This was a game of contradictions, both in terms of team selections and tactics and the actual result itself, but overall it was a good point well earned.
Looking at the last six games for Saints it would appear that the season is fast falling apart, five points from these half dozen fixtures and three of them gained in the oldest of the run could tell the story of a team where the wheels have fallen off in spectacular style.
However that would not be the truth of the matter and although the point at St James Park isnt great in making our current form look decent, it certainly is a good one in how following on from the draw with Man City we have stopped the rot and showed we have the spirit to battle on through adversity.
Of course some of that adversity is caused by injury, but a look at the starting line up against Newcastle suggested that perhaps we had got the selections wrong as well, to be blunt Saints lacked balance and as more respected pundits than myself have commented, why did we leave our best player on the bench, after a dozen games where a dozen players were used to distraction, suddenly Mauricio Pochettino has developed a squad rotation habit it seems.
But if the manager made a mistake in his initial team selection, the good news is he soon saw the folly of his ways and dealt with it at the break, as poor as Saints were in the first half, they were as good in the second.
To be truthful though in that first half although we lacked penetration we rarely looked like conceding bar an effort that Chambers did well to read and clear off the line, until the opener after 27 minutes, sadly it was another defensive error this time from Hooiveld who failed to deal with a ball he really should have and Gouffran pounced to round Gazzaniga and slot home.
Saints went in at the break feeling that it was harsh to be behind, yes it had been one way traffic for periods but the deficit had been of their own making and the question really was why Hooiveld playing in the first place, was Fonte still injured or was he dropped, surely it couldnt be the latter, but the fact that he was on the bench meant the question was not answered decisively.
But Pochettino to his credit realised that his initial selections hadnt worked and he made a double change at the break, off went JWP & Osvaldo and on came Schneiderlin and Lallana and suddenly the dynamics of the Saints side changed, they looked positive going forward and at the heart of it was Lallana, like Fonte the question was why was he on the bench in the first place, Lallana's second half performance suggested that it was nothing to do with injury.
Saints started creating chances including a superb long range effort from Steven Davis and usually Jay Rodriguez was involved somewhere, in the 65th minute he started and finished a neat move, J Rod picked up the ball in the centre of midfield drove at the Newcastle defence, exchanged a nice one two with Davis and then swept the ball past Kruhl in the Newcastle goal with a neat finish.
From then on Saints looked the more likely team to win it the only real scare again being of our own making when Gazzaniga miscued a back bass and left Remy one on one with him, luckily he put his shot wide when it looked easier to score.
Apart from that Saints closed the game out well and deserved the point, strangely neither keeper had much to do though apart from regulation stops.
Key points of the game from a Saints perspective.
Gazzaniga - yes h made a kicking error late on, but overall he grew in confidence as the game went on and in the closing minutes came and got a couple of dangerous crosses, he showed enough to suggest that having come through two tough games relatively unscathed that if he can keep getting more confident then we dont need to worry till Boruc returns.
Hooiveld - Not good enough and like Yoshida prone to lapses in concentration and error, Fonte is capable but we really do need to look at investing in another central defender.
Cork- Another solid game which suggests that Wanyama coming straight back into the team might not be a formality, the Kenyan is a better defender, but Saints didnt look weaker defending with ork and he certainly offers a lot more in the way he can control a ball and move it forward faster.
Osvaldo - A dilemma for Pochettino, once again the Italian misfired, the experiment to play both him and Lambert again failed miserably with the end result that neitehr plays to their full capabilities, even in the second half Lambert spent too much time in the midfield and not enough up front, with respect we have better midfielders if we want him to do this, Rodriguez showed that he is the inform man and his pace causes the opposition problems, how long before the manager is brave enough to use Rodriguez as the central lone striker.