Weekend analysis
Adam Bate wades through the Opta statistics to examine some of the talking points from the weekend's Premier League games.
Tuesday 4 September 2012 10:56, UK
United's game-changer, Liverpool's problems and Fulham's inability to deal with the Allardyce approach.
Scholes gets the plaudits for sinking Saints
When a player completes his hat-trick in stoppage-time to win a game 3-2 there can be no debate about the man of the match surely? Despite his goals securing a dramatic three points against Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday, Manchester United forward Robin van Persie clearly disagrees. Perhaps the former Arsenal man was wisely choosing to be humble after his embarrassing attempt at a Panenka-penalty horribly backfired. But it was fascinating that the Dutchman told Sky Sports - unprompted - after the game: "I have to say a big thank-you to Paul Scholes, when he came on everything started ticking. Every single pass he hit was the right one. Everyone felt that, I certainly did. He hit a couple of unbelievable passes over 30 metres. With him you are always on your toes because anything can happen with his qualities. For me, he is the man of the match." Scholes has become something of a metronome in his later years - playing simple passes with robotic regularity and content to keep the ball moving. Coming on 2-1 down with half an hour remaining at St Mary's, the situation was rather more desperate. And so it was noticeable that the 37-year-old veteran was more ambitious with the ball - 17 of his 35 attempted passes were forward ones. As a result, his pass completion rate - at 80% - was significantly lower than the man he replaced, Tom Cleverley. But the substitute created three times the number of chances in half the time. Scholes was not the direct architect of either of United's late goals. But Sir Alex Ferguson was in no doubt as to who had made the difference. "We were well out of it until Paul Scholes came on the park," he explained. "His vision and consistency of passing gave us complete control of the game. Then it was just a matter of getting the goals of course and Van Persie has come up with them."| Chances created - Man Utd vs Southampton | ||
| Player Surname | Chances Created | Mins played |
| Scholes | 3 | 29 |
| Valencia | 3 | 90 |
| Carrick | 2 | 90 |
| Rafael | 2 | 90 |
| Cleverley | 1 | 61 |
| Lindegaard | 1 | 90 |
| Nani | 1 | 29 |
| Welbeck | 1 | 72 |
| van Persie | 1 | 90 |
