Newcastle United Fan View: Southampton match is crucial for United

Newcastle United arguably have their biggest game of the season this Saturday when they face fellow relegation strugglers Southampton.

A win would lift the magpies away from the relegation zone and whilst they certainly wouldn’t be clear of the danger, it would be a fantastic welcome relief going in to an untimely three-week break from football following the saints game. A loss could be disastrous, this is a ‘6 pointer’ if ever there was one and at this stage of the season we can not afford to hand our rivals 3 points.

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Much was made of Rafa’s negative tactics against Liverpool last week, a game that ended comfortably 2-0 for the reds. However, I said last week that this season it is looking like goal difference is crucial and whilst other teams have been swept aside by the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, we have managed to keep the scoreline down; it might not be fashionable or pretty but it was sensible of Rafa not to go in to those games guns blazing. Tomorrow’s match is a whole different story though.

There have been reports in the press that we will ‘attack’ Southampton and that is pleasing to hear. For a number of matches this season we have sat back, soaked up the pressure and ended up conceding. We did the same at Bournemouth when we played particularly well when attacking in the first half where we could and should have gone in to the break 3 or 4 up. As it happened we had a 2 goal lead which we then tried to protect for 45+ minutes. It didn’t work and it rarely does to be fair. For as long as I have been a Newcastle United fan, regardless of the manager or the playing squad, our best form of defence has always been attack. The crowd clearly gets nervy watching us hold on to a lead; nervy because we have seen it thrown away too many times to remember and this tends to spill on to the pitch.

When we played Southampton earlier in the season we played well and were unlucky not to leave with all 3 points. We attacked them on that day but looked nervous in defence. Lejeune looked shaky and lacked confidence back then and it was his error that led to Southampton scoring their second in a 2-2 draw. Lejeune right now looks like a different player, he looks calm, assured, confident and a classy centre back alongside the usually rock solid Lascelles. In fact, the whole side now, whilst not exactly pulling up trees, is looking very together, very harmonious and they work well as a team.

In midfield there is talk that Shelvey will return from injury but I have my doubts whether he will be risked from the start given the 3 week break that follows tomorrow’s game. Slimani will still be missing so I would expect a similar starting line up to what we saw against Manchester United at home. I have a feeling Kenedy will make way for Atsu though as the Brazilian has looked a little off the pace in the last couple of games.

A win tomorrow will pull us clear from the bottom three. A follow up win against Huddersfield in our home game at the end of March will bring us in to mid-table and alongside the likes of Everton and Brighton who both Sky and the BBC are claiming are now safe.

Losing tomorrow is not something I even want to think about right now, Southampton are a dangerous side and have some top class talent in their side but they have dive bombed since losing Van Dijk to Liverpool. We should win, we can win and I don’t care how we do it, but we must win.