Newcastle United 3-0 Southampton: Key takeaways

Selection choices

Pretty much every fan with something to say has been questioning Pellegrino’s selection choices for months. Performances have continued to underwhelm, disappoint and anger the Southampton faithful all season. Yet the manager has insisted on stubbornly sticking to his system.

One oversight that has fans particularly irate is the Argentine’s failure to start Josh Sims in the starting XI. On Saturday he was introduced as one half of desperate double substitution at the break, and promptly went on to be one of the few shining lights in the team.

The second part of that half time swap will also be a sticking point for fans. Many have been calling for the manager to start a second striker alongside target man Guido Carrillo. On paper Manolo Gabbiadini is the obvious choice, however it was Shane Long who got the nod to join in the second half.

As has been the case for a while, Long failed to make any impact. And when Gabbiadini was introduced later in the second half, it was at the expense of Carrillo.

And by then the damage was already done.

The only slight positive is that Pellegrino had the bottle to haul Dusan Tadic and Mario Lemina off after 45 minutes. The former continued the lacklustre form he has shown all season, and the latter had by far his worst game in a Saints shirt.

A manager has to do something when he finds his team 2-0 down at half time. But a double substitution followed by a similarly poor second half suggests a boss who has lost his dressing room.