As grateful as I am for having the opportunity to write for NFTV. I am afraid that I have already made my first error. I waited for the Southampton game to write my first post. I think my headline pretty much sums up this match so need I say more? No... But im going too
On a cold and foggy night at the Saint Mary's Stadium in Southampton. Newcastle United faced off against a side on form. The Saints had previously beaten both Aston Villa and Everton (Who we won 2-1 in our previous game)
We were also on a bit of form, particularly in our away fixtures. We hadn't lost an away match in five games in all competitions. Playing the likes of West Ham United, Spurs, Wolves in the Premier League. In the Carabao cup we knocked out Morecambe in that emphatic 7-0 victory but we were brought down to earth scraping by against league two opposition Newport County needing penalties to go through after a lacklustre 1-1 draw.
In the first half despite what the commentators were suggesting I feel we weren't too bad. I'm not saying we were the better team by any means. Southampton was the dominant force. But we did create chances just in typical Newcastle fashion, we couldn't take our chances.
Alan Saint-Maximin continued his poor run of form which he would slightly improve in the second half. But in the first forty-five, he wasn't firing on all cylinders. He for me tried too hard. ASM has gained a reputation for being a slick tricky winger with a box of tricks and bags of pace. But unfortunately, it appears that some defences have become wise to him. They know he's going to drop the shoulder and try to turn them inside out. Although as we saw when ASM came up against Oriol Romeu sometimes all you can do to stop him is to commit a foul. In the second half, ASM did improve but he just couldn't find a pass. He and his teammates were not singing from the same hymn sheet.
Almiron was the first to commit a deadly Sin against the Saints. After a fantastic save made by Darlow, springing to his left-hand corner to keep out a shot from Che Adams. Almiron received the ball on the left-back side of the pitch, with a simple clearance needed Miggy turned his marker and attempted to play the ball even further back to Jamaal Lewis but he was caught in possession by Kyle Walker-Peters who whipped the ball into the box to be met by a venomous volley from Che Adams into the back of the net beating a sprawling Karl Darlow. 1-0 to Southampton.
The second half came and Southampton started on the front foot. It was essentially attacked vs defence for the most part. Our midfield and defence played conservatively and still could not keep possession. Hendrick was, well, Jeff Hendrick, and was the first player in yellow to be substituted. On came Matty Longstaff in his place, presumably to add a bit of youthful energy to an otherwise conservative midfield, not including Miguel Almiron, who was tirelessly running about the pitch but to no avail.
Wilson was a shadow of his usual self. Maybe he's due a break or maybe he wasn't getting the delivery he needed, but Wilson wasn't in the game today. He and Jacob Murphy made way for Andy Carroll and Joelinton.
The second deadly sin was committed by Sean Longstaff. Similar to the first half Sean received the ball outside of the box and was about to clear it when he second-guessed himself and was caught in possession by Stuart Armstrong who took the ball, turned on his left-hand side and hit it low and hard past Darlow. 2-0.
It was surprisingly Joelinton who had Newcastle's best effort on goal after an early cross was whipped in by Lewis, Joelinton had a lot to do. He rose in the air and headed it from the inside edge of the box, forcing the Saints keeper Alex McCarthy to make a decent stop, diving to his left-hand side.
Try as they might Brucy's boys could not make another convincing effort on goal. I guess his second-half tactics were the same as the tactics used against Spurs. Go for a smash and grab of a point.
If we had won the game we would have found ourselves in the top four of the Premier League. But it would be Southampton who would make a little piece of history of their own. They now sit on top of the Premier League for the first time in their history. At our expense.
Final score: Southampton two, Newcastle United Nil.
Comments