Match Day Thread Manchester United vs Southampton EFL CUP Final Sunday 26/02/2017 Kick-Off 4:30PM

He did exactly the same against Fonte and VVD. For a big fella its amazing how defenders fail to see him, world class player

 

When we equalised I had hugs from the men to my right and left and the man behind me was shaking my shoulders In fact, had lots of hugs from strange men today (and Vin kissed my hand - I may never wash it again...)

 

In all the euphoria of the past couple of weeks I've actually forgotten who we play next.

Who did the Sunderland thread? Next game is yours!

Thanks for everybody who let myself and @fatletiss do this special game!

 

Anyone else excited about the rest of the season and next season? Like a strike force built around Gabbiadini will be quite something.

 

So he did. I'd forgotten about that. World class for sure especially given his age.

 

Well done to the players.
Well done to everyone who went.
Well done to everyone who watched/listened at home.
Well done to everyone who hid behind the sofa.

No need for all that made up post-match analysis stuff we always do this time. This one was about something a bit different, All I would really say is that there is a serious amount of potential in the team now. If things go right then I have no doubt we can achieve even more in the next few years.

 

Currently in a Spanish restaurant in Bermondsey discussing the game with the waiters. We agreed that it was better to lose 3-2 than go out with a whimper (or whatever that is in Spanish).

 

That is a fair summary. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018813

 

Aww, Oriol's voice is all quivery.

 

Yes, if we can keep most of the team and either buy a centre back or get Caceres playing well we probably only need one more central holder (I presume Clasie is on his way out) and we have a good squad and without the Europa League we can go far.

 

Players will come and players will go. Some will get praised and some may get more stick than is warranted. Oriol just shows how much players do care, do hurt and although this certain group of players may not be as good as the ones from last season or the year before, they are a group I feel a real attachment too. Please Saints just for once keep the likes of Virgil and don't you dare think about cashing in on Sir Manolo of Naples. I think this group can go far.

Thank you to everyone of those players that got us to Wembley. I will never ever forget the euphoria as Gabby equalised. The disappointment has made me want more finals. I think this group can get them.

 

I think Gabbiadini's equaliser has to be among my favorite moments as a Saints fan, utter euphoria in that moment

 

The moments afterwards where almost every Saints fan to a man, woman and child swirled their scarf above their head chanting Manolo's name will live with me for a long, long time. Just awesome.

 

Just got back home and caught up with this thread (phone battery went on train!). Glad everyone agrees we were the better team and the better fans. All they had was Zlatan or they would be very ordinary.

So proud of my team and all my fellow Saints fans wherever you are tonight.

 

Having now watched the match, he can be very proud of himself. They all can. To be the better side but to lose is heartbreaking, especially when you're denied a perfectly good goal which could have changed the whole outcome.

 

This was a staggering brilliant display. In my opinion, I rate today's performance as our best of those that I have watched under Puel. The whole tram acquitted itself well and deserved to win, not inly because of the disallowed goal, but because of the fact that the team embraced the game in the spirit in which it is supposed to be played. I was worried that if we lost it would have been a case of just making up the numbers. Instead I feel Saints won this match from a moral perspective and were the better team apart from the ten minute period when Man Utd scored the brace.

It has been fascinating listening to the heated opinions as to who played well and I think Redmond, Monolo Gabbiadini and Maya Yoshida were stand outs. I could not believe that Ibrahimovic got man of the match and you could have argued that Gabbiandini was equally worthy. However, I felt that Tadic was behind everything creative today and he played exceptionally well. It was a shame he came off but today's performance is one I think both team and supporters can come away with immense pride.

This season I have felt that Claude Puel took a very ling time to both understand his team and really appreciative why Southampton is unique. For much of the period before January performances like this have been erratic. Today I saw a performance which encapsulates what the "Southampton way" means and with a potent force up front, I hope that we can replicate this kind of football for the remainder of the season. There cannot be one Saints fan who is not proud of the way the team acquitted itself today.

 

Having watched the 90 minutes and listened to the commentary, one still gets the sense that, once again, Saints were being portrayed as 'the opposition'. At HT, apart from the analysis, the discussion was 'what United need to do'. There was no sense of 'what Saints need to do'. And, of course, with an ex-ManU player as co-commentator, the in-game banter was always going to be ManU orientated, even though the other brother was quite complimentary. Honestly, I don't like that. I would never like it if it was as biased the other way round on a national broadcast [like that's going to happen]. And to pull the leg of MLT for getting steamed up about a perfectly good goal, instead of agreeing that it was very poor of the officials, just showed that those other presenters were remaining 'on-message', in my opinion.