Rocking Robin relieved to chirp in with treble
Man U ace atones for penalty miss to save Reds against Saints
RoBIN vAN PERSIE was a relieved man after his hat-trick got Manchester United and himself out of trouble with a 3-2 win at Southampton.
Headed goals from Rickie Lambert and Morgan Schneiderlin had put an out-ofsorts United 2-1 behind at St Mary’s, with van Persie adding to their misery when his cheeky chipped second-half penalty was saved by Kelvin Davis.
It looked as though the summer signing was set for a dressing down from new manager Sir Alex Ferguson as a result, but he salvaged the situation by adding to his firsthalf goal with a tap-in and an injury-time header.
“It was a good feeling afterwards,” he said. “I got a bit of luck with the second goal, and ththen at the end.
“I’m very disapppoointed with the ppenalty. When that happens at 2-1 down, you can’t take a ppenalty like that. Something went wwrong big time.”
The Holland iinternational was keen to shirk being man of the match too, claiming veteran substitute Paul Scholes deserved the honour.
“I have to say a big thank you to Paul Scholes,” he added.
“Every single pass he hit was the right one. It was unbelievable. He is man of the match for me.”
VAN PERSIE’S opinion on Scholes was shared by his manager, who decided to play Anders Lindegaard instead of regular No.1 goalkeeper David de Gea.
Rio Ferdinand was also a notable inclusion as he made his first appearance of the season, partnering Nemanja vidic in defence for the first time since a 2-1 defeat to Basel last December.
Celebrating his 1000th league game in charge, Ferguson credited the former England midfielder for guiding his side to a 599th win under his control.
“I thought Paul Scholes changed the game,” he said.
“We controlled the first half and I thought in the second, ‘let’s get down to business’.
“But Southampton kept crossing the ball and scored two goals from crosses, which is disappointing, but credit to them, they are good at it.
“But Scholes’ vision and passing helped us get complete control.”
on van Persie, who now has four goals from his two United starts, the Scot added: “He has come up with three important goals. He’s got four now in two starts, it’s a great statistic.”
Southampton’s ever-positive manager Nigel Adkins tried to look on the bright side, but conceded there were things to be worried about.
“We p u t o u rs e l ve s i n a position to win the game and we haven’t,” he said.
“Man Utd always finish the game strongly and we didn’t see it through.
“It’s all right talking about changing things, we need to be able to apply it.
“But all the lads put a great shift in. We will remain positive, we knew the first four games would be challenging but we have loads of positives.” he made his debut for Rangers yesterday.
Cheered on by the home support in a 46,015 crowd – the largest in Scotland this weekend – he netted a goal in each half in an emphatic 5-1 win.
He added: “I feel I have made the right decision. Look at the fans who were at Ibrox yesterday.
“We had over 45,000 and we are playing in the Third Division.
“It is unbelievable to be here. It is a European club, not a Third Division club. I am sure we will get back there.
“Hopefully, we can do it as quickly as possible.”