Manchester United ran riot at Old Trafford on Tuesday night as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side inflicted yet another humiliating 9-0 defeat on Southampton.
This is the second successive season in which Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team have found themselves on the wrong end of nine goals after suffering the same fate against Leicester City during the 2019-20 campaign.
Just 466 days separate the Saints’ two huge losses, which stand as joint-record heaviest Premier League defeats.
Here are nine amazing things about the dizzying scoreline that everybody is still talking about.
🎥 Sit back, relax and enjoy all the best bits from a memorable night at Old Trafford.
Sweet dreams, Reds ❤#MUFC #MUNSOU pic.twitter.com/M9bBoh9Rdo
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 3, 2021
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Southampton just lost 9-0 again and it is literally Groundhog Day.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) February 2, 2021
Perhaps the fact that Southampton fell to another 9-0 humbling shouldn’t have come as a shock, given that the United fixture was literally played on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2). For the uninitiated, Groundhog Day is a North American tradition observed every February, in which the emergence of a peculiar little animal from its burrow is used to predict the spring weather. More aptly, it’s also the name of a 1993 movie starring Bill Murray in which the central character is forced to live the exact same day again, and again, and again.
Only two managers in Premier League history have won 9-0 at home.
The first: Sir Alex Ferguson.
The second: Ole Gunnar Solskjær pic.twitter.com/rGZwzZly5j— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 2, 2021
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will no doubt be revelling in the fact that he successfully managed to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson, his idol and predecessor, by becoming only the second Manchester United boss in history to oversee a 9-0 home victory.
Scott McTominay wanted 10 😅 pic.twitter.com/L3W2CYhaXg
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) February 3, 2021
Records were equalled left, right and centre as the final whistle blew in Manchester, as United tied their own long-standing record for largest Premier League win — a record they now share with Leicester City, as previously mentioned. It was also the Red Devils’ biggest Premier League win in over a quarter of a century, since their famous 9-0 dismantling of Ipswich Town in March 1995.
Combined with their 3-2 win over Southampton earlier this season, United have now scored a total of 12 goals against one opponent this campaign. This ties the league record, which is co-held by three other teams: Blackburn Rovers (who scored 12 goals in two games vs. Nottingham Forest in 1995-96), Tottenham (12 goals vs. Wigan in 2009-10) and Manchester City (12 goals vs. Watford in 2019-20).
Just to cap it all off, United also equalled the Premier League record for the most amount of individual goal scorers in one match after seven different players notched against the Saints — a record they now share with Chelsea, who did likewise during an 8-0 win over Aston Villa in December 2012. However, had the rest of the United team listened to Scott McTominay as their ninth goal of the evening found the back of the Southampton net, things might have been rather different entirely.
4. Happy anniversary, Bruno!
Bruno Fernandes celebrated his first year as a Manchester United in style, with the Portuguese midfielder able to boast being the most productive player in the Premier League since his arrival one year ago. By scoring a penalty and laying on two assists against Southampton, Fernandes upped his tally to 36 goal involvements (20 goals, 16 assists) since he made his United debut on Feb. 1, 2020. That is six more than any other player has mustered in the same period, with Harry Kane second on the list (19 goals, 11 assists in 30 games) and Mohamed Salah in third (22 goals, 7 assists in 29 games). Eric Cantona and Dimitri Payet are the only two players in Premier League history to have amassed 15 assists in fewer appearances (both 33) than Fernandes.
2️⃣4️⃣ David Beckham ➖
2️⃣5️⃣ @MarcusRashford 🔺
2️⃣6️⃣ Eric Cantona 🔻#MUFC #MUNSOU— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 3, 2021
Speaking of Cantona, the King was made to bow on Tuesday night as heir apparent Marcus Rashford eclipsed the United legend’s goal total for the club. After turning home Mason Greenwood‘s cross to score United’s second goal of the game against Southampton, Rashford took his first-team tally to 83 goals, one more than Cantona scored for United. It also means that Rashford is now 25th on United’s all-time top goal-scorer’s list, though he’s still 170 goals behind Wayne Rooney at the top of the chart.
Brutal. pic.twitter.com/sDdsuzs32N
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 2, 2021
Rather incredibly, 14% of all the Premier League goals Southampton have conceded during Ralph Hasenhuttl’s stint in charge (82 games since December 2018) have come in the space of those two 9-0 maulings.
It’s little wonder that the Austrian coach was not in the mood for any in-depth chat or analysis in the immediate aftermath of the United game.
Minutes played – 85 (2)
Goals conceded – 9 (-4)
Own goals – 1 (-2)
Red cards – 1 (-3)Spare a thought for Jan Bednarek owners, he finished #MUNSOU on -7!
And to the one manager who Triple Captained him, we, erm, have some bad news for you… 😬#FPL pic.twitter.com/WqHBFqXe2G
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) February 2, 2021
Of course, Premier League anomalies have fantasy world repercussions, with one Fantasy Premier League manager in particular left rueing their decision to make Roman Bednarek their triple captain this gameweek. The Saints defender scored an own goal and then got sent off in a game that also saw his side concede nine goals, leaving the hapless Poland international with a grand total of -7 points — or -21 for one hapless manager. Unfortunately for them, Antony Martial was not the referee, or Bednarek might have been spared his red card.
“Martial said it’s not a foul!”
Jan Bednarek was not happy with the decision that saw him sent off 👀 pic.twitter.com/GxhGv8ncu1
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 2, 2021
The only saving grace is that not many FPL managers would have drafted Southampton youngster Alexandre Jankewitz into their team, which is just as well given the 19-year-old also got sent off against United. Jankewitz wasted little time bringing his evening to premature end when he was shown a red card just 82 seconds after kick-off for a studs-up lunge on McTominay. It was the fastest red card in the Premier League since 2008-09, with Jankewitz also the first player to get sent off on his maiden top-flight appearance since Serge Aurier for Tottenham Hotspur in September 2017.
Congratulations to @ManUtd for equalling the record for biggest @PremierLeague win 👏#Pompey
— Portsmouth FC (@Pompey) February 2, 2021
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, as Southampton’s wretched performance presented south coast neighbours Portsmouth with a rare opportunity to get stuck in on their local rivals. Rather than reference Saints directly, Pompey instead simply made a point of congratulating United on their nine-goal demolition job.
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) February 2, 2021
However, this might still have come as news to anybody attempting to follow the scoring via Southampton’s official social media channels, whose admins simply gave up relaying goal updates once United’s seventh had gone in!
Of all the Southampton players to suffer, spare an extra thought for James Ward-Prowse, who was the only man to find himself on the pitch for all 18 of the goals his side shipped against both Manchester United and Leicester this season and last.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t take it personally.
