Saints battled and battled and snatched a point in the final minute just as it looked like they might leave with nothing.

This was a strange game of football, yes Saints had the lions share of possession, yes Saints had more chances on target and yes it could be said that Saints dominated the game for long periods, but the fact of the matter was that it was United who created the real chances and who looked the more dangerous.

In these reviews I try to tell it like I saw it, of course its hard to be anything else but happy after this result, a creditable draw and still sitting in the top 6 after the weekend round of matches are over, yet like the Swansea game, something is not quite right and it needed a lot of heroic defending and another couple of World Class saves from Boruc to keep us in the game, we had 18 attempts on goal according to the statistics, they had 12, yet Boruc had to be at his best, not to mention the cross bar on another couple of occasions, whereas De Gea had little that troubled him, going forward we still struggled to create genuine chances.

I think that Mauricio Pochettino got it absolutely right in team selection and substitutions, what we need to work on is getting the best out of our players and that is about tactics, Osvaldo worked hard but did very little in terms of causing United problems, similarly Lambert when he arrived on the scene, but I think the problem is two fold, the first is that we are just not playing to their strengths, the second that neither is in any real form.

Although we got the selections right, we still didn't seem to revert to our previos solid block of 5 across midfield, Rodriguez came in and offered pace, yet we didn't use him out wide, again we seemed to have him floating in the midfield and up front, although due to his mobility he offered more than Lambert would have, we lack a lot of width in the way we are now playing, not just in going forward but in defending.

Prior to the game some thought that we would walk this game, my pre match prediction was proved right though, you don't become a bad team overnight and any team with Rooney & Van Persie in it are going to be a handful not to mention their new wonderkid.

We enjoyed plenty of possession, but the truth is we did little with it, United were content to sit back and attack us quickly on the break, to be blunt they could easily have had four and we could be talking about a rout now, the reason that we aren't and this truly would have been last season can be summed up in three words, Boruc, Lovren, Wanyama, we now have a spine of a team and that kept us intact when United threatened to run riot, Boruc again pulled off at least two saves he had no right to make plus several more that where top drawer, Lovren stayed strong and Wanyama never stopped working in the centre.

This enabled us to be still in the game in the last knockings and be in the position to get an equaliser, times are changing, it wasn't long ago that Fergie Time was a big fear factor for teams playing United, now its the opposite, the crowd were nervous and in the away end there was a feeling that we weren't dead and buried yet, Lallana's scrambled last minute goal was the third time we have earned points withy goals at the death and our opponents are starting to realise that and perhaps United did on Saturday.

Indeed after the equaliser you felt that there was only one team that felt they could win it and it wasn't United, Saints didn't throw caution to the wind, after all they had come a long way, but Adam Lallana almost won it in injury time but his shot lacked the power to beat De Gea.

Strange thing for me though was that when Wanyama was taken off with 7 minutes to go, probably from a combination of tiredness and the fact that he was only one mistimed tackle away from a second yellow, that it was Guly who came on, Cork would have been the obvious choice for me, the only reason I can think is that Pochettino felt that Guly was more likely to create something than anyone else on the bench.

Its a measure of how Saints have improved that there is a little bit of disappointment that we only came home with a point, but we shouldn't rest on our laurels and this is why I always try to give a balanced view of games, highlight the bad points as well as the good, this has been a great start to the season, but we are still only sixth and with United still only four points behind us I don't think that will stay like that for much longer, this shows just how tough our task is in this league, we talk of Champions League spots etc, but we are still not in them.

Saturday highlights the need to get a stronger squad if we want to build, a look at United's bench compared to ours makes sobering reading, crucial for us will be improving the squad in January.

But after dissecting the good and bad points, lets just enjoy the result, there will always be some fixtures where even just a point will give you satisfaction and this was one of them, for those of us lucky to be there on Saturday the unbridled joy at the equaliser and the celebrating players in the corner after it went in will be one of my highlights of the year.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:31 - Oct 21 I thought Saints started badly with Man U pressing them into their own half with superior desire for the ball, then I realized Saints weren't playing in red! The game turned into a battle against the biggest club in England with Saints having the upper hand. Boruc pulled off a save which was the best I've seen in a Saints' shirt and against the biggest club in England; Lovren showed the best defensive performance I've seen in a Saints' shirt and against the biggest club in England; Spiderman did the best tackle I've seen in a Saints' shirt and against the biggest club in England; Osvaldo did the best performance as right back I've ever seen a striker do in a Saints' shirt and against the biggest club in England. But the man of the match has got to go to Pochettino. His selection and tactics nearly beat the biggest club in England in their own backyard and got a point that the five teams above them will struggle to match. Sure there were mistakes and missed opportunities all around the pitch but that needs to be put into perspective as they were up against the biggest club in England.

