Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea and centre-backs Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were the driving forces behind their 9-0 annihilation of Southampton.
United matched their Premier League era record victory from 1995 against Ipswich Town on a remarkable night at Old Trafford, where Daniel James’s added time strike took them to within a goal of the club record 10-0 victory over Anderlecht in 1956.
De Gea was furious when Southampton appeared to pull a goal back at 4-0, but Che Adams was deemed to have been offside by the Video Assistant Referee. After substitute Anthony Martial made it 8-0 in the 90th minute, Maguire audibly implored his teammates to hunt for a ninth.
“It came from them, they drove it on, the players out there,” Solskjaer said. “Harry Victor, David, the ones at the back played the ball quickly, Scott [McTominay] played the ball quickly so we got into their half and last third and they wanted more and more.
“So when you play football you have to make the most of it, it might be the last game you play, you never know. So we played like it could’ve been the last game.
“I thought they played the game properly, because we had to. Sometimes when you play against 10 men, they sit behind the ball, make it hard for you, break on you. We played the game properly.
“We switched it from side to side, threatening in behind, some good individual movement and crosses. We played it the way we had to.
“It’s always going to be talked about but it was about playing a game properly, having the focus, doing the right things, getting your habits right.
“If you come into the second-half with sloppy habits, a lack of focus, you might get injured or you might get hurt and you might get punished. We almost did their goal that was offside but we played really well.”
Source: Manchester Evening News
