Solskjaer: 'It was the Manchester United of old'

FT: Southampton 2-3 Man Utd.

Cavani came off the bench to turn Man United’s woes around at the St. Mary’s stadium [Getty]

Manchester United manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer said their 3-2 victory over Southampton on Sunday meant a lot to his Red Devils.

The Norwegian confirmed the dressing room was buzzing after they came from two goals down to secure the win against the Saints at the St. Mary’s stadium.

Goals from Jan Bednarek and James Ward-Prowse meant the Saints went into halftime with a two-goal lead despite United creating more chances and dominating in the first half.

Former PSG star Cavani and goalkeeper Dean Henderson were introduced at the break - the latter for the injured David de Gea - and United convincingly took over the match.

In the second half, it was United of old as they kept mounting pressure on the hosts who eventually got broken down, thanks to a cool finish from Bruno Fernandes and a double from Cavani - who replaced Mason Greenwood.

This was the 10th time that the Red Devils had come from behind to beat Southampton in Premier League history.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live after the match, the United manager Solskjaer said of the comeback win: "It means everything to this team and the atmosphere in the dressing room after the game showed that. It meant a lot as a team for us to be able to turn a game around in the tradition of the old Manchester United and to win it like we did was fantastic.

"I thought we played really well in the first half but their keeper had a fantastic day."

When quizzed about Uruguay striker Cavani, who did the business on Sunday, Solskjaer asserted: "He has forced us to play him as he played really well against Istanbul. We kept him on the bench to keep drip-feeding him in as it will be a long season and he has been out for a long time."

On the squad, he said: "We have a lot of young players but have experience in Nemanja Matic, David de Gea and in Cavani we have a better balance between young, middle and more experience - Cavani has had a fantastic impact, he shows how he is in training and everything about him shows me why he has had the career that he has."

When asked about goalkeeper De Gea, who hit his knee while trying to save Ward-Prowse’s free-kick in the first half, Solskjaer’s replied: "Hopefully we can keep momentum up against PSG on Wednesday. De Gea has a knock above the knee but hopefully he will be fit for Wednesday."

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