Amad Diallo’s rescue job distracts from another awful Manchester United performance
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Manchester United 3-1 Southampton: The winger scored a 12-minute hat-trick to avoid an embarrassing defeat to bottom of the table Saints. Fergie Time may require a new name. Increasingly, it is Amad hour, the period when Manchester United’s new specialist in late drama wreaks havoc. The script is becoming increasingly familiar. Amad Diallo is the rookie who turns rescuer, time and again, the new expert in escapology. He has determined bigger games than this but, even by his standards, a 12-minute hat-trick was quite something. A figure from the fringes has been transformed into United’s new talisman.
![[Amad Diallo's clinical eye of goal saw him score three times in 12 minutes]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/22/45/Manchester-United-FC-v-Southampton-FC-Premier-League-bpwsh8gn.jpeg)
And their joy should be married with relief. So many United games in the last dozen years have been described as a new low that it can’t always be correct. This threatened to be the lowest of all. With 10 minutes remaining, United were headed for a fourth consecutive top-flight home defeat, a fate they have not suffered since 1930, on course to lose to a team who risk taking Derby County’s infamous, unwanted record for the fewest points in a Premier League season.
![[Amad showed the individual brilliance Man Utd rely on to win games]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/21/07/Manchester-United-v-Southampton-Premier-League-Old-Trafford-og4hqn9o.jpeg)
Instead, ultimate embarrassment was averted. Southampton departed defeated 3-1, overwhelmed by the slight figure who started the night as a wing-back and ended it with the match ball. When, surreally, it seemed as if United were being dragged into a relegation battle, he instead elevated them to the dizzy heights of 12th place.
![[Manuel Ugarte’s own goal gave Southampton a deserved lead]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/20/30/Manchester-United-FC-v-Southampton-FC-Premier-League-8pcaugjc.jpeg)
In a stuttering, stumbling side, Amad can have that priceless commodity, momentum. He can conjure a goal from nothing. His leveller was scored at the second attempt, the Ivorian undeterred when his initial shot was blocked. He put United ahead when running on to Christian Eriksen’s chip over the defence to volley in; Ruben Amorim could claim an assist, too, for bringing on the Dane, perhaps the one United player with the craft to play the pass. United’s third goal was a throwback to Russell Martin’s reign in charge of Southampton, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis caught in possession by Amad, the reward for his pressing coming in the shape of an open goal.
![[Andre Onana had a fine night to keep Man Utd in the contest during the first half]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/20/39/Premier-League-Manchester-United-v-Southampton-4ru8yhnt.jpeg)
