At the start of the week Saints supporters would have predicted that they would be taking on a Manchester United side whose confidence would be at rock bottom after a drubbing by Liverpool, a few days later and things have changed at Old Trafford.

On Monday morning things looked bleak for the Red Devils they were facing one of their most hated rivals in Liverpool and had a squad in disarray, but ahead of the match Erik ten Hag unveiled his latest signing Casemiro from Real Madrid and dropped a few high profile underperforming stars and the rest as they say is history.

So Saints will now face a United side brimming with confidence and with their new 70 million central midfielder making his debut.

Some would say it doesn't look good for Saints and they have a point, however there are some things still in Saints favour, firstly Casemiro has barely played this season, his only game time has been 90 minutes in the UEFA Super Cup & 7 minutes as sub in La Liga two weeks ago.

Hopefully he will be lacking a little match sharpness and we can capitalise on that.

Secondly although United won against Liverpool, they did so more on adrenalin than dominating the game. They started out like a train, but once they went a goal up they tailed off, in truth they played a Liverpool side in just as bad a run of form as United themselves who were full of mistakes and missed chances, add to that a little good luck for United such as when they hit their own player on the line with a botched clearance and the ball rebounded clear and you have to surmise they were struggling a bit in the final 15 minutes to hold on to their lead.

So the hope for Saints fans is that they have invested everything in the Liverpool game, a game where they pumped themselves up and that they won't be able to reach the same motivational levels at St Mary's.

United will be without Victor Lindelof and Facundo Pellistri with injury but that aside ten Hag should have a full squad to pick from

From that perspective Ralph Hasenhuttl is only missing long term injury Tino Livramento and on the plus side he has Romain Perraud back from injury and that is his one of his dilemmas.

The first question for Ralph is whether he sticks with the formation used at Leicester or reverts back to a back 3.

Most Saints supporters would vote for the line up at the King Power, but will he go for the starting line up or the one that finished the game (almost).

The first dilemma is whether Ralph sticks with Djenepo as left back or throws in fit again Romain Perraud, the Frenchman is more of a natural left back but has not played at all this season through injury, he is fit again now, but is he match fit.

Add to that Djenepo has improved with every game on the left, he doesn't deserve to be dropped so it is a difficult one for the manager.

Secondly it was the line up that played between the 70th and 888 minutes that won the game, Che Adams came on as a sub, so does he start this time after his run of 4 goals in two games and if so is it Sekou Mara or Adam Armstrong who drops out, for me i would leave Mara on the bench, he is still adapting to the Premier League and could well be best used as an impact player in a game like this.

Secondly does he start Stuart Armstrong, he came on for Adam Armstrong, so the question is does Ralph leave just one or both of the two strikers that started at Leicester or does he look in other areas to bring in Armstrong.

If he brings in Stuart then the only real candidate to be dropped would be Moi Elyounoussi.

It is a good headache for the manager to have though and although we are still a player or two light, we are still as strong if not stronger than we were at the same time last year, we know that this team can play as was shown in the middle of last season, we just need to hit a good run of form again.

So for me it is about keeping it tight, United will undoubtably be on a high from the win over Liverpool in the opening stages of this game, we have to give them nothing and then start to impose ourselves on the game.

If we do that we have a chance, we have to remind them through our own endeavours that their confidence is a fragile one, they started the season badly due to issues that won't be resolved just by the signing of Casemiro, a player whom they have paid £70 million for, but at 31 is worth perhaps half of that.

A good game is in store at St Mary's and it's a sell out crowd, if you have read social media in the last few weeks you would think that Ralph Hasenhuttl couldn't walk down Above Bar without a bodyguard, but the reality at the games is that despite a brief burst of abuse when Leeds went 2-0 up a fortnight ago, the crowd have stayed behind Ralph and seem willing to give him a chance to show what he can do now the financial shackles are off a little.

Manchester United are an example of how thinking just spending money or sacking managers is not a great philosophy, they also showed us on Monday how a pumped up crowd can drive a team to victory against the odds.

If we learn these lessons then we can come out of this game with all three points.

Photo: Action Images

beynali73 added 09:57 - Aug 26 Great article Nick. Nice dilemmas to have as you say and this will test Ralph's ability to pick the correct team. This does make me nervous but from watching the players in training and with input from the coaching team I hope he gets it right. 4 at the back will provide the solid base required. Saints fans have, on the whole, been incredibly patient with Ralph and appreciated the restricted environment that he was operating in. Hopefully he has realised that chopping and changing formations, personnel and experimenting every other week does not win games and unsettles players. As long as the lesson has been learnt then we can appreciate how lucky we are to have a bright and likeable person in charge of our club and enjoy watching an entertaining team realise their potential. COYR's

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darthvader added 10:07 - Aug 26 Djenepo deserves to start this game either at left back or further forward in front of perraud, Sanchez is a handfull so doubling up at times may be required . We simply must start with four at the back, to disrupt this especially at home would be suicide imo. Che to score again and Djenepo to create chance after chance
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HythePeer added 10:37 - Aug 26 You are using logic and common sense to pick your team; I don't think it is done like that?
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SaintPaulVW added 10:47 - Aug 26 Really looking forward to this game. Che has to start surely, Agree Stu instead of Mo. Arma and Djenepo on the left, Aribo and KWP on the right. Lavia, Sali and ABK build on their understanding at the back, JWP and possibly Romeu to bung up the middle, or, Mara if we are going to go for it. COYR
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JoeEgg added 10:58 - Aug 26 For once almost impossible to predict how this game will go because both sides are trying to turn around terrible starts with both players and managers rightly under a lot of pressure. We turned around matches against Leeds and Leicester after, in my view, rather strange opening team selections annd tactics, so how will Ralph START the United game? I predicted a home defeat to Leeds but pleased to have been proved wrong - JUST! But what makes this weekends game especially intriguing is that almost very scoreline is a possibiity - although I am sure Ralph will start cautious as he so often does. One thing is for sure - we shall learn a great deal more about both the quality and potential of our new players.

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halftimeorange added 13:32 - Aug 26 Based on their player cost Saints shouldn't have a prayer against Man U or, indeed, any other top EPL side but, there have been signs that the new players we have signed have been under-rated by their previous clubs and have brought some belief with them. My one real concern is Salisu. I don't think he's come on since last season but, I now expect Saints not to go down without a fight plus, we should not forget that in the first part of last season we saw spectacular strikes from several of our players - JWP, KWP, Perraud, both Armstrongs, Romeu and Adams - so we do have goals in us assuming we can fashion and take our chances.

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SanMarco added 14:57 - Aug 26 Let's pick a sensible starting eleven and then play well in a sensible formation, making sensible substitutions as necessary. Do all that and who knows - Manure are certainly beatable. What we don't need is any unnecessary Ralphery !!
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WestSussexSaint added 15:23 - Aug 26 I think Uniteds performance will have given them some confidence but I think it is still superficial. You don’t fix all the problems they have with one match. Momentum is key in football and so I hope we get on the front foot from the start and quieten their support so the nerves creep in. Che has to start and agree that Djenepo doesn’t deserve to be dropped. If Cassimero has had so little football I don’t see him starting although perhaps will be on the bench. I expect United to name an unchanged starting XI.

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