Newcastle United Draw Against Southampton in Opener

Prior to kick-off there was much speculation about who Steve McClaren would select in his and Newcastle United’s first game of the season, and there were one or two surprises in the line-up that started at St James Park. Obertan was granted a starting place on the left wing, with De Jong, Perez and Aarons making the bench it what was a pretty impressive bench with Mitrovic, Tiote and Taylor adding to the outfield players on the bench.

NUFC VS SAINTS /

With the anticipation building, there was a buoyant mood around St James park, and after the starting was revealed, there was even more expectation around the ground and 49,710 fans inside the ground were ready for what is expected to be a new era for the club.

Despite Newcastle dominating large spells of the first half it was Southampton who took the lead, then Newcastle equalised minutes before half time, then minutes after the restart Newcastle took the lead for the first time, and with ten minutes remaining Southampton made the game 2-2 and despite lots of late pressure from Southampton, Newcastle defended well and seen the game out.

After a bright start by the magpies, Obertan was brought down resulting in a free kick in the 3rd minute, and the resulting free kick nearly ended up in the Southampton goal as Wijnaldum delivery was gathered by Stekelenburg after the ball took a touch of Steven Davis. Moments later Newcastle had the fans on the edge of their seats after some great work by Sissoko on the right, he played it to debutant Wijnaldum but the shot was blocked, speaking of debutants, Chancel Mbemba had the Geordie faithful applauding him after a fantastic tackle on the right and then had the composure to feed it back to Krul. With a little over ten minutes played the first yellow card of the game came as Cedric Soares was pulling back Gini Wijnaldum as the full back couldn’t keep up with the Dutch international, and a few minutes later Soares was nearly on the score sheet but Krul was equal to it and made the block.

As if the game wasn’t pulsating enough, Newcastle had a penalty appeal waved away as captain Coloccini went to strike the ball, the ball appeared to hit a hand, but then on 24 minutes the breakthrough finally came, albeit against the run of play, Soares crossed the ball and it was headed in by Italian Striker Graziano Pelle, following the breakthrough Newcastle kept on pressuring and asking questions of Southampton and on 30 minutes Newcastle had yet another penalty appeal waved away but this one was a stronger case as the ball sis appear to hit the arm of Southampton striker Jay Rodríguez. Despite the numerous chances, the two penalty appeals Newcastle refused to give in but were again denied as Coloccini had a header cleared off the line by Steven Davis, but then, on 42 minutes, the moment that St James park had been waiting for, Newcastle finally scored and made it 1-1 with Papiss Cisse using his chest to score from a deflected cross, and that’s how the first half ended with Newcastle enjoying good spells of possession, having 59% possession and could consider themselves unlucky to be going into the break level.

Newcastle came out in the second and started just the way they had played in the first half, and 3 minutes into the second half they were rewarded with Obertan hitting a superb first time cross and debutant Wijnaldum made no mistake heading in an absolute peach of a header, send the Geordie crowd wild. Mbemba continued to impress on his debut as he held off Rodriguez in a one on one situation winning the ball back giving Newcastle possession again, Newcastle then received their first yellow card of the season and guess who……. Jack Colback after a foul on Mane, then Southampton ended up with their second yellow card of the afternoon as Jose Fonte was booked for a foul on Sissoko.

Southampton were the first team to add fresh legs into the game as Shane Long replaced Jay Rodriguez on 65 minutes but Newcastle were then forced to make their first substitution as Vernon Anita was stretchered off and was replaced Tiote, then 10 minutes later Newcastle made another sub as Cisse made way for Newcastle as new boy Aleksander Mitrovic replaced him to make his debut for the club.

More from Newcastle Toons

It didn’t take long for Mitrovic to get in on the action and was booked for a foul on Matt Targett. the substitutions seem to effect the rhythm and they ultimately paid the price as sub Shane Long headed home, making the game 2-2 with 10 minutes remaining, Newcastle made their final sub as De Jong replaced Gini Wijnaldum.

Southampton nearly scored a winner on 88 minutes but for a fantastic bit of defending by Mbemba as he leapt above Pelle and headed the ball out, without the clearance Southampton could of took all 3 points away from St James park

More from Newcastle Toons

There was many decent performances out there today, with most of the team impressing. Mbemba had a very decent debut with a few vital tackles and clearances, over the next few weeks ,once he has had a little longer to adjust, and to work with the rest of the defence we should see what a real coup for the club he is. Wijnaldum has all the makings of being a vital player for the magpies this season and can see him getting better and better. Cisse grabbed another goal today and I can see the battle between Cisse and Mitrovic being great news for Newcastle. Sissoko also impressed today and hopefully McClaren will be able to get the best out of Sissoko.

After the game I spoke Newcastle fan Davey Armstrong, I asked him on the mood and atmosphere inside St James today he said “the atmosphere was much more positive and lively but still a long way to go, parts of the east stand and Strawberry corner were having a whale of a time.”

I then asked what his thoughts on todays game were, he replied “a good game , we had a go and a much better balance in midfield , the players looked much happier with their gaffer and each other and again we had a go, options on the bench, can anyone remember that last season? got to remember saints have been quality for a good year or so now and we weren’t perfect but couldn’t of denied us the win.”

Despite the very good result against a very good Saints side, the defence still looks leaky on occasions and will have to improve their togetherness which will help them all improve as a defensive unit. Going forward Newcastle need to take more of their chances as Newcastle could on been 2 up by the time Southampton scored but on another day it could of been a different story. McClaren will be pleased with the result and the performance but he will have an idea what areas still need some work on the training ground to build and improve on todays result.

Home/Newcastle News