Three goals from Matthijs de Ligt, Marcus Rashford, and Alejandro Garnacho gave Erik ten Hag’s team a much-needed win at St. Mary’s. But it wouldn’t be Manchester United without a scare somewhere along the way.

Andre Onana had to save a penalty kick from Cameron Archer in the first half as United’s early-season problems looked like they were about to get out of hand on the South Coast against the newly promoted Saints, who have now lost all four of their Premier League games so far. At the end of the game, captain Jack Stephens was sent off for a terrible challenge on substitute Garnacho.

United had lost two of their first three games, and another loss here seemed almost impossible. The last time the club lost three of the first four games was in 1986. This caused Ron Atkinson to be fired and Sir Alex Ferguson to take over.

Archer’s save from Onana woke them up, and they raised their game. Within four minutes, De Ligt scored his first goal for the club since joining from Bayern Munich, and Rashford scored his first goal in six months since the FA Cup quarterfinal win over Liverpool at Old Trafford.

This win will ease some of the pressure on Ten Hag at the start of the season. His next Premier League game is at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, where a 4-0 loss last year left his job in limbo.

However, this was a good day before Barnsley’s Carabao Cup game at Old Trafford on Tuesday. The questions have come back earlier than anyone thought this season.

Before the game, everyone was wondering if Ten Hag would stick with Casemiro after his poor performance against Liverpool the previous time, or if he would start the new £50.5 million signing Manuel Ugarte. The answer was neither. Both of them started on the bench with Toby Collyer, a third defensive midfielder. Christian Eriksen partnered Kobbie Mainoo in the middle.

It was a risky move by the United manager, but he thought Eriksen earned the chance. Ten Hag said, “He had a good preseason and has done well in training, so he deserves to start.” Ten Hag also put Amad Diallo on the right side instead of Garnacho.

“Manuel needs to be added to the team.” He’s only had two lessons so far; we need to mix them, which takes time. I do not doubt that Casmeiro will play. We have a team and a lot of games.

On paper, this looked like a simple game for United between their tough Premier League games against Liverpool and Crystal Palace. United had not lost to Saints in the league in 14 games since 2016, and they had not won at St. Mary’s since 2003. They hadn’t won in 16 Premier League games, which is a club record. Since returning to the top flight, they had lost three straight games.

This was the first league start for Lesley Ugochukwu, who was on loan from Chelsea, and for young Tyler Dibling. That was Russell Martin’s plan to end that run.

He might have also been able to do it if the game hadn’t changed during a crucial four minutes near the end of the first half.

Diogo Dalot was still playing on his weaker side at left-back because Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia were unavailable. He had been having a tough time with Dibling the whole game until the 37th minute when the young star got past him again. When Dalot tried to stop Dibling with a bad lunge, he accidentally knocked him down, and referee Stuart Atwell immediately hit the spot.

During his first year at United, Onana has saved a couple of penalties. This time, the Cameroonian came up big, diving to his right to block Archer’s shot and then easily holding the striker’s follow-up header.

The Saints were punished almost right away by United. In the 35th minute, Joshua Zirkzee took a low shot that Aaron Ramsdale turned around the post. From the corner, Eriksen sent Bruno Fernandes through on goal. At the six-yard box, the United captain curled in a cross that Stephens played onside to several United players, including De Ligt, who headed the ball down and inside the far post.

It was even better for De Ligt, who was criticized for how he played for Holland during the break and was taken off at halftime against Germany on Tuesday.

United almost had a second when Rashford had Ramsdale save him right in front of the goal after he had passed the ball to Amad, but the guests and Rashford didn’t have to wait long.