Southampton 1 Manchester United 1: Vestergaard cancels out James worldie as Saints hold Devils at bay

IT'S the first day of autumn and Manchester United are out of the title race.

Not that they were ever in it, of course.

But with seven points dropped in the first four games, the reality of the challenge facing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been laid bare while most of the conkers are still on the trees.

It doesn’t really matter that United probably deserved to beat 10-man Southampton.

They created plenty of chances to score after Kevin Danso’s sending off 17 minutes from time left Southampton clinging on for a point.

In the end, though, United were just not good enough.

They failed to build on Daniel James’ early goal, allowed the home side back into the game before half-time and then conceded an equaliser by Jannik Vestergaard.

A tactical switch that moved the infuriating Paul Pogba into an advanced position that he felt more worthy of his talents might have paid dividends on another day.

United did not have much luck, but how much do you deserve when you’re asking a 17-year-old striker to save the day with seven minutes to go?

Mason Greenwood may go on to be a big player for United and his effort produced the best of a number of decent saves by home goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

But Solskjaer’s side overall look short on quality and ideas, as well as goals.

That 4-0 romp against Chelsea just three weekends ago feels like an awfully long time ago.

Offloading your two most senior strikers - Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez - without signing a replacement already looked an interesting strategy, even before a thigh injury ruled Anthony Martial out of this game.

Not having a designated No 1 penalty taker was also proving problematic, with spotkicks missed in consecutive games.

But one new United policy – giving the ball to summer signing James at every opportunity – showed signs of paying off early on.

The Welshman seemed to have rescued a point for United at home to Palace seven days earlier with an excellent late goal.

His second strike in 11 minutes of Premier League football was another beauty.

Southampton had pressed hard in their attacking third but were slow to close James down when he collected a simple pass from Scott McTominay.

He still had a bit to do, but how well he did it, cutting inside and rifling a fierce shot into the top corner of Gunn’s net.

“James, James will tear you apart again,” sang the away fans, which is quite a tribute.

The chant, to the tune of the Joy Division classic “Love Will Tear Us Apart Again”, is most associated with United legend Ryan Giggs, the most decorated player in English football history.

James won’t win anywhere near as much however long he stays at Old Trafford but he is the main reason to be cheerful so far this season.

Moments later the Southampton goalkeeper easily gathered a tamer effort from the Wales international, but Gunn had to be alert to beat out a snapshot from James midway through the half.

In that spell, James was very much the focal point, more so than centre forward Marcus Rashford, but United’s overall performance was also promising.

The energy level was (mostly) high and Solskjaer’s side showed purpose and ambition whenever they had the ball, looking dangerous from almost every attack.

At the other end, the visiting defence was rarely troubled after Sofiane Boufal had sent an eight-minute shot just wide of David De Gea’s right-hand post.

Southampton huffed and puffed but United’s wall, with 10 men retreating behind the ball when necessary, was made of brick.

The home team were missing the in-form Nathan Redmond through injury and without him they seemed to lack the guile to find a way through or around it.

The only concern for United at that stage was how Paul Pogba had seemed to start losing interest as well as possession in the latter stages of the opening 45 minutes.

A big part of the reason Southampton gained the upper hand was Pogba’s carelessness with the ball.

Sure enough, within 10 minutes of the restart Che Adams had fluffed Saints’ best chance of the game.

And the equaliser soon arrived.

David De Gea had just kept out a Danny Ings header from a James Ward-Prowse cross, but the United goalkeeper was helpless when Danso swung the ball back in and 6ft 6ins Vestergaard outjumped Victor Lindelof to nod home.

Something needed to change, so Solskjaer threw on Jesse Lingard, who had been dropped to the bench, and asked Pogba to move forward.

When Danso was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on McTominay, United had 17 minutes to save themselves from an early-season crisis.

Gunn saved from James, Lingard went close and then Greenwood forced the Southampton goalkeeper into his best stop of the game.

The Saints survived four minutes of stoppage time pretty easily.

After three wins in his last 13 Premier League games, how long will even fan favourite Solskjaer last if things don’t improve soon?