Manchester Nine (Nine)

Manchester United 9 Ipswich Town 0. I was already a fan at that time in 1995. It was a result that blew my mind. Andy Cole didn’t make the sharpest start to life as a Manchester United player and he scored five in that one game. This game took place in the aftermath of the infamous Eric Cantona Kungfu kick so the talismanic Frenchman was suspended. It was also a season that didn’t have a pleasant ending as we lost the league on the final day by one point and then proceeded to lose the FA Cup final to Everton by a single goal. That was 26 years ago and how time has flown by.

Unimaginable Matching Of Record

I would never have imagined that 26 years after, we would match that record against a good Southampton team at Old Trafford at a time when the club isn’t at the peak of its powers. Southampton was going into this game on a poor run of form and missing several players through injury. That normally means one point or three for the away side at Old Trafford for the modern-day United. To compound their misery they were reduced to 10 men within the first 2 minutes of the game for a rash and crazy challenge by Alex Jankewitz. However, that doesn’t necessarily equate to the opening of the floodgates. We have seen teams play with 10 men and make it extremely difficult for us to break them down. As we have seen on many occasions, this United struggles to break teams down.

Running Riot In The First Half

We hadn’t had many shots on target or created many chances when we opened the scoring through an unlikely source. Luke Shaw’s cross from the left was met by the full-back from the opposite flank, Aaron Wan Bissaka, his first-ever goal at Old Trafford, second of the season. I still didn’t envisage us going on to have the half that we would have. Marcus Rashford scored our second from a Mason Greenwood cross, Rashford’s cross was put into his own net by Jan Bednarek with Fred lurking behind for a simple tap-in and personally the icing on the cake, Edinson Cavani finishing with a great header from another cross by Shaw. Cavani had missed a big opportunity against Arsenal, the second chance he missed was tough to take so I can forgive him for that and just before he scored, he made a hash of a chance given to him. Was he getting spoilt by the influence of his young counterparts? The release of frustration by the Uruguayan after scoring spoke volumes.

Favourable Calls In Our Favour

In the second half, we could have just coasted and seen out the result. I wasn’t sure if we had the ruthlessness to score more. We were lucky not to concede when Southampton caught us napping on a free-kick, saved by a very marginal VAR call in our favour. Unlucky for the Saints. That woke us up as substitute Anthony Martial produced a good finish to increase our lead. He has been under some heavy criticism and on the end of racist abuse as well. That goal would do his confidence a world of good. Scott McTominay drilled in our 6^th and we got another favourable VAR decision for our 7th. Martial looked to be on his way down in the box but despite viewing the incident on the screen, the referee awarded us a penalty which Bruno Fernandes duly converted. Southampton’s day was compounded when the infringing defender, Jan Bednarek was sent off for a professional foul which is also harsh. Martial got his second of the night and another substitute, Dan James got our ninth in injury time.

Everything Went For Us Today

An excellent day in the office for us where everything went in favour of us. The opposite is true for Southampton though, unlucky on a couple of decisions and it was a day to forget. For us, this result would give us a huge boost of confidence and to our goal difference. It’s a tricky one next against Everton. You wouldn’t put it past us to flop in that but let’s hope we do not.