Saturday turned into a disappointing day for the travelling Southampton fans as we made our way to Newcastle United’s St James’ Park for Easter Premier League action.
An Ayoze Perez hattrick sent the three points their way and Mario Lemina’s 59th minute effort proved to be nothing more than a consolation, and I suspect fans will be in complete agreement with manager Ralph Hasenhuttl as he summed the first 45 up perfectly – “The first half was too bad so we don’t deserve to get something.”
Statistics website Whoscored summed the performance up well when it came to the player ratings, as only two players received a seven-plus score.
Second half substitute Lemina took Man of the Match with a rating of 7.43, and James Ward-Prowse could hold his head high with a 7.30 score. Completing the top five on the day were fellow substitute Stuart Armstrong (6.80), Maya Yoshida (6.70) and Ryan Bertrand (6.59).
A small comfort can be taken by the fact we know we can play a lot better than that and safety remains in our hands.