Saints came from behind twice to earn a point, there are two ways of looking at this game and personally I think it was a step in the right direction.
When things are not going right for you your luck seems to desert you and that was the case for Saints against Newcastle, they dominated the game but had a cruel slice of bad luck that saw them go a goal behind early in the game.
That saw Fraser Forster left stranded after a blocked shot was lashed in from outside the area leaving the Saints keeper wrong footed and at that moment you feared for a Saints side, low on confidence as well as low on luck.
That seemed to be the case for much of the game, in the match preview I said we needed to play without fear and that just did not seem to be the case, too many times our attacking players were scared to take men on or to try something different and that left us going sideways too many times.
After the break we finally got a goal from open play at St Mary's, it was a superb finish from Manolo Gabbiadini, but not too many gave the credit to Nathan Redmond that he deserved, he put a lovely ball through for the Italian striker whose first touch was perhaps a little heavy and took him wide, however he checked back and fired home from a tight angle, although the keeper should really have done better.
But Saints could not hang on the the lead, all square and with 40 minutes left on the clock they should have kept it tight for a few minutes but went at it like it was injury time and Newcastle got up a head of steam, Forster saved the initial shot, but in truth he either had to hold the ball or get it out of the danger area, he did neither and the rebound was swept home from a tight angle, again the luck just wasn't with us.
But Saints should be given credit for keeping going, the arrival of Sofiane Boufal on 57 minutes changed the game in that Boufal played without fear, he was not scared to try something different and take on his man and that left Newcastle camped in their own half for the rest of the game.
Shane Long ran tirelessly throughout and earned the penalty that drew us level and you hoped that Saints might just pull out a result.
It was not to be the case though and it needed Steven Davis to kick one off the line to keep a deserved point.
The issue though is still one of creating chances, Mauricio Pellegrino started with two strikers albeit not both up front at the same time, but the issues were still the same, we did not create enough, there were plenty of attempts on goal, 12 to be exact, although this was less than previous games, but only 2 on target and the Toon keeper was barely worked.
However as disappointing as this game was in terms of the failure to win and some of the old failings returning, it was a step in the right direction, it keeps us ticking over and the quality is there to start scoring goals we just need the confidence to start playing football and creating chances rather than the fear of failure that is still present.
One thing that really struck me though is the central defensive positions, I really can't work out what Mauricio Pellegrino's thinking is there.
Yoshida did not have a bad game, but to be blunt his passing is not as good as Wesley Hoedt's, this meant that in the final 30 minutes we did not move the ball as smoothly as we should have done and too often this enabled Newcastle to regroup and get men behind the ball, we just couldn't get behind the and catch them on the back foot due to our pedestrian build up.
Virgil Van Dijk again did not play badly, but he did not look the player he was in his first two seasons at the club, he looked half hearted.
Pellegrino seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place, on one hand Yoshida has given the proverbial 110% and does not deserve to be dropped, yet on the other Wesley Hoedt was man of the match against Palace and looked the part against Man United.
In terms of quality Pellegrino should have no problem in knowing who his best pairing is, yet he seems to be baulking at making the big decision and be harsh.
If I was Wesley Hoedt, I would be knocking on the managers door and asking what is going on, Hoedt is the future we paid big money for him, if i was him I would not be happy sitting on the bench whilst a player who has mucked the club around is playing ahead of me, Hoedt had earned his right to play in the team, Van Dijk had not when he was put back in the starting line up.
But this point keeps us in the top ten at least until tonight when Leicester host West Brom who only need a draw to leapfrog above us.
However the fact that we are mid table only highlights how despite a poor start we do have the squad to kick on, if we had beaten Newcastle we would have been in 9th only 2 points off of 5th and if we find our form we can still power up the table.