Man Utd 2-2 Saints - Reaction

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

All three were Ross Wilson/Les Reed signings. Odd they don't get credit for those...! 😉😃

Happily give credit to them for Bednerak and Armstrong. But in the grand scheme they were relatively cheap gambles we could afford to make.

Still doesn't get away from the crimes he committed with the purchases of Carrillo, Hoedt, Lemina, Boufal and co though - and £50m odd in the process. Those are the signings you need to be careful with and ensure you get right, but he cocked each and every one up and I will never forgive him for that. (Ross)

Wasn't Romeu bought under Koeman though, when we had Mitchell? Even if it was just after Mitchell left, I'd probably still credit him with that one!

[Saint Keef]

I said recently on here that Armstrong had gone from the £8m player that we bought him for, to a £30m+ player now. I reckon you can add another £5m after tonight. His goal was really well taken. He gets better every game. Credit to Redmond for picking him out as well.

[danjosaint]

About the only bit of end product from Redmond again today, so infuriatingly frustrating 

[SaintBobby]

Here's a mental stat to conjure with....

In the Premier League era, Man Utd have played 537 games at Old Trafford.

In all those 537 games, they have only dropped a total of 5 points in stoppage time - a full 40% of which were in last night's match!

Sweet.

[Dusic]

12 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

About the only bit of end product from Redmond again today, so infuriatingly frustrating 

He got an assist. Had our best chance of the second half drawing a good save and won the corner leading to our equaliser deep into injury time after playing another full 90mins.

What do you actually want?!

[vectraman]

Very well deserved point Saints. Worked hard, but for a 10 minute sloppy spell, we were excellent 👍

 

[skintsaint]

Happy with the point - didn't defend too well last night for the goals and quite satisfying grabbing a late equaliser! Normally that stuff happens against us!

Certainly Ralph has us competitive again, with the right additions this window looking forward to next season without the need to play 3 games a week which must be hard for the way we play.

 

 - wish I had put a tenner on it now...

Edited 14 July, 2020 by skintsaint

[austsaint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Have to say I have been very impressed with Romeu over the last few weeks. His form has dipped a few times over the years, but he's a far better player than PEH. He may have lost a yard since he first came here, but he still manages to drift past players with great body positions and timing of when to release. He's never been Morgan in his prime, but he does a decent impersonation. If we are buying someone to replace PEH I hope we look for someone with similar qualities to Romeu. You have to have ability with the ball not just run around a lot. 

Romeu has been very impressive since being re-instated and the side hasn't lost any midfield strength or skill with him replacing PEH.    Some have said that Ralph lost trust in Romeu but I think RH just settled on a two man midfield and put JWP and PEH up as the preferred two - after all, they both played in the Leicester debacle too.    I also question the "doesn't suit Ralph's system", "his legs are gone" and " can't pass" mantras which have been bandied around.  Tonight he was head and shoulders the best midfielder on the pitch - strong, great interceptions, technical skill and a good range of passing.    A well deserved point tonight and unlike the Man City result where we rode our luck a bit, this was a completely deserved point earned through hard work and a willingness to press, play high up the pitch and play brave counter attack Football.   Armstrong, Bednarek, Bertrand, Ings and Redmond all good tonight and despite shipping two goals, McCarthy made several crucial saves.   A pleasure to watch against a much improved United line up.

[striker]

5 pts from at ManU, ManC, and at The toffees. That's pretty good.

[skintsaint]

17 minutes ago, striker said:

5 pts from at ManU, ManC, and at The toffees. That's pretty good.

Better than good, especially the form Utd & City are/were in.

[Pilchards]

Love reading the comments on here plus listening to those from random supporters on the BBC comments page after the match.
(Leicester fan, Saints will be a top 5 team next season)

So last night, we had some good spells during the match and the slick passing was also impressive.
You sometimes feel with PEH in the team we do slow down a touch but last night they were not afraid to pass in little spaces to move the ball quickly into bigger spaces.

