Saints got found out big time at Newcastle who did their homework and hit us hard when they had the chance.

In my preview articles for this game I made several points which sadly came true, I warned of the complacency that seems to have set in amongst the supporters who seem to feel that a team hovering around the bottom of the league all season had suddenly become a team of world beaters purely because of the change of manager, this proved not to be the case as Newcastle ripped us apart at key moments with the same old players being found at fault and once again more soft goals being conceded.

Saints once again took the lead and once again gave away points this defeat being the 27th point we have dropped from a winning position, Saints started well and again played a pressing game that pushed the home side back in the early stages with a deserved lead from a very well worked goal for Morgan Schneiderlin, but it soon became apparent that Newcastle were quite content to be pushed back as they had the speed to go on the break, as I feared its all well and good playing a high tempo game, but Saints squad cant go from being one of the slowest sides in the division fittness wise to suddenly being the fittest.

But it wasnt just about speed and physical fitness, its about fast thinking and unfortunately that was our undoing as much as anything, for the first goal the usually reliable Jack Cork was left for dead, not only that but as he chased Gouffran down he seemed reluctant to try and block off the cross seemingly fearing that the man might turn inside for the shot, the end result though was that Gouffran had acres of room and time to pick out a low hard shot that took a cruel deflection off of Boruc and Sissoko took advantage of a Saints defence that wasnt alert to all dangers by tapping in from close range with no one near him.

The second just before the break was even more sloppy, the home keeper took a quick free kick in the style that the Wimbledon of the 80's would have been proud of, Saints were caught napping at the back, Luke Shaw had several options, he tried to outleap his man when really he could have just held him up, but Shaw shouldnt have been in that position anyway, his central defenders should have been taking charge of the situation, attacking the ball themselves and leaving the left back to cover the overlapping Cisse who produced a wondrous thumper of a shot to put the Toon ahead.

Early in the second half it looked like Saints might get something after all when Rickie Lambert scored his 100th goal for the club but it proved false hope, on 67 minutes Danny Fox was adjudged to have handled, it looked harsh, but replays showed that Fox had left a trailing arm outstretched and as was discussed on Match of the day on Saturday night, players were told at the start of the season that arms outstretched if they block a ball have gained an advantage so it will be a penalty so from that view the ref got it spot on.

The fourth and final goal that killed the game off was equally appalling from a defensive point of view and to be blunt Fox was not the only culprit in this one, once again three Saints players stood and watched Santon's cross go past them including Jos Hooiveld who got in the way of Danny Fox's attempted clearance, it wasnt the best of clearances that has to be said, but in fairness being so close to his goal he didnt have many options where to kick it and Hooiveld blundering into his path only made his options narrower, as i said earlier its about mental awareness, and too many times throughout the game at the back we had two or three players too close together and not thinking fast, this was one of them, but a look at the other two goals from open play show similar situations, players with no opposition player near them and ball watching.

I dont think this spells all doom and gloom for Saints, but what is worrying is that unlike Newcastle who have spent big in the transfer window, we bought only one man in, who strangely wasnt even considered good enough for a place on the bench yesterday after Jose Fonte returned.

Our problems are the same as they have been all season, they havent changed just because we changed managers, we still lack in key areas and this is going to be a problem to us in the coming months, Alan Pardew did his homework yesterday and hit us where he knew we were vunerable, two goals came from long balls pumped forward that we didnt deal with and two others came from quick breaks where they got wide and ran at us on the right and we failed to prevent the cross's, the same old problems that have been happening all season.

You will have heard several phrases from me over the 13 years this site has been running, the first is "do the same things and you get the same results" that was true yesterday at the back, and the second is that " Good players dont become bad ones overnight" this one didnt apply yesterday, but the reverse did, "Bad players dont become good ones overnight" and sadly for us this is also the case as yet more soft goals were conceded in exactly the same manner that they have been since the start of the season due to players not up to the job in key positions.

I hope our transfer window doesnt come back to haunt us, two good aquisitions might have made the difference, instead we are still weak in key areas, the game against QPR is now a must win game to show that we can win and win well and give ourselves confidence, just about the only good thing to come from our trip to the North East yeasterday was the fact that be beating us and leapfrogging us in the table we have now beaten two sides this season who are above us in the league instead of just one, this fact should send alarm bells ringing at St Mary's, football is a fragile games, Mauriccio Pochettino's start at Saints now doesnt look too good with five points from five games being exactly the same average per game we had achieved in our first 22 games of the season, in his last five games for the club Nigel Adkins got seven points with four of those games being away from home, we need to put this defeat behind us and fast.      

Photo: Action Images

Santos added 10:30 - Feb 25 Agree with much of this review although having said all that everyone of Newcastles goals had some element of fortune Deflection, Foul Not given & Offside, Delibrate Hand to Ball ???? Farce!!!! So not much went our way! Has Handball rule changed these days!!!! As you say, move on! The QPR result will have us all looking at things differently again hopefully for the better.

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LondonSaint added 10:41 - Feb 25 I thought it was a decent performance away at what looked like a really good Newcastle team. We fell foul of a wonder-goal that could've been disallowed for offside, an unfortunate penalty and a comical OG. Any blame attributed to Hooiveld for the own goal is laughable though I'm afraid; I'm starting to wonder if Jos did something to you in a past life! He had a fine game in my opinion. Can see why MP took off Shaw just back from injury on a yellow against a fantastic winger in Debuchy - probably the wrong decision with hindsight but Fox has done well since MP's come in so I don't attach any blame to MP. Best point in your post is about fitness. We will have spells in games when we are tired, as every team does but I wonder what effect this pressing game will have over the course of a full season? Great to watch though. Shame about the result, but would rather be in our place over anyone else's (bar maybe Newcastle) for the run-in. Let's get through this season and look to build on it in the summer.

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slynch added 10:56 - Feb 25 The Saints' wild dogs chased down and harried the Geordie (French) boys. They forced them on the back foot and while they reeled Saints' own garcon scored. But the Newcastle Boys were big and strong and Clyne and Shaw were struggling against the powerful Newcastle attack. Clyne went missing now and again and was outfought occasionally, Shaw had the same problems but faired a little better. Such a battle looked set for a draw; so why did Saints loose? It was the Manager. He's taught them to scrap like wild dogs and they do and they frighten all they come across but he left out the most in-form creative midfielder so chances were scarce and then took off the best defender which punctured a hole that creaked and leaked. He sees these players and makes his choice, I guess some look better in training than in combat, but I can't see him making either mistake again. Congrats to Ricky; Lala looked to be getting back to his old self by the second half; Punch showed his worth for the few minutes he was on the pitch and even more so in the longer time he was off; Ramirez looks to be getting tougher. If Shaw's injured or tired the Butter/Clyne re-arrangement is the only answer. Lessons learnt and QPR will be torn to ribbons.

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SonicBoom added 11:14 - Feb 25 i just don't buy the fitness thing. We are as fit as any team in the league. We have state of the art premiership level monitoring techniques as well as dedicated fitness coaches. The players have GPS chips in their training gear so they can be monitored and analysed so no one can tell me we are not at the right level of fitness. What you can't legisalte for is players making wrong decisions under pressure, or for not having the determination to make a certain tackle or track a run.

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SaintNick added 11:47 - Feb 25 Couple of points With regard to the own goal, I have nothing against Jos Hooiveld other than his inability to prevent goals, it wasnt the fact thatit hit him it was all about the fact that he was where he was, he didnt attack the cross and he wasnt marking anyone, he was guilty of ball watching and therefore got in Fox's way, a good mentally aware defender would not have been in that position, he would have known the only direction that Fox could clear the ball in and got out of his way.Thats not to blame it all on Jos, Fox himself should have done better. Secondly I dont think we are as fit as any other team, all the state of the art machines dont make you fit they merely monitor it, if we were as fit as any other team in the league then we wouldnt be seeing people ghost past us as they did yesterday and we wouldnt be conceding so many late goals in matches To quote Gordon Strachan, tired players make tired decisions which are often wrong ones

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:49 - Feb 25 It was a decent performance from Saints. The biggest problem was after we scored we couldn't keep hold of the ball. We needed to keep possession but kept giving it away, which led to wave after wave of Newcastle attacks. They seemed to be copying our style of closing down everywhere and it worked! Newcaslte were very very lucky in the end. Everything went thier way. The rebound for the 1st goal, the offside for the 2nd goal, the penalty and the OG. On another day with better luck, Saints would've got something from that game. So on to next week where we need to beat QPR and send them down. I want to see the look on Harry's face if we go a couple of goals up. It'll prob be the 3rd club he's helped into financial ruin. Massive game for both teams.

