Newcastle vs Southampton match ratings.

I was surprised with the team selection to be honest. I would have had Reed nest to Wanyama and sacrificed Rodriguez. I think that would have given us a better platform and Davis could have been pushed further forward. That still gives us a tremendous option to bring on Jay or Shane later in the game.

This is presumably what will happen when Clasie returns so its maybe a bit odd that given it was a tough away game we didn't start that way.

 

True. Everyone could go down a mark, but comparatively it looks right.

 

We played below our usual standards, though whether this was us or the way Newcastle played is unclear to me. Fonte seemed to be making mistakes when not under immediate pressure....definitely not like him. However, we could have won and Erwin stated publically that he thought we should have done. I am going to put it down as being one of those things (possibly related to Ronald's absence) and look forward to seeing us play better on Saturday.

 

I think we looked below par without the 3rd midfielder in there, didn't keep the ball anywhere near as well as we normally do.

 

Which was exactly my point way back. Why wasn't Reed playing with Davis pushed up into his normal position and Rodrigues coming off the bench? I'm guessing this is what will happen when Clasie returns.

 

Just caught up on MOTD....we looked better in their highlights than we did on Sky. Just edit out the dodgy bits. Probably a case of us having higher standards now. Gave us a positive summary on MOTD as well....called us courageous (that's frightening in itself ).

 

MOTD 2 gave some good analysis on how Jay & Shane were constantly looking to get into the box and join up with Pelle which led to Newcastle having difficulty in defending both of the goals.
I guess the flip side of this tactic is we're going to struggle to keep possession as the safer passing options will be limited and we've lost our best passer in Morgan.

A lot of us thought that the changes in the squad meant that we were unlikely to repeat our defensive record, but we would be far more potent up top and this game was a microcosm of that prediction. We created 15 chances according to the stats and I can think at least 4 or 5 very good chances which we didn't convert and when that's paired with the lower possession then it proves how dangerous a team we can be.

Now the transfer window is still open and we have Clasie to make an impact on the team, but I think we expecting more performances in this style

 

And if he doesn't, presumably you will Sue?