Is there ever a good time to go to Old Trafford, probably not, but this is as good a time as any in the last 20 years to try and get a result there.
Old Trafford has rarely been a happy hunting ground for Saints, the fact remains that since we won there back in January 1988 our sole League game that hasn't resulted in a defeat was in 1999 when we drew 3-3, either side of that its been back to back defeats.
But we head North with perhaps more confidence that we can take at least a point than at virtually any time since that victory almost 26 years ago, we have a side that is playing well and not conceding goals, whilst United are obviously in a transitional period under new boss David Moyes where not only are they struggling to gel, but they are under pressure to deliver, especially after losing to West Brom in their last home game.
But it wont be easy, whilst a nation might snigger at what they see as United's demise, the fact is that they still have a formidable squad full of quality players and good sides don't become bad sides overnight, Saints will have to be at the top of their game if they want to compete with United and take something out of this game.
Like the last away win at Anfield it will be a question of staying tight, not letting United get up a head of steam and then quietening the crowd and getting it on the back of its team, the bulk of the home support wont have known a time when United haven't steam rollered all before them at Old Trafford and they wont take kindly to it now and will get on their own players backs, this is the atmosphere we want to encourage.
United of course still have their dangermen, Robin Van Persie if fit is going to be one of them and of course Wayne Rooney is starting to recapture his form of old and scoring for both his club and country, snuff him out and you are half way there.
All talk though is of new wonderkid Adnan Januzaj, yes he is an undoubted talent, but the plaudits are out before he has really proved himself, 2 goals at Sunderland in United's last game announced his arrival, but scoring against the bottom side is not the same as doing that to the side with the meanest defence in the Premier League, Janujaz will be a threat, but his lack of inexperience could work against United if we can shackle them and not give them much to aim at, the Belgium teenager has only made one start for united, that in the aforementioned game at the Stadium Of Light, prior to that two substitute appearances in the Premier totalling 68 minutes, 6 minutes in the community shield and 17 minutes in the Capital One Cup represent his total first team action, what we need to do is leave him looking like a lost teenager rather than let him play without fear.
The key to Saints will be having a full squad fit and putting square pegs in square holes, Kelvin Davis has given sterling service, but to be blunt he isn't a patch on Artur Boruc who controls his area in a way that no Saints keeper has really done since Peter Shilton, his defence have utter confidence in him and that is a big big part of why we have conceded so few goals, if he plays we have a great chance.
Likewise Luke Shaw, we need his pace at the back, but this is where the point about having square pegs in square holes comes into play, against Swansea the Saints midfield was disjointed and therefore got totally out played, the main result though was that we didn't protect our left full back, United like to attack with pace, Luke Shaw is better equipped than Danny Fox to handle this, however we still need to cover him.
Therefore the real key to winning the game will be to put out a side that is balanced, I have said this before, but if we want to play the formation that we do then the manager has to make a choice about Osvaldo & Lambert, Im a fan of both, but playing them in the same team doesn't help either of them, Rickie especially is a centre forward and nothing else, he isn't mobile or equipped with what is needed to be able to drop back into midfield and help out, we either have to play him as the lone striker and play Osvaldo in a conventional wide role in midfield or we have to drop him and play Osvaldo up front, against Swansea we got out passed and out played in midfield for most of the game, our 2-0 victory should not gloss over the fact that we could easily have lost that game by a big margin, Swansea didn't have the players to exploit our weakness in that game, United do have.
So Pochettino needs to get a solid bank of players in midfield and work the system that he knows and loves rather than a hybrid of it, if we do that then we have every chance of getting at least something out of the trip.
Big question will be who will come in if Lambert is dropped, after an impressive appearance from the bench Jay Rodriguez could be said to be in line to replace Lambert up front even if the Osvaldo question wasn't being asked, but certainly J Rod in for Rickie would add a bit of pace to the team, football is a squad game now and there are certain games when work rate and mobility is needed and this is perhaps one of those.
I don't want this to sound like a rant against Rickie, but we are going to have to match United for work rate, the midfield has to get behind the ball and work and whoever is playing up front has to chase and harry and close down, Rickie Lambert is an excellent player, but even his biggest fan would not claim these attributes are the strongest parts of his play, its horses for courses and I think we will find out if the manager can adapt to changing needs on a game per game basis on Saturday.
So we travel north knowing that even if we lose then United will still be behind us, but more importantly a win would really put us in the driving seat, they say that the table only really takes its true shape after 10 games, get a result at Old Trafford and the footballing world will start to take us seriously when we claim we can finish in the top 5 and qualify for Europe, it would still be a big task, but if we play our own system to its strengths then top 10 should be extremely achievable and who knows, stranger things have happened.