Match report and talking points from the Red Devils' lucky escape act

Manchester United avoided a humiliating defeat at Premier League strugglers Southampton on Thursday night thanks to a late hat-trick from Amad Diallo.

The 20th-placed visitors held a deserved lead at half-time until Amad launched his late flurry of goals from the 82nd minute onwards. However, the underwhelming display that preceded the striker's dramatic intervention will have been a concern for Ruben Amorim.

“It's my job to worry,” United's coach warned before the game. If the Portuguese coach thinks about his team's performance during the first 82 minutes, he will be working overtime.

How the game played out

Despite his team's terrible record – the lowest number of points after 20 games Premier League story – Southampton boss Ivan Juric had a hopeful glint in his eye ahead of the trip to Manchester. “We'll have chances,” predicted the future head coach, “so I'm optimistic.” This belief was not misplaced.

Southampton entered Thursday's contest with just 12 league goals between them – a tally of six individual players could be better this season – but seemed to score every time they got forward. Tyler Dibling got past an overworked Lisandro Martinez just before the half-hour mark, charging into the box before letting rip. Onana got a kiss of the flesh on the low shot and rose to his feet again to smother Mateus Fernandes' effort on the rebound.

unitedThe number one had opposed them in yellow but could not deny his team-mate. A devilish corner kick from Mateus Fernandes took the shoulder off Manuel Ugarte and bent between Onana's grasp to give Southampton a deserved lead in the 43rd minute.

Staring down the barrel of one of the club's most embarrassing defeats in modern history, Amorim was in desperate need of goals: enter… Antony.

Even after the introduction of a winger awaiting his first league goal since April 2024, and two other changes, United remained firmly on the back foot. Sulemana continued to have his way with an increasingly hapless Leny Yoro without capping off his penetrating darts with a goal.

As they played, this was still a Southampton side boasting single-digit points after 21 games. Garnacho got away from James Bree on the hour mark, drilling the ball across the box for Antony to slide over. However, with an open goal, Amorim's super signing somehow conspired to deflect the ball away from Aaron Ramsdale's defenseless net.

Fernandes was denied from a tight corner by the former Arsenal goalkeeper before Amad finally equalized for the hosts in the 82nd minute. Coincidentally joining a crowd of neon yellow shirts, United's surprise star of the season drilled the ball past Ramsdale.

Christian Eriksen came on late from the bench and soon joined Bruno Fernandes as the only player in red capable of making a pass with any craft about it. The veteran Dane completed the second half of a delightful one-two over Southampton's depleted back line and onto the step of Amad, who stopped Kyle Walker-Peters on the volley with United ahead with 50 seconds of normal time left. remaining.

Amad wrapped up the contest by pouncing on a free touch from Taylor Harwood-Bellis in stoppage time. It may have been a night to remember for Amad, but it was one that Amorim may want to forget.

Check out the player ratings from Man Utd vs Southampton here.

It is easy to forget how quickly Amad has turned around a United career that was in danger of stalling. A player who arrived at United in January 2021 – during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign – for a fee that could rise to £37m, had never played the full 90 minutes in back-to-back Premier League games until Amorim took over in November. United were extremely happy to watch Thursday's game.

Amad has obviously been let off the cuff by the Portuguese boss who was overseeing his star write a new long-term agreement earlier this month but only entered the game against Southampton in the closing stages. Under pressure from the visitors in the opening hour, the United full-back spent more time on the flanks than on the wing.

However, as the Saints' limbs began to tire – particularly those of his opposite number Kyle Walker-Peters – Amad eventually took to the field and entered his favorite phase of the game. Half of his dozen goals for United have come in the last ten minutes, including all three in midweek.

Amorim's challenge to his players going into Thursday's game was simple: prove you can handle the pressure of performing in a game everyone expects you to win. A late break gave them mixed marks at best.

Unbearable in possession whenever anyone other than Bruno Fernandes had the ball and utterly inept at the back, the only impressive aspect of United's performance was how efficiently they undermined all the good work built up by their spirited performances. against Liverpool and Arsenal.

The Portuguese manager made three changes within ten minutes of the restart, dropping the midfield duo of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte, who had impressed so much at Anfield and the Emirates after a lackluster couple of performances.

Amorim warned that his players “must deliver” before the game. Amad eventually did, but the rest were found wanting.

Not too long ago, Manchester United fans would have actively hunted down Harry Maguire if they only wanted help moving a sofa or something off the top shelf. But in the center of a back three, the heavy defender becomes the commanding officer, no longer lead-footed but steel-toed.

Matthijs de Ligt took Maguire's position as the anchor of the back line against Southampton. A former master who still plays with the wild-eyed enthusiasm of a Labrador puppy, that sense of reckless enthusiasm permeated his fellow quarterbacks.

Leny Yoro was beaten by Kamaldeen Sulemana until Amorim mercifully sent him off in the last ten minutes, while Lisandro Martinez had a punishing evening against an even trickier client.

When then Southampton manager Russell Martin was told the Red Devils were considering a bid for their star striker Tyler Dibling earlier this season, he couldn't help but laugh. “I was told a few rumors about Man Utd, one was an offer of £21 million,” he reflected. “I'm not sure you'll keep your left leg for that.”

Dibling justified his former coach's high praise with an hour-long torment of Martinez.

United's Argentine centre-back was clearly briefed to stay close to Dibling whenever Southampton had the ball, theoretically free to roam with the safety of the other two centre-backs behind him. However, the man nicknamed 'The Butcher' was constantly waving his wits in the air.

Not only did Dibling skip past Martinez in open play, but he got his head on the ball for the corner that gave Southampton the lead at half-time.

READ THE LATEST Premier League news, rumors and rumours