UNITED DON’T SCARE ANYONE
Van Gaal’s flaky side picked off by Saints
THIS defeat will hurt Louis van Gaal. History tells us he do e s n’ t like conceding ground to Ronald Koeman. It will disturb Manchester United supporters even more, though, simply because it is indicative of changed circumstances.
During the golden years, only the really big teams came to Old Trafford with victory in mind. Now, that invitation is open to any side who have the courage and nerve to take it. Sides such as Southampton.
Koeman’s team didn’t win this match with a smash and grab. It was no backs-to-the-wall, hang-onand-hope operation. Not a bit of it.
Serbian substitute Dusan Tadic’s muscleman pose after his 69thminute winner said it all.
These Southampton supermen came to Manchester looking to outplay United, while Saints’ manager came to prove himself tactically more astute than the compatriot with whom he once worked fractiously at Ajax.
Van Gaal’s decision to drop Radamel Falcao also backfired and the Colombian star’s future is in fresh doubt after United suffered their first defeat at home to Saints in the league for 27 years.
They even failed to have a single shot on goal at the Theatre of Dreams for the first time since May 2009, with Koeman’s side moving above them into third place.
But Falcao’s omission was a major surprise and will inevitably raise questions over his prospects of persuading United t o spend £52million to turn his loan from Monaco into a permanent move at the end of the season.
He was left out of the 18-man squad altogether, with van Gaal choosing to name teenage striker James Wilson and no fewer than three centre-halves on the bench. United ended up with Marouane Fellaini up front alongside Wayne Rooney, who started in midfield.
Van Gaal said: ‘Falcao isn’t injured he’s just not selected in the squad. It’s much more difficult selecting a side but that’s the task of the manager.
‘We have now a lot of players who are coming back and he has played the last few matches in a row.
‘Then I have to compare my players with each other. Now he is out of the 18 but that is this moment. Next week is another.
‘It is a bad result. When you are dominating the game like we did, you have to create more chances. Southampton came for a draw, I believe, and they go away with a victory and that is disappointing. We gave the goal away.’
And yet the winning goal surprised nobody, while United’s jumbled attacking f ormation f ailed to produce anything resembling a chance until Juan Mata missed a couple of opportunities late on.
United’s failure to register a shot on target put Rooney’s suggestion that his side had ‘deserved to win’ into its proper context and was indicative of their impotence in the final third of the field.
Perhaps equally as pertinent, though, was that this was a game that ended with no late cavalry charge from United.
United ended the game quietly. Beaten in every way.
The misery and defeatism of David Moyes’ ti me here has disappeared but a vulnerability remains. Indeed, van Gaal’s United have the same number of points that Moyes’s team did after the same number of games.
Koeman was gracious afterwards but still struck a relevant theme when he mentioned the ‘difficulties’ of United’s three central defenders. He also stated that victory had not surprised him.
‘It is a good feeling,’ he said. ‘Certainly it’s better than how I felt when United beat us at Southampton.’
That comment r ef erred to United’s 2-1 win in Hampshire before Christmas. It was a victory United di dn’ t deserve a nd Southampton played yesterday as though they had vengeance in mind. Right-back Nathaniel Clyne almost scored in the first minute — exchanging passes with Graziano Pelle and shooting across goal — and although that didn’t exactly set the tone, i t highlighted a mindset that served Southampton well throughout.
Van Gaal’s tetchy view that Southampton had come for a draw was quite wrong.
Koeman’s plan was to stifle the flow of United possession that stems from Michael Carrick — he man-marked him with James WardProwse — and then build from there. In the first half, there were some half chances for United but no more. They did enjoy territory but looked terribly one-paced.
Angel di Maria drove one shot across goal and another wide from the edge of the penalty area. Robin van Persie, meanwhile, saw an effort blocked.
The second half was more telling. Southampton began brightly, and Steven Davis and Pelle were denied by interventions from Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw respectively.
Pelle also headed wide from a corner before, with 19 minutes to go, United’s defence was breached.
It was Tadic’s vision that did the damage. Somehow the Southampton man spotted Pelle unmarked to his right and squeezed the ball out to his team-mate.
One-on-one with David de Gea, Pelle should have scored, but even
though his shot rebounded from the near post, Tadic was alert and calm enough to side-foot the ball into the empty goal from 15 yards.
There was still time for United and Mata could — maybe should — have scored late on.
Twice Daley Blind provided the Spaniard with good chances but twice he failed to hit the target. Soon after, he missed again with a half volley.
Koeman believes his team are capable of staying in third for the rest of the season to qualify for the Champions League.
‘ If we keep t he spirit and organisation, we can keep in front in the table,’ he said. ‘We got a point against Chelsea and three points against Arsenal.
‘That makes belief in the players, that is what you need if you are not a big club, not to be afraid of the name or the stadium.
‘I am not surprised we won today. We have organisation, we have 11 clean sheets in 21 games.
‘ They ( United) didn’t create much.’
As for Falcao’s absence, Koeman said: ‘I was surprised but I don’t know the reason. If he is injured it is normal. Maybe it is a good question to Mr van Gaal?’