playing into a competitive advantage. But what on earth are Taylor and Marriner up to? This was one of the worst refereeing performances I have ever seen in the top flight of English football. I normally don’t like blaming refs for bad results, but these mistakes and inconsistencies were egregious and inexcusable. The dubious (at best) Casemiro red card will be the headline, but there was also the missed handball, multiple missed fouls on United players, and the weird amounts of stoppage time at the ends of both halves. Truly atrocious refereeing from Taylor and Marriner today. More frustratingly, Marriner officiated a match yesterday where several much more egregious tackles than Casemiro’s were made, yet he took no action for any of them. What constitutes a foul? What needs to happen for VAR to be consulted? Why is a certain kind of tackle a foul (and a red card!) today, but the same/worse conduct is not even a foul yesterday? Taylor and Marriner had absolute shockers today and they are the reason the result came about as it did. United will now be without their best midfielder for the next four domestic matches as well, just to add insult to injury. Something must be done about the standard of refereeing in this league, as there is far too much money in it for the refs to be this awful week after week. No one tunes in or goes to Old Trafford, Anfield, or Stamford Bridge to see the referees!
Despite the adversity, United did well to hold on today. After all, it’s hard to win when the opposition has 13 players on the pitch and your side only has 10. Southampton ended the match with 17 attempts on goal, but still couldn’t score. United may have even came away with a nervy win had Bazunu not been in ridiculous form. They kept fighting, but by the end of the match it was plainly obvious that the players were tired. Good games from Bruno, De Gea, and midfielder Scott McTominay deputizing for Casemiro, but a bad game from right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He gave the ball away twice and both times it led to good scoring chances for Walcott. Credit to ETH though for criticizing the refs in his post-match interview, even though it will likely lead to a hefty fine for him from the FA.
United remain 3rd in the Prem with this draw, a scant two points ahead of Tottenham in 4th but with a game in hand. The only thing to do now is carry on and get ready for the Europa League trip to Spain on Thursday when United play Real Betis in Sevilla. They have a strong advantage in that tie with it being 4-1 on aggregate, but defensive discipline will still be the order of the day. Casemiro will be eligible to play as it’s a European tie, but I’d like to see more rotation from ETH. Pellistri needs a start in this team to show what he can do on the right wing.
4-4-2 