Five takeaways from Newcastle’s 3-1 win at Southampton – Good habits & Sandro Tonali

Newcastle United returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon against the Premier League’s bottom side Southampton. A final 1-3 score probably should’ve been more with the post struck twice and another cleared off the line, but Newcastle deserved to pick up all three points.

Jan Bednarek gave the Saints a surprise lead against the run of play before an Alexander Isak brace and Sandro Tonali strike turned the game around.

Here are our five key takeaways from the game:

1. A poor start but rallied well – A good habit to have

It was a shocking opening goal to concede from a defensive point of view for United, Bednarak jumped and overpowered Tino, with Dan Burn dragged out of position, and it was a complete mismatch as the Polish international nodded in a simple header to briefly quicken pulses.

The shock goal shook some of the malaise out of United’s early play and two quick goals from Isak turned the game around before half time. There were some excellent passing moves in the first half that just didn’t quite come off and the midfield started to operate like a well-oiled machine as Joelinton hit the post from another and a host of other chances came United’s way in the second half of the first half.

Outlets predicting 6-0’s and 7-0’s before kick-off should let that be a lesson as no matter how bad a team is perceived to be, this is still elite level sport, and nothing is easy, and everything must be earned. Speaking of which, United have now picked up 15 points from losing positions this season, a very nice habit to have.

2. Sumptuous Tonali Strike

What a moment this was for the Italian as he bagged his first Premier League goal since August 2023. He finished a brilliant move – Isak chested the ball down to Gordon who cushioned a lovely first-time effort into Tonali’s path as he’d continued his run beyond the Southampton back line, he looked up and coolly slotted the ball to the keepers near side to secure the win (minus a late VAR scare).

It was a goal he richly deserved for his recent performances, which have been in part responsible for dragging us up from 13th to 4th in the table. He’s so integral to United’s game is almost incredulous that it took him so long to find himself in the first team regularly.

Now he’s the first name on team sheet – possibly even ahead of Isak – that’s just how vital he has become to this incarnation of United’s defending between the lines, pressing, patterns of attacking play and bite in midfield.

3. Miggy: the long goodbye

In a heart-warmingly positive moment (which is sure to have sent some cranks and hanger-on on social media into a twisted meltdown) Eddie Howe pushed Miggy Almiron forward towards the away end after the final whistle had blown as they serenaded the Paraguayan for possibly the last time.

Never a consistent performer and an undoubted victim of the general discontent that hung around the club during the previous era that led to the manager who championed him to leaving the club, if this was to be Miggy’s final hurrah, he will have left us all with some of the happiest memories in the post-takeover United world.

The purple patch during 2022/23 which saw him score some unbelievable goals in back-to-back games and ultimately helped us secure Champions League football for the first time in 20 years; and the opening goal against PSG in the 4-1 demolition – which sent the stadium wild with a joy so pure you can hear it in all the clips we’ve all watched hundreds of times. I’ll even throw in that he opened the scoring in our victory against Man Utd in the League Cup two seasons ago as we got a modicum of revenge for the final defeat.

His overall record for United is 222 apps, 30 goals, 12 assists and he played them all with a smile on his face. If it is to be goodbye – thank you Wor Miggy.

4. Top four race

It’s certainly shaping up to be some top four race this season (which is why it’s a crying shame that 5^thwill probably get a Champions League spot too due to UEFA’s backdoor co-efficient nonsense) and Newcastle are a huge part of that race.

Bournemouth’s battering of Forest on Saturday shows just how competitive the league is going to be this season (and just how good the Cherries are by the way) – they rocked up to SJP, us with nine wins in a row, battered us. They rocked up against Forest, the Reds unbeaten in nine, batter them. Manchester City appear to be getting their act together. Fulham are knocking around and Chelsea have spent a billion quid. Brighton are there or there abouts too, and Villa refuse to go away like the stink off a rotting wound.

All United can do is look after themselves but with Fulham, Man City and Forest to come in the league, it’s fair to say we will know a lot more when that run of fixtures is over.

5. Bouncing back from Bournemouth

Elements of Saturdays performance had the same hallmarks as the Wolves game at home – a vital win but not as comfortable or complete as you’d like against a team as defensively poor as either Wolves or Southampton.

But it was miles and miles better than what we saw against Bournemouth as some lessons were clearly learned in the week (although Fabian Schar needs to remember he’s a central defender 100% of the time) and even though I personally didn’t like the fatigue excuse that was used last weekend, the lads did look much more energetic down on the south coast.

If only a player could arrive during the transfer window just to refresh things and give us a little bit of a push over the final four months of the season!

Oh well, keep the faith. HWTL.