Our 3️⃣ points as Man Utd end away day hoodoo to beat Southampton | OneFootball

Bruno Fernandes scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United won back-to-back games for the first time since February.

Southampton were the team put to the sword by Erik ten Hag’s men as Casemiro came on in the second half and made his debut for the Red Devils.

One for the road

Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Brentford.

Those are the last seven away games Manchester United have played going back to last season.

The record in those? Played seven, lost seven.

United’s win over Liverpool on Monday was clearly huge for the new manager and this group of players.

But the real test of their mettle was whether they could back that up with a victory away from home against a resurgent, young Southampton outfit.

That’s exactly what they did.

It wasn’t pretty at times with centre-back Lisandro Martinez arguably being United’s best player in the 90 minutes.

But the most important thing was to build from the win earlier in the week and keep that momentum going.

Brilliant Bruno

For Manchester United to be back to their best Bruno Fernandes has to be back to his best.

Whisper it quietly then, but the Portuguese attacker looks like the player of old under Erik ten Hag.

It could well be the introduction of Christian Eriksen, it could be a more youthful attack creating spaces in between the lines.

It could, in all truth, be that Ten Hag’s more structured, detail-oriented coaching is more conducive to Bruno’s way of playing.

The former Sporting man netted his first goal since February here with an absolutely stunning first-time finish from the edge of the area.

It wasn’t just the goal that impressed on the south coast though.

It was his pressing, his constant work rate, his link-up with Eriksen and the cleverness of his movement that really will have thrilled the coaching staff.

After a difficult few months Bruno Fernandes is the heartbeat of this side again.

Recruitment goals

It’s been a summer where Premier League clubs have truly splashed the cash.

The likes of Casemiro, Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez have all joined the division for big money.

But Southampton have proved that you don’t need bottomless pits of cash to compete in the top flight.

Two of their new arrivals were exceptional this afternoon and cost just over £20m between them.

For experienced Football League watchers, Gavin Bazunu isn’t a new name but there were always going to be question marks for a 20-year-old goalkeeper who spent last season in League One with Portsmouth.

The Irish international however, has already answered those doubts.

It wasn’t just between the sticks that Saints were impressive though.

The addition of Armel Bella-Kotchap has been a real boon for the south coast club with the 20-year-old showing experience beyond his years in the centre of defence.

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