On the evening of February 11, Beijing time, a match in the 25th round of the Premier League attracted much attention, and Manchester United sat at home to usher in the challenge of Southampton.
In the last round of the league, Ronaldo failed to start, but came on as a substitute in the 67th minute. In the end, United scored only one goal with 22 shots on goal, and tied with Burnley, who was the bottom of the table, and broke out of the big cold.
With West Ham United's 1-0 home win over Watford, Arsenal won 1-0 away to Wolves. After the last round of leagues, West Ham united returned to fourth, Arsenal and Manchester United are fifth by the same points, and Manchester United have retreated to sixth place.
In the past two games, United's attack has continued to exert strength, and together with the FA Cup being eliminated by Middlesbrough, Manchester United have been in three consecutive games and have only scored 1 goal in regular time.
Manchester United's opponents in this game, Southampton, have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 1 loss in the last 7 league rounds, and their status has rebounded significantly, and they are currently in 10th place in the table with 6 wins, 8 draws and 7 losses, 11 points ahead of the relegation zone, and there is also an 11-point gap between the European games.
Facing Southampton, United lined up a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Ronaldo's single arrow thrust forward and Scott McTominay as a single back.
After the opening, Southampton targeted Manchester United's single back. And United's tactics are very clear, Pogba kicked out the ball to find Sancho, Sancho went down to the ground continuously, aiming at Ronaldo's pass.
Ronaldo received Sancho's pass and swung directly past the goalkeeper, but the shot was somewhat light and was released by the defender who made up for it.
Southampton's attack also almost turned into a goal, but unfortunately the header in the middle of the road became a puzzle, which was quite weird.
United, who got the ball, quickly countered, sancho drove straight in, did not choose to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo, but shot himself. Ronaldo also reached out to show his attitude.
In the 20th minute, Manchester United finally scored, B Fei's direct pass was like a scalpel, Rashford was not greedy, decisively crossed, Sancho followed up, easy to score.
Trailing Southampton stepped up their attack and quickly caught up with United in the number of shots on goal. In the 40th minute, Armstrong's shot was threatening and De Gea's signature leap forward to keep the ball firmly in place.
Three minutes later, Perot went on a back-to-back pass in front of United's penalty area and his shot was saved by De Gea.
Before the end of the half, C Ronaldo passed and Pogba scored, but C Ronaldo was already in an offside position before receiving the ball, and the goal was invalid.
Throughout the first half of the game, although Manchester United led 1-0, but the shot was 5-7, the possession rate was 47%, and Manchester United was generally at a disadvantage.
Just two minutes into the second half, Southampton tore through United's defence and received a stroke from Romeu, With a direct pass from El Yunusi and Adams shooting into the far corner to equalize.
Chased 1-1 by their opponents, United finally woke up and put continuous pressure on the Southampton goal. Ronaldo's shot was saved by Foster, and Dalot's small angle shot was also blocked by Foster.
Ronaldo, who was guarding in front of the goal, held out his hands and signaled that Dalot should pass the ball.
In the 70th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo finally scored, but the assistant referee signaled offside.
Cristiano Ronaldo approached the referee and expressed dissent, and the slow-motion replay showed that not only C Ronaldo, but many Of United players were in offside before scoring goals, and there was no problem with the referee's decision.
In the end, Southampton, which was worth a total of 246 million, drew 1-1 away to Manchester United with 879 million. In the last round of the league, Manchester United drew away to the bottom of the burnley, and after two consecutive rounds of winless, Manchester United's points just caught up with West Ham United, but the goal difference was not as good as the opponent.
Considering arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur behind them, United's road to fourth place this season has been extremely difficult.