Che Adams strikes to grab point for Southampton at Manchester United

This was not quite the tale of two halves that was Manchester United’s draw at Burnley and penalty shootout defeat by Middlesbrough. In those last two outings Ralf Rangnick’s men were cruising before the interval and lost the plot after it. Today they did concede again after the tea and oranges but then held firm against a Southampton whose spirit impressed.

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This was a very differerent Ralph Hassenhüttl side to the one that lost 9-0 in this fixture last season. Instead, United ended with a draw that cannot be categorised as a disaster: their opponents achieved the same result against Manchester City home and away.

The problem, of course, is the congested race for the top four and how this result continues the pattern of inconsistent progress under Rangnick. United will curse how they switched off on 47 minutes to allow Che Adams to cancel out Jadon Sancho’s opener.

Rangnick’s side began with a Marcus Rashford punt into the area that skipped past Cristiano Ronaldo and drew a thumbs-up from the Portuguese. When Sancho’s burst and pass did locate Ronaldo, he rounded the goalkeeper Fraser Forster, but his weak shot was hacked clear by Romain Perraud.

The goal-saving act by the left-back was soon mirrored at the other end by Luke Shaw. A breathless passage started when Kyle Walker-Peters turned a ball back towards an unmarked Adams. At close range the striker could only

shoulder it away from David de Gea and goal and when James Ward-Prowse

blazed at the rebound in dived Shaw to block.

Soon after that, Sancho ran 50 yards into the visitors’ area but with Rashford and Ronaldo begging him to square a pass he went on his own, and Forster