Van Persie celebrates his winning goal for United as the team came from behind to clinch a dramatic last-gasp win
Image retrieved from the official Barclays' Premier League website
The United fans felt the thrill of a roller-coaster ride as they watched their favorite team face Southampton at St. Mary's Stadium Sunday.
Like their first game, Southampton took the early lead against another Manchester club with a fabulous header from Rickie Lambert in the 16th minute. In contrast, similar to what happened at Old Trafford last week against Fulham, it was Robin van Persie who gets the equalizer using his trademark left-footer shot just seven odd minutes later.
The game went quiet as it progressed to the second-half, when the Saints gained momentum and confidence as they battered the United defense in rapid-fire succession. The United back line would soon give way as an Evra slip provided Schneiderlin an open goal to take his team ahead 2-1 with roughly three-quarters of the game gone.
Then came Paul Scholes.
The Saints never knew what hit them as the legendary midfielder immediately made his presence felt and controlled the tempo of the game. As Sir Alex Ferguson said in a post-match interview, "Scholes was the catalyst" and he sure was. His superb passing tilted control to the Red Devils' favor, and in similar fashion to how Manchester City beat QPR in the last game of last season, Van Persie scores twice in a span of five minutes to clinch the dramatic late win for United, despite missing a penalty just a few minutes earlier in the most anti-climactic and disappointing of fashion.
"Well, that was a close one..."
Image retrieved from thescore.thejournal.ie
A lot of things were evident during this game, including United's defense. Ferdinand and Vidic are the best defensive combination in the English Premiership, when they're in form. With Vidic still feeling the waters after his injury last season, and Ferdinand in pretty much the same situation after getting injured and missing the Fulham fixture, they're certainly not in form.
Central midfield once again pops up as another problem for the Red Devils. Carrick and Cleverley proved a bit lacking as Southampton easily traversed through this section of the pitch.
The Japanese playmaker Kagawa, despite his talent, is simply being dominated by his lanky counterparts, proving that bulking up his body, even just slightly, would prove pivotal.
All in all, this game proved to be a game of a thousand words and emotions for Sir Alex Ferguson's 1000th league game as manager of the club he'd served for more than 25 years. Interestingly, RVP's hat-trick gave him his 98th, 99th and 100th league goal, and when those two numbers are joined together, you know something special is bound to happen this season for Manchester United.
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