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A lot can in 244 days. The last time Newcastle United played Southampton at St Mary’s, Allan Saint-Maximin sent visitors to a 1-0 win and was very happy with visitors.
Indeed, there is no gap between those two groups at this level and the idea that Southampton would one day be in the most sensible place in the Premier League standings seemed most productive and fanciful.
But Southampton has become a team in the last 8 months since football was played behind closed doors, so much so that Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Duracell Bunnies infrequently seemed to play another game as Newcastle struggled to cope with the power and intensity of the Saints on Friday night. .
The fact that the magpies suffered only a 2-0 defeat due to Southampton’s debauchery and a series of good stops from goalkeeper Karl Darlow, who returned too busy.
Newcastle can simply deal with the Southampton press and the Magpies were to blame for making careless mistakes in the back that Steve Bruce and his players know unforgivable at this level.
“That’s the problem,” Bruce told Sky Sports after the game. “The only thing you can’t do right now is give away the goals like we did, but we also gave the ball and we had to be more careful if we looked after being part of it.
“We know what we can expect from Southampton and for the last two days we’ve been talking about the game through its press. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that. “
While Newcastle has been better defensively in weeks, the Magpies were the architects of their own downfall for Southampton’s first purpose in the seven minutes.
Before Che Adams nevertheless put Saints in front, Jamaal Lascelles, Fabián Schar and Miguel Almirón all had the chance to cross their lines in the area for a minute.
After Karl Darlow prevented Adams’ initial long-distance effort, the ball kindly fell to Almiron on the left-back, but Southampton abandoned the chase.
Almiron got into trouble and closed through Kyle Walker-Peters, who slid the ball on Theo Walcott’s trail. Walcott then carried the ball in the box and Adams there, un dialed, to launch a poisonous effort in front of Darlow.
Needless to say, the purpose has been a call for attention but, again and again, Newcastle was defeated in a similar area in the first half.
Magpies were sloppy in the starting position and made a number of back errors. At the other end of the field, Newcastle’s most productive possibility before the break, a header from Sean Longstaff claimed without a hitch through goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. Top scorer Callum Wilson, meanwhile, had just nine touches in the first half, which arguably would have said it all.
Either way, however, the score remained at 1-0 (Theo Walcott had an excellent opportunity to double his team’s merit before the break) and Newcastle had to thank Darlow.
One of the main reasons Bruce switched to a 5-3-1-1 was that Darlow had been very busy, however, Southampton had made 15 shots against Newcastle and the goalkeeper made a series of tackles to keep Newcastle in the game.
After Lascelles cleared Jan Bednarek’s effort at the beginning of the period, Darlow made a stop with his fingertips to deflect Oriol Romeu’s distant shot over the crossbar. Then, after the hour, Darlow kept Bednarek’s head out of reach.
One or the other, at least on the scoreboard, Newcastle was still in the game with 10 minutes to pass before Southampton rightly doubled its lead.
Sean Longstaff couldn’t erase his lines – does that sound familiar?- and Stuart Armstrong married the midfielder before shooting Darlow.
The match ended but, ironically, Newcastle forced goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to make his first genuine stop when visitors were 2-0.
Joelinton, a past understudy, received a good center from Jamal Lewis to leave in the 86th minute and the Brazilian’s headbutt forced McCarthy to make an impressive stop.
Yes, Wilson had to try, and Newcastle failed Ryan Fraser in the reserve, but why did Southampton’s defense take so long?
In truth, those two sides must object. Southampton is the most sensible in the league, but Newcastle seem destined for some other more sensible campaign.