It turned out to be a night when everything went the way of Manchester United, but it was a game that Saints acquitted themselves well in to suggest that they are not far away from getting it right.
I said in the preview that this was a night were the atmosphere could swing the match either way and sadly for Saints it did, but they did not wither despite setbacks and did enough to suggest that Claude Puel is slowly getting his team into shape.
Saints matched United for possession having the lions share of 57%, they matched them for shots having 13 against the home side's 12, but they could not match them for shots on target and that is perhaps where the early season issues lie, but more of that later.
Given that Saints were missing Ryan Bertrand and lost Oriol Romeu early on to injury, they did well to adapt and match United with hard work and when they got the ball holding it and passing it, the problem is though there is no cutting edge, too often Saints had no final ball options when they got into the final third.
That is not to suggest that Long and Redmond are not up to the task, both had good games, however when the tactics seem to be about getting the ball down the line and crosses into the box, neither are the tallest, Lond is good in the air, but he has to win his headers by guile rather than towering height as Ibrahimovic did for United's opener and turned out winning goal.
Up to that moment 9 mins before the break Saints had looked if not exactly comfortable, but competent, however the issue was that as good as they looked in the first two thirds of the field, their game was breaking down in the final third and this was the issue leading up to the goal.
In the second half the pattern followed pretty much the same as the first with Saints passing the ball well but struggling to find an opening, conversely United broke quickly but again were well contained by Saints and barring a little period late in the second half they did not look like extending their lead.
The game swung United's way for good shortly after the break when the ref disallowed a Saints goal and then moments later saw Luke Shaw tripped in the box, TV replays showed that no one was near Shaw and the ex Saints player had not dived but clipped his own heel by mistake.
Referee Anthony Taylor was born in Manchester and lives in the Manchester suburb of Altrincham, only about 3 miles from Old Trafford, previously Everton have had him removed from officiating in a fixture when they have had him listed as ref in a game against United, I am not suggesting bias, but it is a situation that is open to that accusation but more seriously could put Taylor's safety in danger should he give a decision against United.
With the penalty scored it was an uphill task for Saints but they stuck to their guns and made sure that if it didn't get any better for them it didn't get any worse.
The issue os for Saints one of having a cutting edge, as I said if the main tactic is going to be getting crosses into the box, then you have to have someone big enough to get on the end of them and either take chances of hold the ball up, perhaps Charlie Austin of Jay Rodriguez could do that, but although Austin got 22 minutes on the pitch J Rod had 6 and that was not enough.
If I have one criticism of Claude Puel and I do only have one, I am can see where he is going and looking to do, it is the fact that he seems a little cautious, against Watford Austin did not appear till the final 8 minutes and that was not enough time and on Friday night Rodriguez did not come on till the final 6, I felt that we did not try to get back into the game but seem to be content to be beaten by a respectable score.
Saints fans had a mixed reaction to the game, some have already made their minds up that Puel is not a good manager and we are now a porr team, however the majority still seemed to be behind him.
I would remind all Saints fans that we suffered just as badly in Ronald Koeman's opening games two years ago and last season the same bedwetters were predicting more doom and gloom after a draw at Newcastle and a 3-0 home defeat to Everton in the openers.
At the moment the time is all about staying calm and seeing that things are not right at the moment, but there is more than enough there to suggest that we will get it right fairly quickly.
I am not sure that United are good enough to win the League, but I do not think that many sides will go to Old Trafford and fare much better than we did on Friday.