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IanRC added 10:42 - Oct 21 Good summary but I disagree with a fair bit of your analysis. Big error to leave out Rickie for Dani for me and it may have cost us the win. Yes neither has been in great form but Rickie has a proven record and that miss by Dani could have seen us press on and give them a good seeing to given the way we started if it had been put away. Shame the linesman, who otherwise did very well didn't spot Rooney was offside for their goal. Otherwise I thought it was a very good team performance. Adam has been tremendous in the captain's role our back row was solid and well disciplined. Morgan was again outstanding. Yes united had chances but you would expect that with the amount they spent to assemble their forward line. Not sure about their wonder kid to be honest though Clyne handled him well. I too would like to see Cork given a start but I thought Wanyama had one of his bests games for us. Also thought the referee definitely favoured United in terms of bookings, how RVP gets away with it I do not know.

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SaintNick added 10:48 - Oct 21 I would agree, in hindsight Lambert would perhaps have played better than Osvaldo, Osvaldo was the big disappointment for me, I did feel that we would have been better taking him off and leaving Rodriguez on
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stmichael added 10:52 - Oct 21 I have never seen man utd create so little in a home game so no idea where you think it could have been a rout. Other than 1 excellent save all Boruc's other stops were routine. And even that was not as good as the one to deny Gerrard at Anfield. Granted they hit the bar twice but most experts will concede we swarmed all over the Champions and they were just not mobile enough to live with us. Osvaldo needs to up his game because at the moment he is not worthy of keeping SRL on the bench. Honestly quite disapointed in him to date. But TBH I cant find anything to be negative about. Yes some individuals are not in form yet but i think we are no where our full potential yet which is actually quite frightening. We are going to Anfield and OT now with no fear , taking the game to the biggest clubs in the land expecting to get a result. Even in the 80's at our best can you honestly remember that happening?

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Fordy added 11:15 - Oct 21 i don't think we can complain too much about that performance. Still not really clicking up front but we created chances that were just as good as United's. If only Osvaldo had played better and Lallana could get some power behind his shots. Jayrod also had a great opportunity but he just couldn't get over his header. At the end of the day, ManU have problems in midfield but still have the nucleus of a very good side, so you need to ride your luck a bit to get anything there. The only real disappointment was they way our heads seemed to drop a little after they scored. They had the opportunity to put the game to bed then but didn't take it.

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SaintNick added 11:34 - Oct 21 Sorry St Michael but you have the rose tinted spectacles on, to say that we swarmed over us and couldn't live with us is just ludicrous, they did live with us as they drew for a start, perhaps they aren't the side of old, but they still created chances that we didn't up at the other end. Great result, just surprised you cant look at things objectively instead of taking every comment that isn't gushing and viewing it as a negative. Sorry that I missed you up there we could have had a chat at half time over a beer

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SaintStu7 added 11:57 - Oct 21 Great all round performance against the current league champions. I can't remember when we have been able to go to Old Trafford and been even slightly disappointed in not getting a win. This side has come so far in such a short time and we should be thankful. It is always good however to look at where we can still improve and I feel this current squad will only get better given time. There maybe some disappointing results on the way but I feel there are going to be some more great victories this season. I really don't think we need more signings in Jan as we are already struggling to get all are best players on the pitch (Cork, Ramirez, Yoshida). We need to give the current squad time to gel and have faith in them. I know there is always talk of a 'speedy winger' but they have to be better that we have already got and unless we bin Ramirez or block the development of Ward-prowse who are we going to drop to accommodate them?

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thegeneral added 12:11 - Oct 21 Most points good and bad have been picked up from the comments above. I still don't understand why Jack Cork isn't given a chance, why Guly for Wanyama?. Wanyama is defensively very good, but he can't make an accurate pass of more than about 5 metres, JC can, and i believe this is one of the reasons we have lost creativity. OK there's no doubt that our tight defence can be credited in part to Wanyama but we seem to have sacrificed defence for attack. The obvious way to address this is with more talented players but we will not get the cream of the crop without a top ten preferably top 6 finish. Bringing in foreign strikers for big money (Osvaldo) is always chancy, they take time to adapt and often can't and based on what i've seen so far DO is not coping with the English game. He may well come good but his initiation is at the expense of goals which are badly needed and how long is long enough? If he goes do we buy another foreign striker? or play Jayrod through the middle which i'm sure he would love to do. My last point is Puncheon, a direct, speedy winger that made a large contribution to the team last season in creating chances or at least going in the right direction with the ball, not backwards or sidewards. Ramirez has to go for a pacey winger, or we buy a left back to give Shaw the chance to push onto the wing position, he is very very dangerous going forward and his talents would be better utilised as an out and out attacking player. Lastly if Jack Cork isn't going to get games he should move on so he can push for an England place which he is more than capable of being. All said and done Saturday was a good result but there's a frustration that we are only firing at about 70% and that extra 30% would allow us to finish very high up the table indeed, however Rome wasn't built in a day and with success comes expectation which is perhaps a little unfair when we look at where we were two and three years ago.

