There weren't many Saints fans predicting that their team would get a point at Old Trafford, even less those who thought we would keep a clean sheet, but the team put in a performance the travelling fans could be proud of.

There will be some who will claim Saints should have had all three points because United spent around 55 minutes playing with only 10 men, but that would be both unfair and more to the point uncharitable.

Sometimes it can be just as hard to play against 10 men as the full 11 and from a Saints perspective we don't like playing against teams that sit back and go on the break, and that was very much the tactics that Erik Ten Hag's side had to employ for large chunks of the game.

Ruben Selles made only the one change from the win over Leicester, back came Romain Perraud in place of Ainsley Maitland-Niles who not being on the bench must have picked up a knock.

But that meant a switch round with Kyle Walker Peters moving from left to right back and Perraud coming in on the left.

United were obviously keen to get off to a good start and put the memories of their last Premier League outing behind them, but it was clear that Saints were in no mood to lay down and let them walk all over us.

United might have poured forward in the first half hour, but in the main Saints coped in that first half hour when it was 11 V 11.

Indeed they got forward themselves well and they should have taken the lead before the red car for Casemiro, Theo Walcott meeting a superb cross and heading it powerfully and on target, De Gea produced a brilliant save, you could not blame Walcott, he got in a good header on target, but if he had got it a foot either side and De Gea would have had no chance.

But Saints had already set out their stall long before the sending off, they were going to give United a game and make them work, this was our free hit and although we did not want to expose ourselves at the back, we didn't want to lose.

It was a game of two great saves for each keeper, De Gea following Walcott's header in the first half by stopping a shot from the same player when he was straight through.

At the other end Gavin Bazunu had perhaps the best game of his Saints career so far, he made a superb save in the first half reading the crossed ball well and being on hand to block the shot and then in the second getting a fingertip to push the ball on to the inside of the post and across the goal for a corner .

But Bazunu was very good in all his work, coming off his line to deal with through balls on several occasions and in general just being the goalkeeper we needed.

But it was a team effort, in front of the keeper, Armando Bella-Kotchap marshalled the defence well, Jan Bednarek showed that despite the issues earlier in the season, he was back and ready to fight for the team, Kyle Walker Peters was superb down the right flank and almost scored a screamer, the ball rebounding off a post and Romain Perraud digging in and letting no one down as United's main attacking threat came down our left.

Romeo Lavia and James Ward Prowse did not let United's midfield dominate and indeed made sure that in the second half we kept them mainly quiet.

Theo Walcott got a standing ovation from the Saints supporters when he departed the field on 85 minutes, he might have lacked a little of his old pace, but his experience told and he had our best two chances as well as his off the ball running creating space for those coming in behind him.

So overall we can be pleased with this point, but we can be pleased with yet another clean sheet, the cynics will point to United losing a man to the red card, but that is not the point, not every team that goes down to 10 men loses the game.

The good thing was we kept our shape and made it our 3rd shut out in 4 games, something that no one would have predicted just a month ago, we now have a foundation to build on and Ruben Selles has brought a discipline and a belief in the team that certainly wasn't there under Nathan Jones.

Sadly we have slipped back to the bottom of the table, but we did more than it was expected that we would do this weekend and in any relegation battle you have to focus on your own game and then worry about the opposition.

This we did, we took a point in a game where we were not expected to, we pulled nearer the likes of Palace, Wolves & Leicester City, only Bournemouth & Everton pulled further away.

We just have to keep plugging away and as I said last week, we have to look at it in 3 game tranches.

Over our last three games we have got 4 points and that is bang on where we need to be, but the big game now is the visit of Brentford to St Mary's on Wednesday is crucial, it is a chance to get three points under our belts and truly post a letter of intent to those who fought we were dead and buried a month ago.

We have nothing to fear, we have more points from our last 6 games than all in the bottom 9 aside from Bournemouth & Everton who have the same total as us 7.

