Match report & talking points from lucky Red Devils escape act

Manchester United avoided a humiliating loss to rock-bottom Premier League strugglers Southampton on Thursday night thanks to a late hat-trick from Amad Diallo.

The 20th-placed visitors held on to a deserved first half lead until Amad embarked upon his late burst of goals from the 82nd minute onwards. However, the underwhelming display which preceded the forward’s dramatic intervention will have been a grace concern for Ruben Amorim.

“It’s my job to be worried,” United’s head coach warned pre-game. If the Portuguese boss gives any thought to his side’s performance over the first 82 minutes, he’ll be working overtime.

How the game unfolded

Despite his side’s dire record – the lowest points tally after 20 games in Premier League history – Southampton boss Ivan Juric had a hopeful glint in his eye ahead of the trip to Manchester. “We will have chances,” the incoming head coach predicted, “so I’m optimistic.” That confidence wasn’t misplaced.

Southampton came into Thursday’s contest with just 12 league goals between them – a tally six individual players can better this season – but looked like scoring each time they ventured forward. Tyler Dibling wriggled past an overeager Lisandro Martinez shortly before the half-hour mark, ferreting into the box before letting rip. Onana got a meaty paw to the low shot and sprang back to his feet to smother Mateus Fernandes’ attempt on the rebound.

United‘s number one had rebuffed those in yellow but couldn’t deny his own teammate. A devilish corner from Mateus Fernandes ricocheted off Manuel Ugarte’s shoulder and squirmed between Onana’s grasp to give Southampton a deserved lead in the 43rd minute.

Staring down the barrel of one of the club’s most embarrassing defeats in modern history, Amorim was in desperate need of goals: enter… Antony.

Even after the introduction of a winger waiting for his first league goal since April 2024, and two further changes, United remained firmly on the back foot. Sulemana continued to have his way with an increasingly hapless Leny Yoro without capping his penetrative darts with a goal.

As well as they played, this was still a Southampton side that boasted a single-digit points tally after 21 games. Garnacho managed to jink away from James Bree on the hour mark, drilling the ball across the box for Antony to slide onto. Yet, with an open goal gaping, Amorim’s super sub somehow conspired to divert the ball away from Aaron Ramsdale’s unguarded net.

Fernandes was denied from a tight angle by the former Arsenal goalkeeper before Amad finally equalised for the hosts in the 82nd minute. Fortuitously bundling his way between a crowd of neon yellow shirts, United’s surprise star of the season slotted the ball underneath Ramsdale.

Christian Eriksen was a late arrival off the bench and soon joined Bruno Fernandes as the only player in red capable of producing a pass with any craft about it. The veteran Dane span the second part of a one-two delightfully over Southampton’s frazzled backline and into the stride of Amad, who held off Kyle Walker-Peters to volley United in front with 50 seconds of normal time remaining.

Amad rounded off the contest by pouncing on a loose touch from Taylor Harwood-Bellis in stoppage time. It may have been a night to remember for Amad, but it was one that Amorim may want to forget.

Check out player ratings from Man Utd vs Southampton here.

It’s easy to forget how quickly Amad has turned around a United career that was at risk of stalling. A player who arrived at United in January 2021 – during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign – for a fee that could rise as high as £37m, had never played the full 90 minutes in consecutive Premier League matches until Amorim took over in November. United were mightily glad he saw out Thursday’s contest.

Amad has undoubtedly been unshackled by the Portuguese boss, who oversaw his star man pen a new long-term deal earlier this month, but only came in to the game against Southampton in the closing stages. Penned in by the visitors’ high press for the opening hour, United’s wing-back spent more time at the back than on the wing.

Yet, as Saints limbs began to tire – particularly those of his opposite number Kyle Walker-Peters – Amad eventually crept up the pitch and entered his favourite stage of the game. Half of his dozen goals for United have been scored in the last ten minutes, including all three in midweek.

Amorim’s challenge to his players heading into Thursday’s fixture was simple: prove that you can withstand the pressure of performing in a game everyone expects you to win. A late reprieve earned them mixed marks at best.

Ponderous in possession whenever anyone other than Bruno Fernandes had the ball and utterly inept at the back, the only impressive aspect of United’s display was how efficiently they undermined all the good work built up by their spirit performances against Liverpool and Arsenal.

The Portuguese boss made three changes within ten minutes of the restart, gutting the midfield duo of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte which had so impressed at Anfield and the Emirates after a pair of listless displays.

Amorim warned that his players “have to deliver” pre-match. Amad ultimately did, but the rest were found wanting.

Not too long ago, Manchester United fans would have only actively pined after Harry Maguire if they wanted help moving a sofa or something off the top shelf. But at the centre of a back three, the cumbersome defender becomes commanding, no longer leaden-footed but steel-toed.

Matthijs de Ligt took Maguire’s position as the backline anchor against Southampton. A former prodigy that still plays with the wild-eyed enthusiasm of a Labrador puppy, this sense of reckless enthusiasm permeated into his fellow centre-backs.

Leny Yoro was given the runaround by Kamaldeen Sulemana until Amorim mercifully hauled him off in the final ten minutes, while Lisandro Martinez had a chastening evening up against an even trickier customer.

When it was put to Southampton’s then-manager Russell Martin that the Red Devils were mulling over an offer for his star forward Tyler Dibling earlier this season, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I was told some rumours about Man Utd, one was a bid of £21m,” he mused. “I’m not sure you’ll get his left foot for that.”

Dibling justified his former coach’s lofty valuation with an hour-long torment of Martinez.

United’s Argentine centre-back had clearly been briefed to stay touch-tight to Dibling whenever Southampton had the ball, theoretically free to follow the wandering waif with the security of two more centre-backs behind him. Yet the man nicknamed ‘the Butcher’ constantly swung his clever at thin air.

Dibling not only side-stepped Martinez in open play, but got his head to the ball for the corner which put Southampton into a first-half lead.

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