It's not football anymore ! rang out from the stands at St Mary's, as an inept referee aided by VAR whilst not exactly costing Saints the game, made it very difficult for us to get anything out of it.
The wide chasm between Premier League have and have nots was very evident at St Mary's on Saturday and whilst it is nothing new for the claim that referee's favour the big sides, if you wanted evidence that that is the case, then it was all there in glorious technicolour.
So lets take the 3 main talking points of the game first.
1. The Penalty incident, referee Sam Barrott initially waved away claims, but of course VAR got involved and eventually Barrott over turned his decision after going to the monitor, having watched it from all angles, I have to say I didn't think it was a penalty.
Yes it was a clumsy challenge from Aribo, but the ball was way past Aribo who was on the ground before Isak made contact with him, basically that contact was to connect with Aribo with his boot and then throw himself forward.
Absolutely not a penalty, but an attempt to win one by diving, was it clear and obvious, again absolutely not and Barrott should have stuck with his on field decision, why didn't he ? possibly because this is his first season on the Select list of referee's so he stuck with the unwritten code between Premier League referee's that you don't argue with the VAR decision if you are called to the monitor.
2. Next up was the uproar that followed after Newcastle taken the lead, was it a foul, I don't think it was, but I saw Barrott give free kicks to Newcastle for less.
3. The Fernandes offside, I was pretty much level with this and at the time I thought he was off and VAR showed that he was, the only gripe we can have is how long it took VAR to actually make the decision and that is the problem with VAR.
So I don't or to be more precise didn't have an issue with VAR, used properly it can be a good tool, it is there to sort out the clear and obvious decisions such as the Fernandes offside, where the official has got it obviously wrong, it is not there to spend over 3 minutes re winding the penalty incident from all angles to try and find some damning evidence.
The referee was against Saints from the start, he booked Matteus Fernandes for the first tackle he had made, bizarrely this was the only yellow card of the game, how did that happen, there were worse tackles made afterwards by Newcastle, yet nothing.
I have read on social media some Southampton supporters claiming that this was one of the most inept performances by a referee that they have ever seen at St Mary's, it is hard to think of any worse to be honest.
But ultimately it was not the referee that cost us a point or maybe even 3, yes if the penalty hadn't been given then we might have had a chance to build on our lead and get into half time ahead, but the dye had been cast.
It was not the fact that we were missing key players in Tyler Dibling & Aaron Ramsdale
The real problem lay in a lack of leadership and organisation on the pitch, as individuals Jan Bednarek & Taylor Harwood-Bellis are good players, but as a central pairing they are not a good match, neither is a leader of men, they need a cool head alongside them directing them.
Yes I have said this all season, but nothing has changed.
Ivan Juric had put out perhaps the best side he had to hand, but it lacks a Captain in the centre of defence, it lacked strength and it lacked fitness.
Manchester City build their possession football game on having 2 big players and 8 small ones who were fast and could keep the ball and pass it, as you go down the League the ratio of small to large reduces and in the mid table the sides that stay up have more like 6 big strong fit players and 2 small ones.
The legacy of Russell Martin is that he has left a squad full of mainly young, small and unfit players who can pass a ball, but get easily outmuscled and when they lose it aren't fit enough to recover, this is the reason that we concede so many late goals.
The problem is now that the likes of Bednarek & Harwood-Bellis, even Wood are going to be good enough in the Championship next season, so getting in someone to replace them now & upset them, is not worth it.
I can't blame Juric for his selections this week, I can't really blame him for his substitutions, but he is not making the best of his squad, we need someone big and fast at the back so why no Bella-Kotchap, we need experience yet Charlie Taylor was not even on the bench.
To be blunt Newcastle like most sides know how to beat us, sit back, let us come on and then go quickly on the break and we will be in disarray.
Yes we could have got something out of this game, we rode our luck and if we rebalance the decisions then we might have nicked something, but Newcastle were a different class and could have made it another 5 goals conceded .
The only good thing to come out of this was the fact that we didn't collapse, we had a fighting spirit, but that alone won't be good enough if we are to get above that 11 point mark.