Copy from![]() |
Electronic Telegraph
Thursday |
![]() |
![]() |
Beckham adds the polish for drab United
By William Johnson | |
External Links
|
Manchester Utd (0) 1 Southampton (0) 0 DAVID BECKHAM, a jewel in Manchester United's crown whom manager Alex Ferguson was planning to put into cold storage for the early weeks of the new season, rescued the aristocrats from a tepid Old Trafford performance last night. United were toiling to break down a well-organised Southampton defence until Beckham came off the substitutes' bench to score the decisive goal with only 13 minutes remaining. The brilliant England midfielder directed a low shot into the unguarded net after a Ryan Giggs effort had been blocked. Southampton, embarrassed at home by First Division champions Bolton on Saturday, understandably took a damage-limitation approach at the home of the Premiership champions and were delighted to restrict United to only fleeting opportunities in a first half short of goalmouth action. The best of those chances fell to Ronny Johnsen, United's Norwegian defender, whose powerful header from a Paul Scholes corner hit an upright. Teddy Sheringham was denied on the rebound by the frantic covering of full-back Lee Todd. Sheringham saw another two shots fly just wide, as did Scholes. United, whose approach play was pretty enough, lacked the cutting edge which had recently been supplied by the departed Eric Cantona and the injured Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Andy Cole. The visitors were not totally on the defensive during the first period of stalemate and it needed good positioning from Peter Schmeichel to make a fierce shot from Jim Magilton look tame and to cut out a dangerous cross by Matthew Oakley. United were also concerned when a a mistake by their captain, Roy Keane, let in Stig Johansen, but the Republic of Ireland midfielder recovered swiftly to block the ensuing shot. United, who sent on Henning Berg for his debut at the start of the second half and used Beckham shortly afterwards, tried to raise the tempo after the interval and were almost immediately rewarded. Giggs, running inside the challenge of Ulrich Van Gobbel, appeared to attempt a cross to the far post, but instead sliced a shot goalwards, which Paul Jones made no attempt to save. The Southampton goalkeeper was relieved to see the ball bounce to safety off the crossbar. United also went close when Sheringham, finding space on the right of the penalty area, screwed a shot past the far upright and Jones needed to be well positioned to deal with a curling Beckham free kick. Beckham almost fashioned a breakthrough three minutes before his winning strike. He rose well to meet a Phil Neville cross to the far post but Sheringham, who had an ineffective home debut, could not deliver the scoring touch. _________________________________________________________________ Man Utd (0) 1 Southampton (0) 0 Beckham 78. Man Utd: Schmeichel, Irwin, P. Neville, Johnsen (Berg 45), Pallister, Butt, Sheringham, Giggs, Cruyff, Keane, Scholes (Beckham 55). Subs Not Used: G. Neville, Poborsky, Van Der Gouw. Booked: Keane, P. Neville, Irwin. Southampton: Jones, Todd, Magilton, Monkou, Oakley, Ostenstad, Slater (Robinson 79), Maddison, Benali, Van Gobbel (Williams 79), Johansen (Evans 56). Subs Not Used: Taylor, Davies. Booked: Johansen. Att: 55,008 Ref: G P Barber (Pyrford). _________________________________________________________________ Man United v Southampton 13/08/97 8.00 David Beckham rose from the substitutes' bench to deliver Manchester United from a night of frustration and show Alex Ferguson that his match-winning potential remains as bright as ever. The England international ended 77 minutes of brave Southampton resistance with a typically accurate left-foot finish just as Dave Jones' Saints seemed set to offer hope to those pretenders with eyes on United's Premiership crown.' And the message to boss Ferguson was clear. Even with the pool of talents the Scot has at his disposal, can he ever afford to be without the brilliance of Beckham? The Reds boss has insisted his 22-year-old star was in need of a rest after his exertions for club and country last season, restricting him to substitute appearances in the Charity Shield against Chelsea and the season opening win at Tottenham on Sunday. Again tonight, Beckham was left kicking his heels alongside England team mate Gary Neville and 5 million new boy Henning Berg for 55 minutes before Fergie presented with the Carling manager of the year award before kick-off realised that something special was needed to unlock the Saints. His Southampton counterpart, Jones, who cut his managerial teeth just down the road at Stockport, gave a full debut to new Norwegian striker Stig Johansen, the 600,000 summer arrival from Bodo Glimt, who made a 19 minute appearance as a substitute in the opening day home defeat by Bolton. Johansen made his presence felt in the very first minute when he forced Gary Pallister into a clumsy challenge 25-yards out, but Lee Todd's free-kick was comfortably gathered by Peter Schmeichel. But United's immediate response was to drive the visitors back with a relentless series of attacks that seemed sure to bring a goal to open the floodgates. Jordi Cruyff, in particular, looked full of ideas and after being denied first by keeper Paul Jones and then by marker Francis Benali he swept home Roy Keane's low cross only for the offside flag to go up against the Reds' skipper. A weak back pass by Keane did present Johansen with a rare glimpse of goal, but the surprise Norwegian hesitated fatally and Pallister's tackle snuffed out the danger before United continued to press, probe and present Southampton with the kind of foot ball that has swept them to four titles in five