Alan Shearer talks about Southampton's missed penalty against Manchester United

Without a doubt, the Saints looked a much improved side from the one that conceded thrice against Brentford in a 3-1 defeat two weeks ago, inside the first half an hour. Russell Martin's side were quick on the ball, making good decisions in the midfield and the overall build up play was encouraging in the home match. Southampton got a huge chance to open the scoring with a penalty, however, five minutes later Manchester United took the 1-0 lead.

This was a huge turning point in the match as minutes later, England international Marcus Rashford doubled the lead for Erik Ten Hag's side and after that, Southampton were a completely changed side in the second half. Now, Premier League all-time top scorer Alan Shearer talked about the turning point of the match, saying, 

Alan Shearer talks about Southampton's missed penalty against Manchester United

"I was slightly surprised because Ben Brereton Diaz has taken nine pens and has scored nine times and Cameron Archer hasn’t taken a penalty at all, so that was his first one today. There’s no doubt about it, the manager said it, didn’t he, afterwards that the attitude and the atmosphere changed after that. "

- Alan Shearer

Cameron Archer's missed penalty attempt goes on to highlight the Saints struggles in front of the goal, who have scored only once in four league matches. Although, Ben Brereton Diaz is a much better penalty taker than Archer, he isn't in a good form either and was substituted inside the first half in Chile's 2-1 defeat against Bolivia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers last week. Also, Southampton were lacklustre in defence after that, and conceded twice within five minutes that reduced their chances of taking any point from the match at halftime. 

Meanwhile, Russell Martin's side are looking forward to the upcoming matches where they will face Everyone in the Carabao Cup alongside Leicester City and Ipswich Town, who also achieved promotion to the Premier League last season alongside Southampton.