Manchester United failed to bounce back from their historic defeat to Liverpool as Casemiro was sent off in a 0-0 draw with Premier League strugglers Southampton.
United suffered the heaviest defeat in the history of their great rivalry with Liverpool last Sunday, losing 7-0 to Merseyside.
After seven days, Erik ten Haga’s men were disappointing again and Casemiro’s red card for a bad foul on Carlos Alcaraz allowed the relegation-threatened visitors to dominate.
Southampton didn’t capitalize on their chances, however, and settled for a deserved point that keeps them bottom of the table, but just two points from safety.
United initially looked in the mood to put things right after their Anfield humiliation and Marcus Rashford was denied by Gavin Bazuna after a good challenge on Bruno Fernandes.
But Fernandes spent much of the rest of the first half remonstrating with referee Anthony Taylor as United struggled to gain control of the game.
They were grateful to David de Gea for turning in Theo Walcott’s close-range header, but then faced 10 men as Casemiro showed a straight red after Taylor went to the VAR monitor following a high challenge on Alcaraz.
Raphael Varane almost headed home a Fernandes free-kick shortly after, with United subsequently seeing two penalty appeals rightly waved away at the end of a frustrating 45 minutes for the visitors.
Southampton twice came agonizingly close to capitalizing on a one-man advantage after the restart.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka was forced off the line after Scott McTominay deflected Kyle Walker-Peters’ cross towards goal. James Ward-Prowse then clipped the top of the crossbar as he narrowly missed out on David Beckham’s Premier League free-kick goals record.
Walcott was again thwarted by De Gea after going one-on-one with the United keeper on the counter, before Bazunu produced heroics at the other end to turn Fernandes’ curling effort against the inside of the post.
Walker-Peters saw a shaky effort hit the left post with De Gea well beaten, luck in favor of a United side who are now 16 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Manchester United player ratings
GK: David De Gea – 7/10 – Pulled out a few good saves to keep United in the contest.
RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 5/10 – Had as many goal-saving moments as ones where he was the one putting United in danger.
CB: Raphael Varane – 7/10 – Untroubled even when United went down to ten men. Denied by Bazunu.
CB: Lisandro Martinez – 8/10 – Booked very early on for elbowing Alcaraz in the chest. Kept his cool from there on in and was a reliable distributor from the back.
LB: Luke Shaw – 5/10 – Walcott and Walker-Peters were involved a fair bit, which is a bit of an indictment on left-back Shaw.
CM: Casemiro – 1/10 – After just two red cards in 336 games for Real Madrid, he’s now picked up two in 37 for United.
CM: Bruno Fernandes – 5/10 – Actually suited playing a little deeper with 11 men, but after Casemiro’s red card, Fernandes was often caught in possession and played a few hospital passes backwards.
RM: Antony – 4/10 – Offered very little, though you could probably partly attribute this to Casemiro’s red card changing the game.
AM: Jadon Sancho – 5/10 – Shunted all over the frontline trying to make things tick after United were reduced to ten men.
LM: Marcus Rashford – 4/10 – Often found himself on the fringes of the game. Tried to win a penalty with a rather awful dive over Bazunu.
CF: Wout Weghorst – 5/10 – An unfortunate casualty of Casemiro’s red card, replaced by Scott McTominay to bring more balance to the team. Put himself about when on the pitch and was a useful target man.
Substitutes
Scott McTominay (44′ for Weghorst) – 5/10 – Tried to offer stability in addition to his physical presence but he just isn’t that sort of player.
Alejandro Garnacho (73′ for Sancho) – 5/10
Facundo Pellistri (73′ for Antony) – 6/10
Harry Maguire (90′ for Martinez) – N/A
Fred (90′ for Garnacho) – N/A
Manager
Erik ten Hag – 6/10 – Not a lot he could have done after the red card. United still played with intent despite that disadvantage.
