Manchester United 1-1 Southampton: Five things you may have missed from Old Trafford

Once again there was a sense of frustration from the Manchester United players during their latest outing.

And the 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday was eerily similar to the performance against Burnley in midweek and the FA Cup exit to Middlesbrough last Friday.

There were even shades of the poor home display against West Ham United in January, and the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, as United started well but faded away as the game continued.

It was Jadon Sancho who opened the scoring for the Red Devils on 21 minutes against Southampton, while Che Adams equalised after the break for the visitors.

There were also two offside goals for United which were correctly ruled out, and plenty of smaller moments you may have missed…

Sancho scores again

Eight days on from Sancho netting the opener against Middlesbrough and the former Borussia Dortmund winger scored again for the Red Devils at home.

Sancho found the back of the net just twice in his first 23 games, but that’s now two goals in the last three games, with the only blank coming against Burnley, a game where the England international was voted our man of the match.

He also earned that accolade on Saturday, in the draw with Southampton, after a performance where he caused the Saints repeated issues in the wide areas. While United may be struggling, Sancho is certainly finding his feet in the English top flight.

Handbags at the ready

It was a feisty occasion at Old Trafford with plenty of strong tackles, while there were 25 fouls committed during the game. Despite making one fewer foul, United received four yellow cards to Southampton’s zero at Old Trafford.

There was certainly a feeling of frustration from the home fans at the officiating on show. In fact, a decision awarded to the home team resulted in an ironic cheer from the Old Trafford faithful near the end of the second half, although Stuart Atwell got the big decisions correct during the game.

That irritation was shared on the pitch too, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes regularly remonstrating with team-mates for making mistakes.

The latter was also involved in a coming together with James Ward-Prowse in the second half when they ended up grappling with each other and Fernandes pushed out in the direction of the Southampton midfielder, but didn’t make contact with him.

Fans make their voices heard

As United pushed for a late winner, the annoyance from the supporters became even clearer, and there was a late rendition of ‘attack, attack, attack’ chanted from those in the home end.

Marcus Rashford’s late substitution also drew a loud cheer from the fans, although it’s difficult to tell if that was genuine applause, encouraging his replacement Jesse Lingard, or to vocalise the fans’ agreement with the decision to replace Rashford.

After another poor performance from the Red Devils No.10, it felt like the latter.

An unwanted record

Ronaldo is used to achieving records, but on Saturday he set a personal milestone that no-one wants to have.

The attacker has now gone six games without a goal, the longest personal barren run since 2009 and an indication of his form is suffering.

The 37-year-old really didn’t have a great game up front and saw a goal ruled out for offside in the second half, while a Fraser Forster save kept out a shot around the hour mark.

Ralf v Ralph

Saturday saw Ralf Rangnick and Ralph Hasenhuttl square off in the Premier League, the first time they have come up against each other in the division.

The pair, of course, know each other well from their time at RB Leipzig and shared a warm embrace before the game, while the Saints manager admitted in his post-match press conference that it was a little strange to face his former mentor.