Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United missed the victory they need in the sixth minute of the compensated time against Southampton when Michael Obafemi scored the equalizer.
According to the results of the thirty-fifth round, Leicester lost to Bournemouth 1:4. After Jamie Vardy scored a goal in the first half it looked like everything was going alright for the Foxes. However, in the second half, Leicester lost the initiative and eventually lost 1:4 to the struggling Bournemouth. Alas, in order to retain the place in the Champions League zone, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team had to defeat Southampton at Old Trafford. Based on the previous results from Manchester United everyone thought they should have had no problems dealing with Southampton.
However, In addition to the above, the Saints continued to maintain the status of one of the most unpleasant rivals for the Red Devils in the matches at Old Trafford, avoiding defeat in four of the last six meetings. And the current form of the team of Ralph Hasenhüttl did not look like a typical team from the middle of the tournament table at the end of the season.
Manchester United have been perfect in the previous games. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was thought to be the first candidate leaving the team at the end of the season has managed to reinforce his team and Manchester United became one of the most ferocious teams in the Premier League, thanks to the Norwegian manager himself. This fact was not ignored by the best odds websites in Norway, that even prior to the recent success had an incredible flow from people in Norway that placed their bets on Manchester United solely because of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They remember him as a prominent player who always delivered amazing results from the bench.
In favor of Manchester United, the match against Southampton could have been proof of a luxurious form, which the Solskjaer’s team gained after leaving the coronavirus lockdown. Even the coach himself caught the courage from the game of his players, in the five previous matches of the Premier League having made only one change in the starting lineup. And this is because of a fairly dense calendar of the protracted season. At a press conference before the match, the Norwegian cautiously hinted at the continuation of such a tradition in the reporting game.
However, any magic only works until a certain point – United simply ran out of energy in the final of the game against Southampton. The team of Solskjaer failed to start the match energetically, as a result of which the rivals managed to score a goal before the end of a quarter of an hour: Redmond was taken to the left flank of the penalty area, from which followed an assists to Armstrong who scored in the goal of de Gea from close range.
The Red Devils turned on quickly enough after that, and Rashford made a break to the target, hitting the goal from an obvious offside after the Shaw pass – in England such episodes are difficult to conceal from the referees. But after a few minutes, there was no reason to cancel the goal of Marcus Rashford. Pogba awarded Martial a pass from the right flank into the center of the penalty area, and the latter somehow passed the ball to an attacking partner standing nearby. The Frenchman also took part in the next scoring attack, which took place almost immediately, giving the transfer from the center of the field to Bruno Fernandes, who had already put Martial on the free left flank, and Anthony Martial fired a shot in the opposite goal.
After such a frisky start, the game exploded only in individual episodes. United controlled the ball most of the time, but in the end, the team did not show persistence. Time passed rather measuredly in the second half, and rare moments at the goals of both goalkeepers were more likely an exception to the general trend – the hosts were leading the game to the most successful conclusion possible for themselves.
But dramatically, everything changed just after the regular playing time. Williams and Walker-Peters clashed their heads in a fierce fight, after which the teams spent most of their compensated time bringing the players to their senses. When the command was given to complete the game, Manchester United relinquished control of the situation. The classic British moment – supplying a corner to the near post – ended with a successful goal with his head from Bednarek further to the goalkeeper, where Maguire did not have time to interfere with Obafemi. Who knows, when now the competitors of the Solskjaer’s team will lose points again. But the remaining matches leave us with high anticipations.
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