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Southampton V Newcastle United The Verdict

I felt sorry for Ralph Hasenhuttl after the game, sometimes the players have to take the blame and this was one of those games, it was back to the bad old days of poor marking and not taking our chances.

Writing this 17 hours after the game has ended I can't believe the manner in which we lost this game, for large periods of it we competed, but we let ourselves down at key moments at both ends of the field.

Newcastle played the game just right, they sat back and comfortably held us, then they burst forward with pace and ripped us apart.

We just about shaded possession with 55%, but we murdered them in terms of attempts on goal with 16 opposed to their 7, we even had more shots on target than them with 5, but the only stat that counted was the goals, they only got 4 shots on target but all of them went in.

You could feel the crowd turning when they scored twice in quick succession on either side of the hour mark and I have to say, for the first time I felt that perhaps Ralph's time at the club maybe coming to an end soon.

Not because of this game, but I just think the anti Ralph Hasenhuttl factions have finally turned the crowd, it is going to become toxic and that is not going to be good for results.

Sometimes our supporters seem to take against a manager and for some reason some fans have decided they don't like Ralph Hasenhuttl, same as how the fans turned on Claude Puel despite the fact that he had got us to 8th and a Wembley Cup final, perhaps having something like the 7th best season in our history taking into account League positions and cup finals.

Up till now Ralph Hasenhuttl has kept us out of relegation trouble and in a stable position, yet some have been on his back for the best part of two years and this is the moment some have longed for.

I am not blaming the fans for this, everyone has a right to their opinion, the blame is with the manager and the players, the failure to sign another striker in the summer is coming home to roost, that wasn't Hasenhuttl's fault, he wasn't given the tools to work with, it is hard to see whether any other manager would have done much better in these circumstances.

As I said this was another game where we didn't play badly for long periods, but ultimately let ourselves down at key moments with lapses of concentration, it should have been a lot better, Moi Elyounoussi blazed over an open goal from close range in the first half, if we had gone in at the break at least level then we might have got something out of this game.

But there was a spark missing in our play, we lacked the fight we had in us against Arsenal, the crowd sensed this and in turn they seemed resigned to our fate once Newcastle scored, at times in the game I could hear the players shouting to each other, I can't remember the last time that happened.

It should be remembered that we went into this game with two of our best players missing, and two starting the game after injury lay offs and not quite match fit and sharp, from this point of view I am still not worried about a relegation battle, I think after the World Cup break we will have a strong squad again and if we sign that striker in January we will be ok.

But games like this have to stop happening, we are shell shocked and like rabbits in the head lights, that has to stop and it is from this point I am worried about Ralph's future.

But we have been in worse spots before and pulled through and we have to keep going, but we need to find that Spirit Of Southampton that has always pulled us through before, it wasn't there in 2005 when we got relegated and i fear that it isn't there now, as fans we have to pull together after the break and get behind our team whoever is in charge.

I think at the moment there is too much "anybody but Ralph" about the place, that will bring us down.

But ultimately the manager has to do his bit and the team has to do theirs, this defeat was more about the latter than the manager.

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