That will bring fear to those looking over their shoulders and now we have to capitalise, we have done more in the last couple of months to change what got us into the relegation fight in the first place.

But the time for talking is past, now we have to do it on the pitch where it matters and Brentford is a big big game.

Photo: Action Images

felly1 added 09:21 - Mar 13 Like many others I'd wrote Walcott off as a starter for Saints and thought he was finished. He's really stepped up as a player and leader for us when it mattered. It's just a shame he along with the rest of our team struggle to put the ball in the back of the net because with Bazunu starting to look better and the defence and midfield looking settled we just lack that genuine goal threat to totally convince me we can get out of this mess.

10

stmichael added 09:31 - Mar 13 Spot on with this Nick.. Especially the 3 game blocks. Ultimately it’s points like this that will keep us up.
7

lemmsy added 09:59 - Mar 13 I thought it was our best performance since the Man City fane & there were signs of us playing at our best when under Ralph.My first instinct watching with live game nerves was a draw was about right but having watched motd we had by far the more chances. The whole team played well, Lavia was outstanding & there were glimpses of sulemana being a good threat ( not convinced about tall Paul). Against Chelsea & Leicester I felt we ride our luck but yesterday we played with identity, let’s hope it’s not a false dawn

5

highfield49 added 10:19 - Mar 13 Having only seen highlights of the game there's not too much valid comment I can make on the overall performance. Perhaps instead I should finish digesting the chunk of humble pie I've been chewing on for the last few hours though. Inevitably players are going to have poor games and lose form but before yesterday I'd already written off Bednarek, Walcott and Stu Armstrong as being unable to make any further useful contribution to the team. In fact the more senior players under Selles appear to have gelled the performance of the younger lads and the ship seems to be getting more and more stable despite my reservations. The farce of Jones' tenure is becoming more and more evident and his man management skills truly shocking. Great team effort against Utd and fingers crossed for similar in the week ahead. If results go in our favour we will be out of the bottom three by Saturday evening. It's a big if of course but with Leicester, Wolves, Palace, Leeds, West Ham, Forest, Everton and Bournemouth all unable to find consistency we are still not beyond turning things around.

7

wessexman added 10:32 - Mar 13 Anthony Taylor ignored the baying Old Trafford mob to send Casimero off. Yet, he did not dare caution Fernadez for his constant berating of himself. Saints did very, very well to hold their nerve. If anyone ever thinks or thought smaller teams get a fair deal at the big boys, this is the latest example of bias towards the big clubs. On another note, Rasmus Ankersen must be hoping and praying Selles can pull off a minor miracle as it is becoming abundantly clear that, should we go down, Jones' tenure against the teams around us, will have cost us our lucrative status.

6

JoeEgg added 10:37 - Mar 13 A great point although scoring goals as always remains our Achilles heel. We seem to have adapted well under Selles to the challenge of taking on the big teams. Where we failed under Hasenhuttl and especially Jones, was in showing our superiority over the lesser sides. Not easy to do that if you cant score goals with JWP and Alcaraz still looking more likely to score than our specialist forwards. This remains the biggest challenge to Selles. I have said time and time again that the defence is NOT the main problem. Against poorer opposition than Chelsea and Man Utd we have to be just as aggressive but it is even more important that we find the back of the net - and more than just once in a game. Are Adam Armstrong, Adams and Mara EVER going to find a goal? Is there still time for Onuacho and Orsic to provide salvation? Well many had written off Stuart Armstrong, Bednarek and Walcott. It seems to me that we now have proof that neither Hasenhutll or Jones knew how to use them. What a difference now they are contributing with both experience and talent!! Well done to Selles. All makes for a fascinating finish to the season. Step forward a goalscorer and it will be mission accomplished!!!

7

saintmark1976 added 10:58 - Mar 13 Yes, we may still get relegated because of the Board of S F C appointing the total incompetent Jones, but yesterday it was if the players finally accepted the old expression “ It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees” and performed accordingly. All I ask now is that they remember that they represent the hopes and dreams of thousands of fans and approach every minute of every game for the remainder of the season in the same manner.

9

Colburn added 11:56 - Mar 13 I feel that this was an opportunity missed, yes a point at OT is handy, but we should have won the game. I watched it and for me, the reason we drew a blank was because of the end product of Sulemana and Walcott. The header aside, which was a golden point blank opportunity, they both made poor decisions at vital moments in attack. Sulemana was too greedy and I appreciate that they both put in a shift, linked up well at times, but when attacking 3 on 3, twice the end ball was terrible or didn't arrive. Too many of the team hold on to the ball for too long and we had a couple of ideal situations to cross to Onuachu when he came on and we didn't take the chance to do that, so what was the point in bringing him on? We must learn to make the right decisions in the last third if we want to survive and that starts against Brentford, a must win game in reality. If we'd have lost against ten men yesterday, it would have been a disaster psychologically so the point was a bare minimum after the red. Although not happy with the Bednarek situation, he did seem to make a difference and had a very good game. The only thing I don't understand with our centre backs is why loan one out to one of our rivals for the drop? If Stephens helps keep Bournemouth up at our expense, that will be another clanger the club have dropped, looks like he's playing well for them.. As you say Nick, 3 out of 4 shut outs is the beacon of hope.

-1

underweststand added 11:57 - Mar 13 several comments above are in line with my thoughts. The 34 year old Walcott can be a game-changer and on another day he might have finished with a couple of goals. Bazunu's best? perfomance in a long while , and the CB pairing hardly put a foot wrong. Hard luck on Prowsey's free kick brushing the crossbar, and KWP hitting the far post with a great shot. Aside from their individual talents United's multi-million signings showed they had skills, along with their ability to dive and make heavy weather of simple tackles. If Casimero was really hurt ?- it surely came from his weird talent in rolling over 3-4 times before crying wolf, and why do referees tolerate injury breaks where players have one foot over the line?. Move them off the pitch for treatment - and get on with the game. United's manager should be grateful that they managed one point, as he would been in deep water had they lost all three, and wouldn't have been the first MU manager to get the push after losing a game to Saints. Overall one of the best performances of the season, that only lacked a winning goal.

6

Peterx added 12:06 - Mar 13 I've got hope, but to me we have failed as a club in some tough decisions (yes hindsight is a perfect science) and that is probably as a result of our exec structure: 1) Letting Oriel go when we knew Lavia was injured. That transfer from my understanding was not signed - we could have left Oriel to go in the Jan window. He was contracted with us still. 2) Not bringing Tella back in Jan for the reasoning that "AA also did it in the championship". I would much rather have an in-form confident striker (and fan favourite) coming on for the last 30 mins in games than AA whose confidence is shot. Does a contract not mean anything? Why bother with a recall clause if we are not going to use it. 3) Not reading the writing on the wall with RH and then going the NJ route rather than appointing an experienced Manager at the end of last season or going with Ruben then if they wanted to gamble on a less experienced Manager route. 4) Not having a strong counter voice to RH when he was here in his player management, it was his way or the highway, for me there are too many unanswered questions, why did RH get away with the small squad thinking, why did Ings want to leave so badly, why did FF want to get out here so quick when he had regular game time last season, why did we sell Tadic, why did Wesley Hoedt get isolated so quickly just because he perhaps had a strong personality (I dont know if he was good or not as we hardly saw him). My conclusion is we could do with an Edu type experienced voice in the background as a counterbalance to the Manager we have going forward. Obviously with Arsenal's success I guess all clubs are thinking this. I'm not sure we have that but would like to see it. There must be one of our previous players who is up for that kind of role who has the personaility to pull it off? Probably a Director of Football role I guess?

