Dan gives us his take on the weekend's game against Newcastle United as the Toon Army once again left Southampton with their tail between their legs

The Saints were marching in on Saturday as they took all three points on Saturday at home against an awful Newcastle United.

Shane Long opened the scoring in only the fourth minute after a clever move involving himself, Pellè and Mane let the Irish international shred through a shocking Newcastle defence, placing the ball in the bottom left corner. Too easy.

Newcastle managed to get forwards once after the opening goal but the attack fizzled out after a clearance from Saints skipper, Jose Fonte.

Words can’t describe well enough how awful the Newcastle defence was, especially in the first half, which let Southampton cruise through for chance after chance.

There were weak calls for a penalty from Southampton supporters after Newcastle defender, Taylor passed the ball back to keeper, Darlow instead of placing it to his nearby team-mate. The ball had no pace meaning the pace of Shane Long could try and reach it for a goal. Unfortunately, the keeper made a good challenge but resulting in wiping Shane Long out just outside the six-yard box.

Nothing could spoil the Saints fans’ moods after a referee slip up, an easy game, and eventually the second goal.

After a slip up from Daryl Janmaat, Dusan Tadic managed to keep pushing forwards with two other team mates waiting for him in the box. Tadic passed to Long who either had a bad touch or set up Graziano Pellè but either way the Italian striker found the bottom corner. 2-0 at half-time.

Newcastle definitely improved in the second half but their awful first half couldn’t give them a chance of leaving with something.

The Toon Army managed to win their first corner and had their first shot on target but soon enough they were 3-0 down.

A clever short corner from Ryan Bertrand to Sadio Mané let the Senegalese cross to Tadic who was hit the ball first time resulting in a save from Karl Darlow but the rebound went to Victor Wanyama who scored his first goal of the season.

After a great attempt from Andros Townsend, Newcastle’s best player of the day was saved by Fraser Forster (who had little to do in the first half) the January signing found the top corner with the best goal of the day.

Saints kept attacking but couldn’t find another goal. The best effort was from Sadio Mané, who managed to put the ball on his stronger foot but his curling effort went just past the post.

Towards the end of the game Jay Rodriguez finally got a first-team appearance after being out with a foot injury since October. Jay Rod got a great reception from the fans who were all happy to see him back on the pitch.

A 3-1 win was great for Saints as sixth place team, West Ham dropped points meaning that Southampton are only two points behind the places for European qualification. However, we didn’t take the majority of our good chances meaning there should’ve been more goals for the home side. But with five games to go the Europa League for next season is once again a possibility.

Photo: Action Images

ericofarabia added 08:54 - Apr 11 Shane Long incident just outside The 6 Yard Box??? I guess you were brought up on Metric measurements!! Back to school for you matey!! Thanks for the report, less spelling mistakes than Nick normally makes ;-)
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Consigliere added 09:43 - Apr 11 "Fewer" spelling mistakes please Erico, otherwise fair point
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ericofarabia added 10:06 - Apr 11 Which classroom do I have to report to for detention, Sir?
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JGH added 10:49 - Apr 11 Grammar, spelling etc better than Nick but not by much... #spellcheck
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SaintNick added 13:11 - Apr 11 This is a fanzine not a dissertation for a masters degree we type from the heart not the dictionary
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