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redandwhitedee added 12:21 - Feb 25 Some you win - some you lose. Newcastle away is still a difficult proposition for any team. Hopefully this will strengthen the resolve amongst the players for the run-in. By the way - Good luck to Aaron Martin at Coventry - he had a tough time at Palace, but i still see a decent future for this guy. Reedyreed - Actually if you look at it, Redknapp has an even worse track record than you say, if you look at the state of each of his clubs after he's run off following his customary all hype and no success story.. only Spurs have yet to go into both serious financial trouble and also relegation after his meddling. B'mth/Wham/Saints/Pompey.. and now QPR to follow for sure.. Ok Wham may have had more to do with the Icelandic bank collapse, but arguably it was at Wham where he threw away the most, on the most stupid signings who lasted abotu a season, never to be seen again..Florin Raducioiu, Paulo Futre, Marco Boogers... Puncheon needs to play on Saturday - he was superb against them earlier int he season and players normally turn it on against a previous club.

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ExiledSupporter added 12:36 - Feb 25 What I saw (admittedly only on the MoTD highlights) was a team that played a pressing game high up the pitch which had two consequences a) that we frequently had many more players in their half than in ours and b) that we had lost all shape at the back. As a consequence we laid ourselves open to swift accurate counter attacks, too many players taken out of the game when 'by passed' by long passes and defenders with limited ability exposed as regards their pace and skill set. A mistaken strategy that players with pace like Loic Remy will exploit next week, 'orrid 'arry will have noticed our suicidal tendencies So we have gone back to a 'score more than the opposition' tactic which will not be sustainable and which again calls into question why we had the managerial upheaval of a few weeks ago. It was obvious which club made best use of the transfer window while we outrageously changed managers and again failed to prioritise the improvement in squad quality. Do we assume that the purchase of Forren was a 'Chairman-only' selection and MoPo doesn't rate him...plus ca change (as they say in Newcastle)

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simmo400 added 12:53 - Feb 25 Overall i dodnt think there was much in it. Both sides played well at different times. We looked a little rusty to me, not quite on the pace. Those 2 weeks off didnt help us where as Newcastle 2 games and were sharper. I think we should have switdhed clyne and had richardson at righr back. This would have prevented th 2 goals that finished us. Danny Fox just cant cut it at this level for me.

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slynch added 13:50 - Feb 25 To help recollection of the event and to clear certain misconceptions that seem to abound here, here's a still of the og. If Fox had not "attacked" the ball as Hooi didn't then the ball would have gone harmlessly out for a throw in or goal kick, see yellow line. Had Fox's weak outside-of-the-foot clearance not hit Hooi then it would have followed the white line and gone straight to an attacker. Who is incidentally unmarked and seems to have enough time to read a book, who should be marking him. Spiderman perhaps? "tired players make tired decisions" - some tired players were only on 10mins and scored 2 goals!

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Whatsforpud added 14:42 - Feb 25 We will never know what the result would have been had Shaw remained on the pitch. The main point to make about the own goal is that Fox chose to use his left foot. A right foot clearance would have missed Jos. After making little contribution in the first half, Lallana upped his game in the second, and the good understanding he and Lambert has always had, paved the way for our second. At home against QPR, both Lallana and Puncheon must play.

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SaintJez added 14:46 - Feb 25 You could write a book about the things Fox does wrong defensively but the for the killer 4th goal it's the age old story of left back won't kick with right foot. if he goes at that with the instep of the right foot (as he should) then he can safely smash the ball away down the goal line and probably save the corner too with the natural bend of the ball. Alas, he refuses to use his right foot, flicks a panicky outside of the left foot at it as he's scared of hitting it any squarer and possible putting it in his own net and slices it straight at his own man 2 yards away. I don't think Jos' positioning was too bad really. Fox just failed on a very basic issue of technique. He's not the only one to fall foul of this though. Ashley Cole has 100 England caps yet he is a major culprit of making clearances with the wrong foot...

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ugliest added 15:58 - Feb 25 And again saintnick you make yourself a little laughable in putting things as you do, regarding hooiveld. This time your football vision is clear: he always will be on the wrong place according to you. He should not have been on the place whereever he is and he is always missed on all other places in the field! Indeed in that way you can always blame him. Hope you feel good now.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 17:37 - Feb 25 SAINTS TO QUALIFY FOR EUROPE!? Not sure if you guys know this but Saints could potentially qualify for the Europa league this season. UEFA award the three countries who are top of the national fair play league with an additional entry into the Europa league. As at 31/12/12, England were 4th in these rankings. If England are in the top 3 at the end of the season then the Premiership gets another entry and this goes to the team highest in the Fair Play league who have not already qualified for Europe. Southampton are currently 3rd in the Premiership fair play league behind Arsenal and Liverpool. So there is a chance that we could qualify for the Europa league for next season. THE CATCH - We'd start from qualifying round 1 and the two leg ties are played in July!! If we progressed through the 3 qualifying rounds then it could add an extra 12-21 matches to our season! So its debatable as to whether we'd actually want to qualify or not! Our league form would suffer no doubt!

