At halftime against Southampton, Manchester United’s players told each other that a win with 10 men was possible..
Casemiro was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute against Southampton on Sunday, his second of the season, and will now serve a four-match suspension against Fulham, Newcastle, Brentford, and Everton.
United were expected to beat Southampton, who are currently bottom of the Premier League, at Old Trafford, but Casemiro’s dismissal in the first half changed the game’s complexion, and the points were shared.
Although the game ended goalless, both teams hit the crossbar, and De Gea revealed after the game that the message at halftime was to believe the game could still be won..
“Of course, that’s what we said at halftime,” De Gea said when asked if the players thought they could win with ten men. “We knew it, so come on, defend well, and we’ll create some counter-attack opportunities.
We hit the post, we had some good chances, but as I said, it’s always difficult to play that long with one less player. Let’s keep going because we have some big games coming up and we need to refocus.
He [Theo Walcott] had a couple of big chances, and I came up with some saves to help the team. Of course, keeping a clean sheet in a difficult game is important, but I believe the entire team defended extremely well..
De Gea was also questioned about the hectic fixture schedule, which he admitted is gradually wearing on the squad.
“I know, the number of games we’re playing is insane,” he added. “It’s tough, it appears simple, but playing every three days is difficult. The players are running a lot, and we don’t have much time to recover, but everyone is giving it their all.
“You see every game we fight, try our best and some games, like today, we miss one player, the players are a little tired and we can drop some points, but the team is in a good way, so let’s keep going..
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