For 80 minutes Saints fans dared to dream that their team would pull of a surprise victory at Old Trafford, The Theatre of Dreams, but then in the last 10 minutes of the game it turned into a nightmare, but was it all of our own making ?

Southampton roared on by a voiciferous 2,400 fans on a cold Thursday night dominated Manchester United for well over an hour, they hushed the home fans and then shocked them by scoring just before half time.

In the first half and the first phase of the second we were dominant, we played as a team and battled, Big Les Ugochukwu was superb, Kamaldeed Sulemana looked like a weight had been taken off his shoulders and scared the home side defence.

As the hour mark passed we were good value for our 1-0 lead and we looked likely to double it on several occasions, but then the tide of the game slowly turned as United started to try to turn the game around.

But the question has to be our substitutions, Tyler Dibling had been big and strong and lead the line well, but with just over 25 minutes to go we needed fresh legs and it was no surprise that Will Smallbone came on and for a while nothing changed, United huffed and puffed and were creating chances, but we were dealing with them.

On 73 minutes came another change, off went Fernandes, again he had worked his arse off and having already got a yellow card, you could see the sense in not risking him getting a second, on came Adam Armstrong who will work hard both going forward and defending.

But the second sub was strange, Joe Aribo was having a superb game, did he need to come off ? I would have said not, but we were now a team that was lacking the direction that it had for the first 65 minutes.

United’s equaliser was a blow, but we didn’t need to press the panic button, why did we take off Jan Bednarek, an experienced campaigner and a good player to have in the final stages of a game and bring on Nathan Wood who has little experience at this level, but if that was a poor selection by Ivan Juric, what was the point of bringing on Tall Paul Onuachua, perhaps to have him hold up the ball, but that didn’t happen, but we took off perhaps our best player in Big Les Ugochukwu, both he and Bednarek had been big and strong, the manager had changed the dynamic of the team and United sensed it.

Just as we thought we might take away a point, they scored on the cusp of 90 minutes and to rub it in scored again 4 minutes later, we had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory or at least a draw.

But we know that we are’t going to stay up, now if just about getting past 11 points and re building for next season, nothing else, so from that point this game achieved part of that, Saints fans saw that their team can play football, it can take on the best clubs and give them a game, but we are still shooting ourselves in the foot.

After the game in the pubs of Manchester, Saints fans had were not concerned, they had seen their team show spirit, they had restored some of the price to both the players themselves and the fans, there was nothing gained points wise, but we still took some steps forward.

The news that Saints are about to finally appoint a director of football, some 10 months after Jason Wilcox left, is good news, Johannes Spors seems to have the right pedigree, why have we not done this sooner,ok we can’t change the past, but we can change the future and perhaps in a year or so’s time this will be seen as the turning point.

All photos via Reuters

HythePeer added 18:15 - Jan 17 If they play like that and learn more they could win 4 more matches than Wolves.
2

YosemiteSaint added 18:22 - Jan 17 I wondered at times whether we were flattered by United's apathy; they're still figuring things out. But i have to say that it was eighty minutes of inspiring football! We were first to every ball, the tempo was way up, we defended relatively well, and we looked threatening each time we strode forward (despite our finishing). It was like someone had changed our batteries. Of course the dam eventually burst—we didn't have the fitness to go the full ninety (yes, i blame Martin for that)—as United took a page from our book and won the game on the flanks. We even threw in a howler of a third goal against, for old time's sake. If we play like this for the remaining games we'll be right to wonder what might have been had we started the season this way.

6

Bowlercow added 18:24 - Jan 17 There is no doubt that the substitutions unbalanced the team and caused them to lose concentration. Surely Onuachu has now proven without doubt that he is not a PL player
5

JoeEgg added 18:44 - Jan 17 Well Nick much of your report reads as though it was written in one of the pubs of Manchester! The new boss has rescued Big Less, Sulemana and Joe Aribo from a fate worse than Russell Martin. His starting line up was something of a surprise but for 70 minutes it worked. Sadly it had to be left to a United player to show us how to put the ball in their net. Sulemana just cant finish but at least we threatened to score and I guess that has to be a giant step forward from the days of Russell Martin. The substitutes were a disaster however, and although Smallbone and Armstrong were no worse than the other subs, these two players are simply not, and never will be, Premier League material .If you can excuse the poor timing and choice of substitutes you could almost claim that the manager had a good evening and has already made some progress. But with nobody special on the bench, and sadly that included a very disappointing Downes, I am sorry to say Nick we are still a long way off a meaningful turning point.

5

deanmiller added 18:49 - Jan 17 I really enjoyed watching the game yesterday. We looked the best we have all season until the subs. Could and should of got at least a point. So disappointing at the end.
4

landsdownsaint added 20:47 - Jan 17 Our first 11 were better than theirs , pity it’s not like the old days with 2 subs . We saw the good that’s come out from RM’s tenure looking at how comfortable we are on the ball but now look very dangerous going forward , last night was brilliant, first time for a longtime we looked a proper club again & our fans were a big part of that
2

Jesus_02 added 22:09 - Jan 17 I enjoyed the game, it was a bit , more cut and thrust. The Players gave all they could BUT, how are our fans that delusional? How is this better than the Liverpool game? Man U were awful, they spurned chances that even our strikers would have struggled to miss. Its not for no reason that they were in the bottom 6 at the start of play but they still carved us apart on several occasions. Yes its great to see saints MOTM Kalemdeen destroying their LB, but still no end product , no shots on target , and poor decision making when he has the opportunity. People are so keen to blame RM for fitness but unfortunately the issue is just the fact that the game is no longer 11 v 11. With teams being able to make 5 tactical subs Man U could literally swap out 5 players we couldn't dream of affording with another 5 we couldn't dream of affording . Fernandez was visibly tired. His pace for 70 mins was relentless, We just don't have anyone of his quality to replace him. In short we failed to score against the worst Man U team in decades, as opposed to being robbed against the champions elect. Our players are trying their hearts out but its a thankless almost impossible task. I don't think we will finish with less than 11 we are very unlucky to only be on 6. I'm positive for the future because our owner is willing to spend what he can within PRS and he has recognised that we need a director of football that knows football. Our recruitment needs to be vastly improved but there are things to look forward to next season. Most of all I'm positive because despite what ive said fans enjoyed the game and thata what's important. Juric hasnt brought the defensive solidity that we are more keen to get the ball into the box, even if it means some very hopeful passes and losing the ball more. We may even lose by more than 5 goals by the end of the season but at least people are happier that we are not "tippy tappy" and we get to see Talll Paul being big in the box and Sulimanas frightening pace..... surely one of them has to score ssoner or later!!!

-1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls