TWO GOALS FROM Romelu Lukaku secured a thrilling 3-2 win for Manchester United over Southampton that lifts them back into the Premier League’s top four.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side looked to be heading for a fourth home game in a row without a win in all competitions after James Ward-Prowse converted a superb free-kick.
United, who lost Alexis Sanchez to injury, had overturned Yan Valery’s opener through Andreas Pereira and Lukaku only to see the lead slip away.
But Lukaku’s emphatic finish in the 88th minute was enough for all three points, even though Paul Pogba missed an injury-time penalty.
Lukaku was twice denied by Angus Gunn in the first five minutes, although United’s early rhythm was disrupted by treatment on a Scott McTominay head injury.
Jannik Vestergaard headed over when picked out unmarked from a corner, and Ryan Bertrand was angry not to win a penalty from a shirt pull by Chris Smalling.
Saints’ increasing pressure told 26 minutes in, when Valery’s ferocious strike from 25 yards beat David de Gea at his left-hand post, even though he got hands to the ball.
United were struggling to impose themselves and suffered a further blow when Sanchez had to go off with a knee injury seven minutes after the restart.
However, they turned the scoreline around in a spectacular six-minute spell. First, Pereira curled a spectacular strike beyond Gunn from 25 yards out, before Lukaku got free in the box, cut onto his right foot and drilled a shot into the bottom-right corner.
Just as United appeared to be heading for victory, Ward-Prowse sent an unstoppable effort beyond De Gea to send the travelling fans into raptures and silence the home fans.
But with two minutes of normal time remaining, Lukaku curled another low right-foot strike from outside the box past Gunn, prompting further cries of ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’ from the Stretford End, which were only slightly dampened when Gunn kicked away Pogba’s penalty.
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Not deliberate. So the money was just resting in the player’s accounts before being moved on.
@Keelan O’neill: right there Ted. Down with this sort of thing!
@Hirrison Mirk: even a Dyson isn’t going to vacuum up all the dirt on this one…
Nobody who wears tinted glasses is trustworthy
@Ave it: What about Ray Charles?
@Hirrison Mirk: Stevie Wonder maybe but Ray Charles?! Have you not seen the movie???
@Graham Ross: good point well made, at least his motivation was always obvious.
The way people are going on about it you’d swear they were systematic drug cheats like the Russians, all they did was under handed pay their players off the official books which is against the rules of the league, every club in Ireland pays a few players under handed against the rules of the All Ireland League, should they all be kicked out vilified?
@Wheresmyjumper: ballina got deducted points because they got caught
@Wheresmyjumper: Don’t be bringing the GAA into this
@s mc: Shannon were fined as well, my point is that people who just don’t like Saracens and are using this as stick to beat them with. At least it was excellent players who have a short career getting paid and that’s not a bad thing. It was rules not laws that were broken
@Wheresmyjumper: Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs might have a different view as to whether laws were broken. The Glasgow Rangers case springs to mind.
@David Egan: i’m sure they’ll claim back the money so, as far as i know the HMRC are not involved
@Wheresmyjumper: if what you say is true, why would Sarries choose relegation over handing over their books!?
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: no business in the world wants a revenue audit, they did their sums ans found this way was cheaper, other staff paid under the counter might also have got in trouble, I just don’t see this as much of a big deal
@Wheresmyjumper: what about the excellent players at other clubs being run correctly that have had medals taken off them and defining moments that they worked all their life for? Or the fans who spend thousands to follow them over the country being cheated? The correct action was taken to relegate them, and now further action should be taken by stripping them of their titles that they won through cheating. Its a disgrace if they dont check the accounts from every year and how that was an option for Saracens is baffling.
@Darren World: i just think anyone involved with any club in Ireland knows this is going on so we can’t afford to pontificate from our ivory towers
@Wheresmyjumper: you are compairing it with an amateur league, completley different.
@Darren World: how so? Isn’t cheating the same regardless? Aren’t excellent amateur players being denied trophies and medals and dozens, potentially hundreds of club members and fans being denied seeing their club win a trophy? Or do they not count because they are not Saracens? Remember professional rugby came about because the cheating became unhideable.
@Wheresmyjumper: I dunno, let me see, knocked Munster out of two champions cup semi finals in 4 years. A competition where their seeding is based on cheating. Have a stronger playing panel also because of it. Before it was the champions cup it was know as the Heineken cup and Wray was at the forefront of having that changed to favour the english teams. Systematic financial doping…..nothing less
@Wheresmyjumper: that maybe so – in doing so, you run the risks (when sport is a business, they are business risks). They got caught and the agreed and defined punishment was applied.
@Darren World: because you are in a league where it is not a level playing field. The AIL allow universities to offer players scholarships and can pay their college fee’s. Thats why its not strictly policed in the league. How can ya pull up a club for paying match fee’s in a system where players in that league are allowed get 3k college fees covered?
We did not deliberately draw up all those non standard contracts like buying a % of a players image rights for an elevated non arms length valuation….sure it was all an accident really
It would have got interesting if there was also a salary cap in the Championship (which there probably ought to be actually).
In being relegated to the Championship, where there is no salary cap, Saracens can keep all of their players! Now if you were to be cynical ….. Suppose they all stay and were to get say a 50% advance on their salary for 2021/2022 paid as a ‘bonus’ for winning promotion to the premiership in the 2020/2021 season!!!!!
He looks a bit like father Romeo Sensini in that picture !
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