After two encouraging performances against Liverpool and Arsenal, Manchester United were expected to beat Southampton and continue the momentum.
After all, Southampton have only collected six points so far in the English Premier League and sit bottom of the table.
When it comes to this Manchester United team, however, the pattern of showing up when it matters against the big guns and tailing off against a lesser team is becoming a regular occurrence.
For over 60 minutes, Southampton were well worth their lead as time and again they found gaps in Manchester United’s press and tormented Leny Yoro.
In fact, the Saints should probably have been more than 1-0 up at that time.
It’s becoming clearer that with Ruben Amorim, teams know exactly how to set up against the Portuguese manager. For the time being, the only tactic he has in answer to this is to go direct and look for the out-ball to the striker.
This was in evidence against Southampton with Rasmus Hojlund up top.
As Southampton pressed Manchester United’s three centre-backs up the pitch, midfielders Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte were marked off with a Southampton full-back pushing up to cover Noussair Mazraoui as a wide option.
With the Manchester United players marked off 4v4 in the corner the only out-ball to a spare man was in Hojlund, but as the Dane received the pass, it was easy for Southampton to dispossess him.
This happened time and time again. It was clear Southampton had done their homework.
Full-back Yukinari Sugawara pushes up to close down Mazraoui, limiting the space he has and because Southampton played with three at the back it meant James Bree could come out of the back three and mark Alejandro Garnacho in Manchester United’s half.
The only way to get out of the press is to fire it into Hojlund, but when the ball is played into the striker, he is once again tackled.
With Manchester United looking tired in the press, possibly because of the FA Cup game vs Arsenal going to extra-time and then penalties, they struggled to progress through the middle of the pitch as they were unable to find Mainoo and Ugarte in space.
Needing to drastically change the game, Amorim made multiple changes at half-time.
The significant substitution that changed the game was bringing on Joshua Zirkzee for Hojlund.
The biggest difference in personnel is the ability of Joshua Zirkzee to drag the Southampton centre-backs with him and hold the ball up. With the Dutchman’s excellent link-up play, it allowed Manchester United to successfully find the striker in Southampton’s half.
The picture above is extremely similar to the shots of the first half with Southampton pushing Manchester United into one zone of the pitch with no way out.
As Yoro looks to go long and direct to the striker, Zirkzee’s deft touch can drag Tyler Harwood-Bellis out of position and drop the ball off to Antony.
Zirkzee’s presence of was getting Manchester United out of the press and out of the 4v4 situations whenever Southampton squeezed Manchester United into one corner.
Garnacho has dropped deep to drag Bree out of position and be the inside passing option for Mazraoui. However, there is still barely any space between the four Manchester United players close to each other: Mazraoui, Garnacho, De Ligt and Martinez, with Manchester United marked off well by Southampton.
As the ball is played down the line, Joshya Zirkzee can spin Jan Bednarek and Manchester United have bypassed four players in the Southampton press.
Whether it was rehearsed and by instruction or the Manchester United players on the pitch simply resorted to the direct long ball to the striker as they had no other option to pass to, Manchester United were able to turn the game around off the back of Zirkzee’s ability as a hold-up striker.
With Brighton visiting Old Trafford on Sunday, Zirkzee has provided Amorim with food for thought as he may look to start Joshua Zirkzee over Rasmus Hojlund.
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