Man Utd 3-1 Saints - Match Thread

[Saint_clark]

Fernandes is a moron, got himself a booking there. Stupid idiot.

[Jimmy_D]

Best half we’ve played of the season by a distance.

[Saint_clark]

Sulemana and Aribo excellent in that half.

[Suhari]

Ahhh. My stream is breaking.

[saintant]

Anyone still defending Russell? Shows what could have been. Ok, we may yet lose this but what a brilliant half that was. Well done Ivan!!!!

[adrian lord]

Transformed. Kudos Juric. 

[Saint86]

Whisper it. Only 7 points from safety.

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Token stupid yellow for Dibling for a shirt pull after fluffing an attacking move 😄

blatant pull backs that prevent breakaways are fine by me.  

[obelisk]

With more clinical finishing Saints could be out of sight. But they aren't so I suppose we'll end the game feeling positive but pointless again.

[Wade Garrett]

We’ve got our football team back.  Good half of football.

[Saint86]

Just now, saintant said:

Anyone still defending Russell? Shows what could have been. Ok, we may yet lose this but what a brilliant half that was. Well done Ivan!!!!

He absolutely was to blame. Suicidal football gifting chances.

[davefizzy14]

Fantastic first half, get in! 😊 

[trousers]

Too soon...?

[Mr X]

Just now, Saint86 said:

Whisper it. Only 7 points from safety.

Are you actually assuming we win this game? 😱😱😱

[Convict Colony]

Yeah juric playing a great tactical game here.

Credit to the team so far, unlucky not to get a couple of goals.

Fernandes silly booking but he's been playing great.

Hope we can keep up the discipline and fitness in 2nd half.

Edited 16 January, 2025 by Convict Colony

[SNSUN]

Whatever happens second half that was a great first half, Onana aside we should have scored more. United might still win but if we keep playing like this we’ll break Derby’s tally at least!

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, trousers said:

Too soon...?

We're going to lose now. Cheers.

[saint francis]

More than competitive here.  Three points would be massive.  

[whelk]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anyone still defending Russell? Shows what could have been. Ok, we may yet lose this but what a brilliant half that was. Well done Ivan!!!!

He is my favourite human being

[Chez]

1 minute ago, adrian lord said:

Transformed. Kudos Juric. 

Now can he combat any changes United make. We were great, but they were pretty poor. Need to come out with the same intensity straight from the off.

[stknowle]

Blimey. Should be 3 up. Look fitter, sharper, more organised.  Can’t help still expecting to lose but if we can keep this up for the rest of the season we’ve got more than 6 more points in us.

[suewhistle]

I was just about to say 'this is a bit better' and thought that might jinx it and then we scored!

We might lose but this is a breath of fresh air the way we are playing.

Underlines how awful Martin's tactics were.

 

[saintant]

15 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How the fuck did Martin not get at least this out of Sully....?????

Because his teams set up to go backwards and sideways so Sulemana never had grass ahead of him to take players on with his pace. 

[Disco Stu]

Infuritating watching that half after having to endure Martin's clueless "tactics" for so long. Such a shame Sport Republic threw our season away.

[Colinjb]

An acceptable first half.

(Not getting ahead of myself, we've been here so many times before.)

[Saint_clark]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Whisper it. Only 7 points from safety.

Pretty ridiculous isn't it when you put it like that. Could be out the relegation zone by the end of January. 😉

[bangkoksaint]

Just imagine how sick Dragan will feel if by some miracle we only get relegated by a point. The total inaction of not sacking Russ will haunt him forever as I’m convinced if the bafoons had acted earlier we’d have dug ourselves out of this mess.

[CanadaSaint]

As many have said, we won’t know how good our squad is until Martin is nowhere near it.

It isn’t top half but it’s nowhere near as bad as Martin made it.

Hopefully we’ll keep taking it to United because they can’t deal with the pace and movement.

[Maggie May]

Insurance bet firmly placed.

[warsash saint]

6 minutes ago, adrian lord said:

Ref is awful 

Same c*nt from Palace away ... what do you expect??!!