That Will Smallbone is going to become a quality player too as his range of passing is good plus he gets himself into nice positions.

Voted Romeu as MOM despite that ugly tackle which I have no idea why he was not red carded from VAR.

 

[Fan The Flames]

7 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Stephens for the first I'd say, he was too weak against Martial. (and the sloppiness in the build up).

2nd goal though, definitely. Was dreadful defending.

And KWP, he was so narrow on the build up and then got drawn over to Martial, leaving Rashford free the whole time. Maybe he was expecting JWP to come back and cover.

Couldn't handle Martial running at him for the second. The right side was really weak for a chunk of the first half, but they tightened it up without Ralph having to change it greatly. And KWP has a good cross when he gets forward. Bad period but not bad player.

[Fan The Flames]

1 hour ago, Pilchards said:

Voted Romeu as MOM despite that ugly tackle which I have no idea why he was not red carded from VAR.

I was very surprised that wasn't given. After the Arsenal sending off the other game I thought that was a shoe in.

[rooney]

Great to watch. More shots, more possession and more corners. Ralph is making us zing.

[thorpie the sinner]

That was a proper game of football and we thoroughly deserved the point. Got to be honest and say Oriel should have seen red, no need to carry through like he did, although I still don't think it was malicious. Apart from the two goals where they ripped us apart, great to watch as a neutral, I thought we bossed the game with our possession. We had no qualms about passing back and starting again rather than giving the ball away needlessly. Redmond looked dangerous, Armstrong a constant threat although Ingsy looked a bit quiet. Still thought Che did a decent job shielding ball, reminded me of a young Mark Hughes, but I am not convinced he is a 10-15 goal striker yet. Obafemi hasn't convinced me that he deserves a start, but with his eye for a goal, he is a real asset off bench. Really quite excited about the balance and poise we have now. As mentioned in interviews, I think Ralph is a big taskmaster, our players def needed that kick up back side. Worked in every dept, really quite excited about next season.

[skintsaint]

Just had an amusing read on RedCafe...Utd fans moaning about us being physical and scoring after the allocated injury time.....not sure many of them fans remember Keane et al during the 90s...Was a great pressing performance by us, and great for us to be the physical team these days. Normally we are too nice.

[hasper57saint]

I thought Bednarek was outstanding last night. Calm and concentrated. My only reservation is the inconsistency of the Referee. Yes, Romeo was lucky to stay on the pitch but some of the Manc challenges leave a lot to be desired.They get a free kick from a clash of heads and the donkey gets a goal kick after blatantly pushing Danny over. Bravo Zulu Saints. A most entertaining evening for all Saints. Three more against the Shitehawks on Thursday ?

[Toussaint]

Ralph to replace Ole Gunner? You know something like that happens ever time we get good! I could honestly see JWP at Man U in the Carrick role. Sorry to bring it all down!

[Fan The Flames]

21 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Just had an amusing read on RedCafe...Utd fans moaning about us being physical and scoring after the allocated injury time....

That's a complete red(cafe) herring, the injury time carried on for about four minutes after we scored.

Mau U really fucked up yesterday, going third with three games to go would have put them in the driving seat, no wonder their fans are gutted. I'm really pleased it was our late goal that robbed them of that.

[Sarnia Cherie]

10 hours ago, trousers said:

Top 6 side since the international break in November. Nice, but I think we'll regret dropping 2 points at Everton in our quest for a top half finish.

 

We need to regret the start of the season, not just the Everton game. 

[Ekelund24]

1 hour ago, Fan The Flames said:

And KWP, he was so narrow on the build up and then got drawn over to Martial, leaving Rashford free the whole time. Maybe he was expecting JWP to come back and cover.

Couldn't handle Martial running at him for the second. The right side was really weak for a chunk of the first half, but they tightened it up without Ralph having to change it greatly. And KWP has a good cross when he gets forward. Bad period but not bad player.

