Manchester United 2 - 1 Southampton: Wayne Rooney gets United out of a mess

SCORERS:

However, whilst Wayne Rooney’s hot streak continued with a first-half brace that took him to nine goals in nine games, of far more concern to Sir Alex Ferguson was his side’s shocking display after the interval, and David de Gea’s goalkeeping.

De Gea carried much of the responsibility for Jay Rodriguez’s early opener and looked nervy throughout, almost spilling Rickie Lambert’s free-kick straight to Adam Lallana.

The visitors spent almost the entire second period camped in the United half and were only denied a deserved point by some desperate defending as United failed completely to stem the tide of attacks.

Saints took the lead on just three minutes, with an underhit and misdirected back pass from Michael Carrick, De Gea failing completely to block, and Rodriguez stroking into an empty net.

But they could only hold their lead for five minutes. One excellent through-ball from Shinji Kagawa was all it took to slice through the visitors’ defence, allowing Rooney to charge forward and score. It was the striker’s 100th goal at Old Trafford.

He had his 101st before long, tapping in from a yard after Patrice Evra had climbed highest at the far post to meet Robin van Persie’s free-kick.

Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Smalling (Ferdinand 63), Vidic, Evra, Welbeck, Carrick, Anderson (Da Silva 68), Kagawa (Nani 73), Rooney, Van Persie. Subs not used: Lindegaard, Valencia, Cleverley, Buttner.

Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Fox (Shaw 78), Schneiderlin, Cork, Puncheon (S Davis 46), Rodriguez, Ramirez (Lallana 46), Lambert. Subs not used: K Davis, Lee, Richardson, Chaplow.

Referee: L Mason. Attendance: 75,600