seasons. Teddy Sheringham almost broke the deadlock on his own debut when Keane, Ryan Giggs and Cruyff linked well, but the £3.5million striker's curling shot flashed wide. And Sheringham's accuracy was again missing when his instinctive swing at Giggs' driven cross flew wide once more. Southampton were resisting United with a discipline that would have delighted boss Jones but they needed their fair share of luck as well. And they survived a massive scare when Ronny Johnsen leapt to thunder a header against an upright from Giggs' corner before Sheringham's close range follow up was blocked by a posse of defenders. Johnsen failed to show after the break the troublesome knee injury that plagued his pre-season seeming to flare again and that gave Berg his debut just 48 hours after arriving from Blackburn. The change didn't seem to affect United unduly and it needed a desperate header from Ulrich Van Gobbel to cut out a Sheringham pass that would have put Giggs clear. But the Saints were thanking Lady Luck again when Jones allowed Giggs' cross to drift over his head and the ball smacked against the crossbar. Sheringham then angled a shot just wide but United were becoming more desperate by the minute, and, after Beckham had replaced Scholes, Keane was booked for dissent and Phil Neville for a foul. The Saints' goal was leading a charmed life and Sheringham was a fraction away from applying the finishing touch when Beckham headed Phil Neville's cross back across the face of goal. But United were not to be denied. Giggs weaved his magic down the left and when his cross was deflected into the path of Beckham, the midfielder swept the ball beyond Jones from 12 yards before wheeling away in front of the Stretford end. Southampton were beaten, but United weren't finished and there was still time for Beckham to almost provide a second goal with a swinging cross that was headed narrowly over by Cruyff. _________________________________________________________________ FERGIE SALUTES WINNING KNACK By Simon Mullock, PA Sport Alex Ferguson saluted Manchester United's Champion pedigree after David Beckham's late strike had crushed Southampton's Old Trafford resistance. The England midfielder, forced to kick his heels on the substitutes' bench again, came on after 55 minutes to score the goal 13 minutes from time that gave the Reds the spoils 1-0. And although Old Trafford boss Ferguson admitted that his men did not impress in front of a 55,008 crowd, he knows that a key element of four title successes in five seasons has been United's ability to win when performing below par. "They're not going to do this to me again, are they?" asked a smiling Ferguson, who claimed last year that United seemed to enjoy the excitement of taking title races to the wire. "We certainly dragged it out tonight and it wasn't a great performance but Southampton have come here many times and made life difficult for us. "Winning is the name of the game and it's so important to win games when you're not playing well." Ferguson refused to be drawn on the Beckham saga, though, following his policy of giving the midfielder and his England team mate Gary Neville more time to recover from last season's exertions for both club and country. Beckham was left out of the starting line-up for the Charity Shield victory over Chelsea and the season opening win at Tottenham. But Ferguson said: "It wouldn't have mattered who scored the goal, I would have been delighted regardless. But David took it well alright." Instead, Ferguson was keen to praise a solid defensive display in which Henning Berg replaced his Norwegian international team mate Ronny Johnsen at half-time, just 48 hours after his £5million arrival from Blackburn. The United boss, who revealed Johnsen had suffered a thigh muscle injury that makes him doubtful for Norway's World Cup qualifier against Finland next week, added: "I told the players that we can't afford to give away 44 goals like we did last season and expect to win the league. "Defending is a priority for us and, in fairness, we did well tonight. "And I thought Henning Berg was absolutely superb. He is determined, wants to do well and it's good to blood him at Old Trafford." Saints boss Dave Jones, who cuts his managerial teeth just a few miles away at Stockport and has now seen his reign at The Dell open with two defeats in four days, remained philosophical. He said: "I thought we contained them really well and kept them down to long range shots. "But the one thing I have learned about the Premiership is that if you fall asleep for a second you will get punished. "The same thing happened to us when we lost to Bolton on Saturday, and now United have done it to us." Jones, who revealed that Robbie Slater will enter hospital tomorrow for a hernia operation, added: "Performance wise we worked really hard and I can't really fault the players for their effort. "It was encouraging. There are positive signs and there's a lot to work with. "If we can get our injured players fit and add a couple of new faces to the squad, we should be okay." |
![]() |
[main] [top scorers] [league results/table] [match reports]
[archive] [gallery] [united faq] [links] [sign my guestbook]
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Telegraph Group Limited endeavours to ensure that the information is
correct but does not accept any liability for error or omission.
Users are permitted to copy some material for their personal use, but may
not republish any substantial part of the data either on another website or
as part of any commercial service without the prior written permission of
Telegraph Group Limited.
Note : At times, reports are taken from Reuters and FA Carling Net. |
|
Today's edition of Electronic
Telegraph...![]() |
![]() |