Glenn Hoddle lavishes praise on ‘ruthless, professional’ Manchester United after their huge 9-0 victory over Southampton at Old Trafford
- Manchester United put nine past Southampton on Tuesday in a top performance
- Southampton got an early red card, and were put under pressure the entire time
- They are level with points at the top with City, although still five goals behind
Glenn Hoddle has lavished praised Manchester United’s performance at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, where they beat Southampton 9-0 in an incredible game.
They were already 4-0 up at half-time after a very early red card, and then further punished Southampton in the second half, adding another five.
‘They were ruthless, United,’ Hoddle told BT Sport.
Manchester United punished Southampton’s red cards to score nine goals on Tuesday night
Glenn Hoddle was full of praise for their ruthless performance at Old Trafford
Alexandre Jankewitz was given his marching orders early on after a horrific challenge
‘Mentally, in the second half you see that each player was pushing each other on, it doesn’t matter what the score is, we are going to just keep going at Southampton.
‘You have to feel sorry for Southampton. They had nine players out. That’s bad enough. Then get a man sent off.’
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side has been crippled by injury in recent weeks, and on his first league start for the club, Alexandre Jankewitz got sent off inside two minutes.
Manchester United were clinical in their finishing and didn’t let up until the final whistle
’89 minutes to play with 10 men is very very difficult against quality players. But some of the finishing was excellent from Man United. You have to say it is a very ruthless, professional performance.’
Things got even worse for Southampton a few minutes before the final whistle, when, after a VAR check, Mike Dean showed Jan Bednarek a red card, and gave United a penalty.
‘It’s just what the doctor ordered after the week they’ve had,’ said fellow pundit and former United player Rio Ferdinand. ‘They got themselves into a great position in the league and didn’t justify themselves.
Even Manchester United’s substitutes got involved, with Anthony Martial scoring twice
‘We asked for a performance. They were helped by a red card but this is what their strike-force needed. This is where they regain their confidence and really get their momentum going again.’
United were all over Southampton from the start, and fans will have been pleased to see they did not let up the pressure even when the game was already won.
The win has closed the goal difference gap to Manchester City considerably. They sit on the same number of points at the top of the table, however City have two games in hand.
