Ronald Koeman says that Southampton will target Daley Blind with the Dutch defender becoming identified as a weak link at Manchester United.

Rio Ferdinand last week suggested that team will look exploit Blind’s defensive weaknesses in United's back four.

And Southampton's Graziano Pelle looks ideally placed to do just that against a United side, which has lost two of its last three games to Swansea and PSV Eindhoven.

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Daley Blind has been identified as a weak link in Man Utd's defence by Southampton boss Ronald Koeman

Blind, pictured with Luciano Narsingh during Manchester United's midweek loss in the Champions League at PSV Eindhoven, has been described by Koeman as a defender who isn't physically strong

With Blind playing at centre half, or being move to left back to accommodate the injury to Luke Shaw, Koeman, says that Blind’s lack of strength is an obvious target in the Premier League.

Koeman said: 'On one hand, I agree about his position. He can play very well out of that position but he's not really a strong defender physically. That's sometimes the problem. He has a lot of other qualities out of that position that can be very positive for the team.

'It's our job to analyse opponents and if he plays left or as a centre-back we can come with movements in attack with crosses and we know that Pelle is very strong and normally he's stronger than Blind or stronger than Marcos Rojo.

'We like to play our game, to press when it's possible, and it's important to have a compact organisation because Manchester United is a strong team. But Swansea and PSV showed that they also have some defensive weaknesses and that is what we have to do.’

Koeman, who played under van Gaal at Ajax and Bacerlona and later fell out with the United manager when the pair were at Barcelona together, says that he will extend the offer of a glass of wine to his old adversary, though neither had time last season to socialise after the game.

And Koeman says that his players should be full of confidence ahead of United's visit, given that they beat van Gaal's side at Old Trafford last season.

Blind could play at left-back in place of Luke Shaw, whose broken leg suffered at PSV rules him out until 2016

'We have belief because we did it in an away game and we didn't deserve to lose at home. Maybe we got a little too much at Old Trafford and Man United got a bit too much in the victory at Southampton. We know and we expect the qualities of them, but we know that we are strong and if we play on our level then in all the aspects we can beat them.'

Nevertheless, Koeman will be well aware of the threat from Memphis Depay, having tracked the player since his breakthrough at PSV Eindhoven and even making an audacious attempt to sign him for Southampton last season.

‘I watched him first he was in the first team of PSV he was showing his qualities,’ said Koeman. ‘He is physically strong, fast and clinical scoring goals. When I was at Feyenoord, PSV would not sell a player like that to them but I was interested in him when I came to Southampton. In that summer we contacted the agent, who is also the agent of my brother.

Koeman's Southampton host Manchester United at St Mary's in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday

‘We showed interest but they said he would stay in Holland another year and then maybe he would like to move. We knew if interest from big clubs comes along, we don’t win. That is normal. If you can move to United, Chelsea Bayern, Real Madrid you choose that... not Southampton.’

With Blind playing at centre-half, or being moved to left-back as part of a re-jig after the injury to Luke Shaw, Koeman says that Blind’s lack of strength is an obvious target in the Premier League.

Koeman said: ‘On one hand, I agree about his position. He can play very well out of that position but he’s not really a strong defender physically.

'That’s sometimes the problem. It’s our job to analyse opponents, and Swansea and PSV showed that they have some defensive weaknesses.’