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Manchester United vs. Southampton: 4 Keys to Saints’ Game Friday

By Khaled Abdallah

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 23: Charlie Austin of Southampton and Daley Blind of Manchester United compete for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Southampton at Old Trafford on January 23, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 23: Charlie Austin of Southampton and Daley Blind of Manchester United compete for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Southampton at Old Trafford on January 23, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) /
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 18: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Manager Jose Mourinho of Manchester United speaks during a press conference at Aon Training Complex on August 18, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 18: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Manager Jose Mourinho of Manchester United speaks during a press conference at Aon Training Complex on August 18, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images) /

4. Stay Focused

Jose Mourinho likes to get in opponents’ heads. It’s always been part of his game as a manager, and while I’ve never been a fan of that style of play I certainly get it. Part of success in any situation is leaving the background noise at the stadium gate, and that’s something Southampton are going to absolutely need to do here. Forget the Jose Fonte rumours. Forget the fact that Mourinho and Fonte just happen to share the same agent. Tune out, as best you can, the screaming fans in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand, that itself holds nearly as many as St. Mary’s Stadium.

Saints are going into a David-and-Goliath match here, heavy underdogs but perfectly capable of punching above their weight. We saw it last season when Charlie Austin’s late header stunned the Red Devils under Louis Van Gaal. In a league where any given team can beat any other team on any given matchday, there’s no reason to believe history can’t repeat itself tomorrow. But in order to make that happen, Southampton are going to need to avoid losing focus, stay collected and play their brand of football. Anything else, and they’ll be coming back disappointed.