For the first goal Stephens was in a bad position in relation to Martial and had to grab him but it was a great assist from Martial and a good finish.

The second goal Martial had KWP's number and easily turned him.

How did the ball stay out when Rashford played the one-two and picked it up six yards out. I couldn't tell if it was a defender or McCarthy's foot

[DT]

Immense performance. Great football. Proud of the team.

[markr27]

Did anyone see Harry Maguire's man marking job on Wan Bissaka at the corner?
Proper defending....

[Golactico]

All 3 Saints subs were Irish. First time ever we've fielded 3 Irish players I'd imagine.

[Pilchards]

4 minutes ago, markr27 said:

Did anyone see Harry Maguire's man marking job on Wan Bissaka at the corner?
Proper defending....

Indeed, it’s hilarious that he took him out of the game by pushing him down to the floor.

[Wes Tender]

Another superb team performance against a top team.  I really have the feeling that we could give any team in the PL a real run for their money playing as well as this. For a short while under Pochettino and Koeman, I had this feeling that we ought not to be frightened to play against any other team, and that feeling is beginning to return. Huge credit to Hasenhuttl for getting us to play the bold, entertaining football that we enjoyed playing under them. Last night the commentators said that we are the fittest team in the league, so credit there too. Now we still threaten to score right at the death, instead of conceding late goals as the norm. Last night was extra satisfying, scoring the equaliser deep into "Fergie time", depriving United of two points, and moving them back down the two places they would have attained from a win as a result.

Armstrong my MOTM, but a couple of other contenders ran him close. It would be typical though for us to do so well against these top teams and then stumble against the lower down teams like our South coast rivals, Brighton and Bournemouth. We could be instrumental in sending Bournemouth down, but Brighton have surely done enough to survive, barring a major upset.

 

[Uncle Albert]

That turned Fergie time on it's head😆😆

[Dellman]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

Ralph to replace Ole Gunner? You know something like that happens ever time we get good! I could honestly see JWP at Man U in the Carrick role. Sorry to bring it all down!

Won't happen. unecessary  alarm.

[Charlie Wayman]

They have better players we have a better team. There was always something in it for Saints but for sloppy errors from Ward Prowse and Stephens we would have taken all 3 points.

The whole game was a bit lack lustre and after about 20 mins everyone seemed to be running on empty tanks. Two games a week every week is taking its toll on high pressing teams. The equaliser was no more than we deserved.

Bertie was outstanding, playing like a man possessed. He's loving his football right now and it shows. What a superb block on Martial late on. Armstrong was below his best last night and we looked better and more balanced when he was replaced by Smallbone.

 

Top marks too for Solskjaer who made no excuses post match and even took time to praise Saints.

Edited 14 July, 2020 by Charlie Wayman

[Shroppie]

2 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Just had an amusing read on RedCafe...Utd fans moaning about us being physical and scoring after the allocated injury time.....not sure many of them fans remember Keane et al during the 90s...Was a great pressing performance by us, and great for us to be the physical team these days. Normally we are too nice.

I've entertained myself too with a read through. Mind-blowing arrogance, entitlement and ignorance all at the same time. I found most interesting:

We were dirty. We committed one more foul than them.

We injured two of their players. Shaw injured himself and Williams was an accidental clash of heads.

The ref was biased in our favour. They're so used to have refs at OT influenced by the big crowd that they can't accept a more neutral performance. I'll accept that maybe Romeu was lucky, but there's a case that it wasn't intentional, but they got their share of decisions, like a free kick for an accidental clash of heads. Should have been our dropped ball.

We had no right to be playing with such intensity because we should be understanding that we're just mid-table with nothing to play for. No comment to that one.

Our players were only putting in the effort because it was a high profile game for us (even Cup Final!) and to put themselves in the shop window because they obviously don't want to stay at Southampton. There's a simple lack of comprehension that team spirit and wanting to do well collectively in this group and for this manager is more important than individual glory and more pay.