-4

PaleRider added 12:12 - Mar 13 Peter - there is an obvious choice: Jose Fonte. Surprised no one has mentioned the online racist abuse of KWP. I've seen a lot of whinging from United "fans" today - they are genuinely pathetic.
1

ItchenNorth added 13:52 - Mar 13 The point is good. Let's back it up with 3 on Wednesday now.
1

SaintPaulVW added 14:51 - Mar 13 Good report. Just some further thoughts. Prefer to see KWP and RP playing as full backs. Lavia seems to operate at a different pace to everyone else, time seems to slow down when he has the ball. Alcaraz seems to be the new Steven Davis. Overall we did well. Be interesting to see how we do against Brentford, with a more solid defence, compared to the debacle last time. Ref did well too. Kept a fairly rugged game flowing and didn't let things boil over. Enjoyable game and right result really. Need fortress St Mary's back now! COYR

5

JoeEgg added 14:57 - Mar 13 Peterx added 12:06 - Mar 13 "I've got hope, but to me we have failed as a club in some tough decisions.........." Not heard from you before Peterx but an excellent summary! Thanks very much;
-2

TimSaint added 15:27 - Mar 13 It was an excellent performance from the majority of the team and we really did deserve the 3 points, but unfortunately our inability to score has let us down again. We only had 4 out of 17 shots on target - granted 2 of those off target hit the woodwork, but I fear that this lack of goals is what is ultimately costing us. Theo was unlucky with his header, but the 1 on 1 you knew he would miss once the defender was catching him made him take it on his left foot and so he gave de Gea a routine save. Many of our other chances were blasted high and/or wide, but we also carved United open at times, only to be denied by that clinical final pass, or the shot when it was better to pass, or the pass when it was better to shoot. Still, it showed that the team are (finally) up for the cause and that this result will not only give us confidence, but make a few other teams think twice about us, as we go into 2 crucial home games. Man Utd players and fans alike, really are a horrible bunch. Imagine if that Casimiro incident was the other way round - the players and fans would be hounding the ref for a red, so what do they really expect we he got the red card ? As for Anthony, WAC, he orchestrated a foul by leaning in and diving and was then asking for a card - he is the one that should have got the card. Fernandez was in the ref's ear at every opportunity and really should have been booked. Then to top it all, KWP won the ball in a tackle with Garnacho, the United player came off worse and as a result, KWP was subjected to racial abuse on Social Media - just like Jankewitz was by the United fans 2 years ago. It is Man Utd, so I doubt anything will be done by the FA or the Social Media outlet.

4

Bowlercow added 15:46 - Mar 13 Most of us would have taken a point if it had been offered before the KO The better blend of youth and experience is allowing us to manage the games that are tense in the last quarter If only we had that elusive PLstriker With regard to the on line abuse of KWP The PL could afford to employ a team of IT experts to track,trace and presecute anyone who post racist or abusive comments

4

schatfield added 16:00 - Mar 13 One of the best 0-0s i have seen for a long time. A few comments......it was right to withdrawl Alcarez on 50ish minutes....attacks nicely, but was getting pushed off the ball very easily too, and often, which then led to passes to team mates that didn't make it. This kind of game didn't suit him. I really like the way tall Paul plays but have yet to see him shoot in any game....maybe it's me and I missed it, but has he? Likewise, maybe we need to change the way we play to bring him into the game more and this could help our lack of goals.

2

SanMarco added 16:46 - Mar 13 The whining by the Manure 'fans' after the game was laughable. The referee was good - many refs in the past on that ground have crumbled to the baying hoards. Most ridiculous of all was one I read who moaned about Blackmore's commentary in one breath and then objected to three refereeing decisions that he couldn't possibly have seen yet!! . We deserved at least a point. Those should be our two full backs for the rest of the season. Bednarek may have played alright but Salisu should come back. Goals still a big problem. Brentford is an opportunity and we MUST take it!!

3

Blogs 31 bloggers

Blackpool Polls