Manchester United crushed, whalloped, routed, dominated, thrashed, demolished, destroyed (pick your past tense verb) Southampton FC 9-0 tonight. It was their biggest win since beating Ipswich Town by the same scoreline back in March of 1995.
It also tied for the most lopsided win in Premier League history, another 9-0 decision that occurred only 15 months ago. Yes, Southampton were on the wrong side of that affair as well, with Leicester City doing the honors that midweek night in October of 2019.
July 8, 2020: Southampton releases a video game to promote their new shirt. The game features moments that troll other teams, including Manchester United.
Feb 2, 2021: @ManUtd 9 @SouthamptonFC 0 https://t.co/6MvAIOev6k
cc @MUFChicago #MUNSOU #GGMU #MUFC #SouthamptonFC pic.twitter.com/RO0s8uU6su
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) February 2, 2021
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has actually done a fine job at the St. Mary’s, overall, as Saints are simply not this bad, and have generally looked significantly improved under his watch. They even spent a very brief period atop the table this season, and spent a decent amount of time within the top four.
Hasenhuttl knows his players are capable of recovering from such a demoralizing destruction, and last time they donated their earnings for that specific day to charity. It was a classy move that perhaps they should consider repeating. As for United, this closed the goal differential gap to Manchester City considerably.
They are now tied with Liverpool for the second best goal differential in the league, and level with City at the top of the table. City do have two games in hand, however.
THE JOINT-BIGGEST WIN IN PREMIER LEAGUE HISTORY!#MUNSOU pic.twitter.com/VfD6SL5EWy
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) February 2, 2021
United look serious about making a genuine title charge, for the first time since 2013.
“You know what I liked about the performance was the hunger and attitude to do the right things,” United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.
“That’s the only way to get better. You can see loads of things we are working on. We want to be a bit unpredictable and the players did that excellently, with freedom and imagination. I thought they played the game properly. They were ruthless and they wanted it more and more.
“When you play football you have to make [the] most of it, and they played like it could have been their last game, so very pleased with everyone.”
United won the reverse fixture with Saints, earlier this season, 3-2. The last time they completed a league double over Southampton? During their last title winning season, of 2012-13.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.