Edited 16 January, 2025 by warsash saint

[obelisk]

Does that still count as scoring from a corner?

[macca155]

What an excellent half, where the hell has this team been all season.

Saints deserve the lead, and I can't remember the last time they had so many chances.

Dibling and Fernades really putting themselves in the shop window (sadly) but Sulemana has been outstanding.

We've all seen this film, it's been on repeat all year, and know how it ends, but maybe there is an alternative ending this time. We can dream.

[Maggie May]

Just now, bangkoksaint said:

Just imagine how sick Dragan will feel if by some miracle we only get relegated by a point. The total inaction of not sacking Russ will haunt him forever as I’m convinced if the bafoons had acted earlier we’d have dug ourselves out of this mess.

Calm down, we haven’t won yet.

[gammon cheeks]

I know its only half time but we look fn good !  Stronger , fitter   , more organised and no fuck ups ! 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Too soon...?

Not at all.  Let's enjoy it this half time moment. 

[aintforever]

Fantastic display so far, Sully is a revelation.

[LiberalCommunist]

Great half. But anyone celebrating points right now must have missed a big arse chunk of football reality this term. 

If we score the next goal, we may well not lose this game. At best. 

[AlexLaw76]

lets be honest, not in a million years would have played like this in this game under Martin...

[Nordic Saint]

4 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Sulemana and Aribo excellent in that half.

As we saw against Swansea, it's Sulemana and Dibling up front that make the difference. They are our best attacking combination by a country mile; not that they have much competition. My concern tonight is when the subs come on. Again, as we saw against Swansea, we then turn into the toothless team we've seen all season..

[Saint NL]

What a half.

Our players are actually running around, making challenges and putting their players under pressure. 

Such a difference from a few weeks ago.

Dibling had Martinez shitting his pants, lovely stuff 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

An acceptable first half.

(Not getting ahead of myself, we've been here so many times before.)

Acceptable? Blimey. We created more `proper scoring chances' in one half than we have in about the last 10 games.

[bangkoksaint]

Just now, Maggie May said:

Calm down, we haven’t won yet.

I get that Maggie. I’m not talking about winning here as I don’t think we will. It’s the performance so far and what has been introduced since we ditched suicidal football 

[Toadhall Saint]

Should be 3 up. Which might come back to haunt us.

[santolijador]

Think one of the biggest differences under Juric is off the ball. KWP and Sugawara are pushing high (as opposed to ManU wing-backs) and restricting the space. One of the 3 CBs (often THB) is also very aggressive in pressing, and they are trying to go man for man, which is frustrating United. 

The two CMs in possession have been great at turning and looking for Sugawara and KWP, whilst KS and Dibling dritfing into space have caused problems. 

Clearly Juric is tactically astute and I like this return to an aggressive pressing style - at no point have United looked that comfortably playing out, and whilst they have broken the press a couple of times, we look committed in tackles and defence. 

[James G]

That was amazing. The next bit is the difficult bit, keeping the lead. 

[badgerx16]

6 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Whisper it. Only 7 points from safety.

Pedant alert - we currently still have 6 points. Nothing changes until the final whistle.

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, macca155 said:

What an excellent half, where the hell has this team been all season.

Saints deserve the lead, and I can't remember the last time they had so many chances.

Dibling and Fernades really putting themselves in the shop window (sadly) but Sulemana has been outstanding.

We've all seen this film, it's been on repeat all year, and know how it ends, but maybe there is an alternative ending this time. We can dream.

Managed by Martin.

[trousers]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

lets be honest, not in a million years would have played like this in this game under Martin...

I'm sure the 'Martinettes' are duly poised to post their contrary views at the end of the game after Man Utd's inevitable comeback...  

[VectisSaint]

3 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Fantastic display so far, Sully is a revelation.

But it's only Swansea. 

Oh wait...

[Jimmy_D]

9 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Whisper it. Only 7 points from safety.

Wouldn’t be the biggest escape we’ve ever had