Why didn't MU bring on a sub when Williams was injured? Many conspiracy theories about the ref not allowing it etc, but the simple answer was that no matter how many times it was explained, they didn't get the "three sub windows" rule.

And we scored in the seventh minute of added time when the board said 5. Clearly missed that after the board went up there was a long stoppage fir the clash of heads, for which extra extra time was correctly added. Except there probably have been a bit more for us to get the winner. 😀

On long journeys home on a trainful of MU fans I've suffered too many times with being told that going to Saints' matches is really only a way to get to see the big teams: if MU are playing, really everyone only want to see them.

So, every time we annoy them, it's most excellent. Really hope Chelsea or Leicester beat them to CL.

Edited 14 July, 2020 by Shroppie

[Totton Saint]

11 hours ago, adrian lord said:

Richly deserved. Both halves of Manchester done by Southampton in a matter of days!

Just what I said to my wife - we would not be popular in manchester

[wadesmith]

I know Walker Peters was at fault for both goals, but he does seem to have something about him. He didn't let his head drop (which would have been easy to do) He seemed to be involved in so much of what we did last night, he's an exciting player. I'll like us to sign him..but admit he could be a bit of a loose cannon.

[Charlie Wayman]

11 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

It's just so nice to know that some players still possess that ability. Romeu for example has been superb since the restart (if we ignore the challenge from today). He hasn't performed consistently well for ages. 

It just shows what a good run in the side and a manager's  belief in you can do. The way he has been treated over the last couple of seasons has been appalling.

[Shroppie]

10 hours ago, Danbert said:

To me, Walker Peters was at fault for both United goals. Am I being harsh?

They weren't completely his fault but he could have done better on both. For the first he was drawn inside and didn't seem.aware that Rashford was behind him.

And for the second he was also quite narrow. It could be that's the way we want to play, conceding space wide and covering central runs, but he didn't get anywhere close enough to Martial to force him wide and was easily beaten when he cut inside.

But apart from that and, in my opinion, tendency to leave too much space outside, he didn't have a bad game and hopefully it's something coaching can sort out.

[Charlie Wayman]

10 hours ago, Danbert said:

To me, Walker Peters was at fault for both United goals. Am I being harsh?

Not watching very closely I'd say. Prowse gave them the first goal and Stevens got his feet in tangle and messed up his blocking tackle on Martial for the second.

[Cabrone]

I really enjoyed that performance, IMO defence looking much stronger now than before. United have a razor sharp attack but we never let them get away from us.

Bring on next season, Ralph has found the balance and we look like we could do very well next season.

[Teddeer]

The accidental clash of heads incident that led to a free kick being awarded to Utd was tantamount to cheating by the ref. We had the ball in an attacking position and the ref should have dropped it to one of our players in that spot. There had been an earlier accidental clash of heads when the ref stopped play and on that occasion he dropped the ball at the feet of a Utd player because they had been in possession at the time. That is double standards.

[benjii]

3 hours ago, Fan The Flames said:

And KWP, he was so narrow on the build up and then got drawn over to Martial, leaving Rashford free the whole time. Maybe he was expecting JWP to come back and cover.

Couldn't handle Martial running at him for the second. The right side was really weak for a chunk of the first half, but they tightened it up without Ralph having to change it greatly. And KWP has a good cross when he gets forward. Bad period but not bad player.

Try watching the build up to the first. Stephens and Bednarek are far too wide on the other side covering no one and leaving KWP with two to cover. He should have been screaming at Stephens to drift right. 

[Hairlesshero]

10 hours ago, Danbert said:

To me, Walker Peters was at fault for both United goals. Am I being harsh?

Not harsh. I think you are right. He did plenty of good things too though. And I don't think Jan Valery would have done better.

[hypochondriac]

31 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

It just shows what a good run in the side and a manager's  belief in you can do. The way he has been treated over the last couple of seasons has been appalling.

I don't know. He did go through a period where he was terribly poor and slow. I think it was natural to think he'd lost something that he wasn't getting back. 

