Saints 0 Man Utd 0 - Buildup, Match and over-reactions Thread

[Minsk]

That wasn't too bad. The first half was a bit of the same old, felt like both sides played within themselves and it was very much played at a pace of a pre-season game. Way, way too slow. Penalty surprised me in terms of it was given, but the miss didn't surprise me at all. Why don't we just stick with a given penalty taker? Whenever JWP has been on the pitch he has taken them, he's our best striker from a dead ball and needs to take penalties when he's on the pitch. Need to stop faffing around with the takers.

 

2nd half was a lot better in terms of it being a watch, we seemed to come alive from around 55mins and put them under some concerted pressure for a period - forced Romero into a couple of good saves, although you could argue that a couple of the shots were straight at him. We played much quicker though and this is what opened the game up, we had the likes of Davis pushing forward and closing the gap to Gabbiadini - who was way too isolated in the first half. My gripe is that we still played a bit too centrally though, Redmond and Tadic seemed to come inside and through the central area's - obviously a tactic to open the flanks and allow the fall backs to push on, but Targett's delivery in particular was garbage so that was a pretty dead avenue for us. I would have liked to see Redmond and Tadic pull out wide to the flanks and take on their full backs.

 

What is up with Redmond at home by the way? He's a totally different player away from home. At home he seems reluctant to commit, run at players, or penetrate the final third. He seems happy to just sit behind the full back and move centrally, it's very odd and it didn't work at all. To be fair, Tadic did similar, so you do wonder if that's instructions they are following.

 

Special mention to Stephens, who I thought was great. This is a player who has blossomed as the 2nd half of this season has progressed, and I didn't imagine him to be this composed. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing him line up alongside VVD next season (if VVD is still here that is) - he's impressed me that much that it would seem harsh to drop him.

 

But overall, another frustrating 0-0, but not a bad game at all. Probably from our point of view a 0-0 where we actually deserved to get the win, as opposed to a backs to the wall effort. Quite clearly Utd didn't fancy it, they weren't even playing in first gear, but with a bit of luck we'd have won it. Would be surprised if we fail to beat Stoke if we play the same way as the 2nd half.

 

This was the post I meant to quote above.

[Jonnyboy]

This is how Trump got in. Dismiss chances as not included as not a real chance. Not like Poch's chances which were real.

 

Batman would have Trump as our manager, no doubt.