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Fordy added 18:49 - Feb 25 Things didn't go our way. I didn't think Newcastle created too much despite all their possession in the first half. Unfortunately the timing of their goals killed us. Just before half time then straight after we'd equalised and then another just to put the nail in the coffin. The MOTD team were very annoying. Shearer seemed to have no idea of the offside rule talking about second and third phase when there was only one phase. Then they said the linesman couldn't have given it offside as the crowd would have gone mad. And we wonder why the big teams get all the decisions go their way!!

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thegeneral added 19:29 - Feb 25 I think we were out thought by a very good manager, Pardew new what his team had to do to beat us which actually shows how poor a manager Mancini is. Five or six players pressing the ball can be beaten by one good pass from the opposition (as AS picked up on MOTD) this means that the players not pressing the ball must read the game well enough to pre-empt the opposition, our defence can't do this.

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cocklebreath added 21:01 - Feb 25 From what I saw we looked pretty good and like others have said were undone by a wonder goal that was off-side, a possibly dodgy penalty and an unfortunate own goal. We scored two well worked goals and had a chance a 2-2 to go 3-2 up but Nick and his cronies will have you believe we were horrific and the new man has been found out and relegation beckons.
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SaintNick added 21:47 - Feb 25 Isaw the whole game did you? One thing I do know is that no matter how good we look if we keep on conceding soft and sloppy goals we will struggle whoever is in charge if we had signed a decent central defender in January's we might have won yesterday
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felly1 added 22:09 - Feb 25 I'd rather have Basil Brush at left back than Fox.
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scummerlou added 23:36 - Feb 25 good Pix frm Slynch wrt 4th and decisive goal....dont like to appoint blame, but I reckon this goal was avoidable with a simple RIGHT foot clearence from Fox...it always amazes me that a pro player can be so one footed....in this situation JH was not in a bad position, covering the 2 barcode forwards, whereas DF could have played the ball the ball with his right foot, even conceding a corner if needs be, allowing the defence to reset. We have to learn frm this result and go out and smash QPR on saturday....and look to send the Sandbanks Judas back down to the CCC, swiftly followed by the financial ruin of QPR, which "would not be his fault".....

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big_buddaH added 01:40 - Feb 26 Before the season started, I suspect few would have expected to get anything from Newcastle away, so the fact that there is disappointment in the result says something. Newcastles goals all had something fortunate about them, either dodgy referee decision, or poor mistakes from our defenders (or combinations of both). However, we did score 2 goals, did manage to score first (again) and were able to battle back to 2-2. Unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot to lose at the end. On a positive front, relegation fodder teams typically don't score many goals, particularly away from home. We have enough quality to do this, the trouble is keeping them out at the other end. In this match, you have to give credit to Pardew. This was the first team we have played in the MoPo era that has been able to cope with, and counteract our pressing game. A combination of long balls played early, and also first time passes, or movement with the ball immediately upon receiving it. Newcastle have a lot of talented players, combined with the right tactics, and yet we only just lost to "avoidable" goals at the end. Yes it is a concern we are still near the drop zone. Yes, QPR is a crunch game. Yes Hooiveld and Fox (and others) continue to make mistakes. But, I for one, based on what I see on the pitch, still think we have enough quality to avoid the drop (and hopefully with a few games to spare). Can we still get relegated, of course we can. We have to put in the performances on the pitch, but that is best achieved by being positive.

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ExiledSupporter added 12:05 - Feb 26 Committing too many players to pressing high up the field leaves too much space in front of the defence for the quick pass that by passes our midfield and leaves a consistently fragile defence exposed to players with pace and strength. I agree that several of their goals were fortunate, but they put us in positions where we made some pretty disastrous decisions...have we all forgotten so quickly that all three goals we scored against Man City had more than a shade of luck to them ie. down to uncharacteristic mistakes made by usually quality players under some pressure (tho' that doesn't explain Barry's extraordinary blunder. We deserved to win that game, just as much as Newcastle deserved to beat us on Saturday (the possession statistics of 57:43 don't lie) despite them having some measure of luck

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