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bstokesaint added 12:52 - Oct 21 It's a bit disappointing to drop 2 places when you come from behind to take a draw at Old Trafford, but that's what you have to expect at this end of the league. And after the last 2 seasons we should be used to that. Plus we haven't yet played Chelski, Arsenal, Man City or Spurs so you could argue that our position is misrepresented as we haven't had the chance to beat any of them yet! I don't think any of us were thinking we'd "walk this game", but few could deny this was our best chance in a long time. A team like Man U don't turn crap overnight. It's taken them 8 games to there! Haven't compared MOTD to the extended highlights on Sky I think it's fair to say that BBC sports editor Bob, from Torquay, is letting his love for his local team, Man U, cloud his judgements. A case in point is that Lallana’s weakish shot that could have won the game wasn’t even shown on MOTD until the pundits’ view. I can't see any real negatives at the moment. I guess the only concern is the lack of goals and more genuine goal threats in open play. I'd be worried that tweaking for this too much though may mean we become defensively exposed elsewhere. I guess there's no need to go to a Plan B when A is working so well. Onwards and upwards.

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LostBoys added 13:36 - Oct 21 I do not disagree with the summary but equally if Osvaldo and Rodrigues had taken their ealy chances we could have won. The Man U supporters I spoke to in the hotel after the game were very complimentary and said we should have won and for long periods played them off the park. One showed me a fanzine of a few weeks ago where five of our players were targeted to replace theirs Shaw Clyne Lovren Wanyama Schneiderlin so it cannot be that bad.

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schatfield added 14:38 - Oct 21 strange old game really, if we had a striker in-form, we would likely have won this game (and indeed other games this season and probably be top!), but saying that, they were unlucky not to hammer us as well, hitting the bar twice and Boruc making some stunning saves. I guess we are lucky in that we have a keeper in top form. No complaints about our defense again, and mid-field is almost perfect (if only Wanyama could pass a ball...)

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thingummy added 15:51 - Oct 21 I wonder how many man utd players from Saturday we would have wanted in our team. answer, the front 2 for sure. ours are not quite firing as yet and we really do need someone with pace and width. lallana is almost back to his best, which is fantastic while the back 7 are truly a great defensive unit. It is great that we are in this position and yet most agree we've not yet his our cohesive best ..... yet. someone is going to get a spanking when we do

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stmichael added 17:15 - Oct 21 Nick By swarm all over them I mean pressed them all over the pitch for 90 minutes and we did that. They did not have the mobility to cope with that. I believe we also had more possession more shots etc. I will concede they had the better chances and if you could criticise Saints then for all our possession we dont create enough guilt edged chances. General play we went to OT and more then matched them. Our modern day continental approach made them look outdated and cumbersome and is worthy of a better review then yours which indicates we were lucky , should have been routed and battled gamely. tyruth is we were so much better than that. Its no fluke its the 2nd time we have done that to them on their own turf- this time we got a reward.

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hmmm added 17:29 - Oct 21 Love the idea of a guilt edged chance. I had one of those late on Saturday night
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TeamCortese added 20:00 - Oct 21 Based on other comments I think we have to put things into perspective. This season we got 4 points out of a possible 6 playing at Old Trafford and Anfield. How MP didn't get manager of the month is beyond me! There is clearly a big club bias within the FA. Arsenal have had very winnable games since the season started. I would say there only challenge was against a new-look Tottenham side. Putting that aside, very happy with the overall performance. Man Utd were clearly the favourites going into the match but had a quick reality check in the early stages as to why we're above them in the league. For me, a draw was more than fair and I think if we had more creativity and belief in the final-third could have gone on to win it. My main issues with Saints at the moment is that attacking-wise we haven't really got going, yet we're still in the top 6--which is very frightening! The reason behind this I think might be a philosophy thing. MP spent most of his playing career as a defender. So he may naturally lean-towards more defensive minded players. This unfortunately is to the detriment of attacking-oriented players like Ramirez, SRL, Puncheon and Jay Rodriguez. This needs to be addressed because I don't think our defence can carry us for the rest of the season. Furthermore, I cannot see the justification for playing Osvaldo as our main striker. His performance was very disappointing and if I were MP I would drop him to bench to give him a reality check. He needs to perform on big games and he simply didn't against Man Utd. People will say he's foreign and needs time to adapt but the reality is Amalfitano is new to English football and was still able to get a goal and assist (playing in midfield I might add). MP also needs to give players mentioned above (as well as Cork) more playing time and a stake in the squad. Injuries will come about and we can't afford to offload players in the Jan transfer window. If I were MP I would bring in a quality winger (perhaps Zaha), a centre-half (for Fonte) and possibly another full-back to provide cover for Shaw.

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BoondockSaint added 20:19 - Oct 21 Happy with the point from Everton United. Contrary to what our chairman says, managers ARE important-just look at the two in this game. As mentioned by others, Boruc was his usual great and the tackle by Spiderman was as good as scoring a goal! And how about all those traveling supporters? We could hear you loud and clear on the telecast!
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Sango123 added 09:01 - Oct 22 Great article. It is a great point. We are doing very well because of our stringent defense. We are still struggling to create many clear cut chances. I thought we look much better when our fullbacks overlap to add width. Without the fullbacks, our play is too narrow. I thought Nathaniel Clyne has been playing very well. We need to add width with a winger and probably a leftback to cover Luke Shaw.

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