"Hope is being able to see there is light, despite all the darkness" - Desmond Tutu.
Good old Desmond. He should perhaps have been a Saints fan, though he'd have had to change his name to Desmond Nilnil if that were the case. It's there though, isn't it? That little glimmer, that slight lifting of the veil. We just might be able to somehow scrape through this with our Premier League status intact, despite the best efforts of those within the club to prove that the BBC isn't the most inept leadership team about.
Desmond Nilnil laughs as another of Adam Armstrong's shots hits the corner flag...
Or can we?
Before we get into that, a word about yesterday's game. Nobody went up to Old Trafford with genuine expectation, but with this weird game we love, there's always the chance of something out of the ordinary occurring. I had said pre-game on one of the Saints forums, where the mood was one of resignation and "let's keep goal difference intact", that there was always the chance of a red card - likely for Bruno Fernandes (still leading the way in the competition for "most irritating Bruno in the Premier League". The Newcastle version has a way to go...) And so it came to pass. The other comment I had made, perhaps in the spirit of the recently departed Mystic Meg, was that if Alcaraz was fit, his pace and energy could keep Casemiro busy. And, it turns out, the ref. To be fair, it was one of those reds where by the letter of the law he had to go, but at the same time he was perhaps a little unfortunate that he caught the ball, which then sort of rolled his foot up and over in into Charly's shin. I mean, yes, red, but I'd have been a bit irritated had it happened to one of our mob. It wasn't intentional, but hey-ho, it's nice to get one that way round at Old Trafford for once.
Casemiro tells us how many legs he thinks Charly Alcaraz should play with...
With United down to ten, Twitter exploded with a raft of utterly predictable Nathan Jones gags, but unlike against Wolves, we actually had a proper team with a proper shape and a proper manager. As a result we more than held on, and it says something when you come away with a point from Old Trafford feeling a little bit disappointed. Still, one of the biggest pluses is that we're not going to see a back three again whilst Ruben is in charge, and hopefully the radical solution of KWP on the right and Perraud on the left is here to stay. Praise whichever deity for that one.
A word as well for the much maligned Jan Bednarek and Gavin Bazunu. Both had excellent games, and though you'd imagine long term we'd be looking at a partnership of ABK and Salisu, the facts of it are, in four games we have three clean sheets, and all with Jan at the centre of defence. It's time for the fanbase that still cling to a few ill-advised words to move on. He's done alright, the big Pole.
A big Pole. But this one is marginally quicker.
On the 'hmm' front, it does seem like Ruben has a fixed plan to bring on Mara and Adam Armstrong at some point to refresh the forward line. I'd like that to be a little more flexible as Mara has talent, but like Edozie, if they were at a sane club they'd be out on loan, Tella-style, learning their trade at a Championship club. Adam Armstrong is, well, just not very good. When Tall Paul did eventually came on, Ten Hag was forced into replacing the four-foot-nothing Martinez with Harry Maguire - it would have been nice to have seen our speedsters have a longer run at him, but there we are.
All eyes will of course now turn to what looks like a huge game on Wednesday. Brentford have been incredibly solid this year, and have pace and potency up top (whereas we have pace and...well...we have effort). I don't buy into the whole "the draw at Old Trafford means nothing if we fail to beat Brentford" because that's just wrong. It means we took a point. But yes, a win against Brentford and that little glimmer of hope becomes that bit brighter.
I'm not just looking at Wednesday with the hope-hat on though. A lot has been made by how hard our run-in is (the average table position of our remaining opponents is 8.2, which on the face of it means we have the hardest run-in of all). Much as Rasmus will undoubtedly feel a little fizzy at my use of a data point there, like many data points it needs context. I'm looking at our last three games with hope too - Brighton, Fulham and Liverpool. By then, fingers crossed, those three teams will have nothing much to play for, and with any luck Liverpool will still be on their "we can't play away from home" tip. So if we need points at that stage, which barring a miracle we will, well...there's hope in them hills. There really is.
Man, it feels like the 90s again. Lineker in the news, Labour with an open goal, banks crashing and a great escape for Southampton. Bring it on.
COYR!