[Snopper]

Players must be knackered - wonder what time they got home?   Day off today, train tomorrow, play Thursday, day off Friday, train Saturday, play again Sunday.  Relentless

[Plastic]

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

Ralph to replace Ole Gunner? You know something like that happens ever time we get good! I could honestly see JWP at Man U in the Carrick role. Sorry to bring it all down!

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/ralph-hasenhüttl.450287/

[DT]

1 hour ago, Dellman said:

Won't happen. unecessary  alarm.

My bad dream was Mourinho getting the push and Levy coming in for him

[skintsaint]

5 minutes ago, Plastic said:

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/ralph-hasenhüttl.450287/

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/ralph-hasenhüttl.450287/post-25748311

 

pretty much nail on the head.

[Hairlesshero]

23 minutes ago, DT said:

My bad dream was Mourinho getting the push and Levy coming in for him

N-o-o-o-o!!!! I so wish I hadn't read that. #scary

[the saint in winchester]

12 hours ago, Saint Keef said:

Always proud to be a Saint, but especially so since lockdown. Ole actually said before the match that we are the fittest team in the prem and when you are the fittest team you score injury time goals.......all 10 minutes of injury time!!!! Well done lads. Difficult to pick a MoM.  

I have to pay tribute to Ole. How refreshing to see and hear him acknowledging that before the game, that we are known to be the fittest team in the Premier League, and that he expected this to be a very hard game, despite the interviewer waxing lyrical about Utd racking up goals recently.

After the game too, still no bitterness. Paying tribute to the way we played, didn't stop until it was over, and that we deserved a point for the effort we put in.

Just imagine if that had been Jose. Yeah, bitterness and recrimination, mouthing off about excessive injury time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a breath of fresh air and a credit to his club. I think Utd are back to being title contenders next season, and I hope Ole is there managing them to the title. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to hear Gary Neville's tones for a long time. But Ole, I wish YOU success.

[the saint in winchester]

12 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

Shearer actually bigging  us up on DAZN. He usually tries to airbrush us out of his past.

Paul Scholes saying Saints got a deserved draw for all our hard work and effort.

Er, no. I don't think that at all. Maybe he is more complimentary on the BBC for a British audience. Every time we are being talked about, he is complimentary. He beams with pride when his debut game and hat-trick gets mentioned.

[iansums]

10 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

I have to pay tribute to Ole. How refreshing to see and hear him acknowledging that before the game, that we are known to be the fittest team in the Premier League, and that he expected this to be a very hard game, despite the interviewer waxing lyrical about Utd racking up goals recently.

After the game too, still no bitterness. Paying tribute to the way we played, didn't stop until it was over, and that we deserved a point for the effort we put in.

Just imagine if that had been Jose. Yeah, bitterness and recrimination, mouthing off about excessive injury time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a breath of fresh air and a credit to his club. I think Utd are back to being title contenders next season, and I hope Ole is there managing them to the title. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to hear Gary Neville's tones for a long time. But Ole, I wish YOU success.

Agreed, he is a class act. Steve Bruce is another who always gives credit to the opposition where it is due.

[cloggy saint]

11 hours ago, Danbert said:

To me, Walker Peters was at fault for both United goals. Am I being harsh?

Yes. There doesn't always have to be a scapegoat for goals conceded. 

[the saint in winchester]

3 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Just had an amusing read on RedCafe...Utd fans moaning about us being physical and scoring after the allocated injury time.....not sure many of them fans remember Keane et al during the 90s...Was a great pressing performance by us, and great for us to be the physical team these days. Normally we are too nice.

They should listen to their manager. First, there is NO "allocated injury time"; it's just a "minimum of x minutes". Then the clash of heads was in the injury time and the commentator said another 4 minutes would be added, so that made it "a minimum of 8 minutes in total".

We weren't physical at all, aside from the Romeu challenge, which was impact. The rest of the time we stood off them.