It is very easy to write this Verdict, this game followed a very familiar path that most others have trod this season, clueless tactics and bewildered players.

In fairness to Mauricio Pellegrino, aside from the usual cry to play two up front, most Saints fans would have picked a similar team to the one that could perhaps be the last one that this manager chooses for the club.

Indeed if we wanted evidence that two up front is not the key reason this season is now so appalling, but it is the centre of defence and our failure to replace Fonte lst season and now Virgil Van Dijk that has cost us dearly.

Newcastle's games plan was clear and it paid dividends in the first middle, pump the ball forward and catch us on the break and they did that twice in the first half hour and both goals were down to poor defending, in fact in that first half most chances that Newcastle had were of a result of us giving the ball away cheaply.

In between the goals we seemed to have got to grips with the game and although we dominated we created little in the final third, the home side were waiting to pump the ball forward again.

The second goal was another calamity, Mario Lemina slipped as he went to put the ball back into the box and suddenly Newcastle were two on two on our defence, the result was goal for the home side and the game effectively over.

From then on the result was never in doubt, despite the fact that we had 63% possession and around the same number of shots as the home side, three times as many corners, again the one stat that mattered was goals for and we were lacking in that.

Mauricio Pellegrino criticised his players after the game, he spoke of a lack of spirit, he is right, but the man who is supposed to put that spirit in the team is him, the buck stops with the manager.

In the final stages of the season the one thing that wll carry us through is team spirit, if we haven't got it then we are finished, when the manager admits himself it is missing, then he is telling the board something.

Clearly the players themselves are lacking motivation, they are lacking confidence and they are not comfortable with the tactics, this was our worst perfromance of the season in that our other defeats of similar magnitude have been at Liverpool and Spurs, two decent teams, but this was against one of the poorest.

Funnily enough someone who was watching the game with me said no one is playing badly, we just have no spirit, motivation or a game plan, it is a collection of individuals and not a team.

I hoped that the manager might be able to drag enough out of a good squad to keep us up, this display showed that he can't motivate and to be blunt that is just about the only thing he is there for now.

We are at a point where literally the players themselves are being demotvated, we would almost be better than not having a manager and just letting them get on with it.

The tactics were predictable, the subs were predictable and the result was predictable, the time for change is now, the board for once have to do something that is unpredictable !

Photo: Action Images

halftimeorange added 17:19 - Mar 11 Isn't it possible that in recognising the unbridgeable gap appearing in the EPL between the top and the very large bottom last season the then Saints board changed their tune from "we march on" to "we can't compete", what ambition there was evaporated. Obvious weaknesses have not been addressed - no height in attack, no old head in defence, no leadership on or off the pitch. Puel managed what he had but Pellegrino is, by comparison, niaive and inflexible, otherwise why consistently leave our better performers on the bench (Sims this week, probably McCarthy next). The manager isn't up to it but I consider, neither is the squad. Mr Gao, like us fans, has been duped.

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schatfield added 17:44 - Mar 11 Look on the bright side, you could be a West Ham fan!
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LordDZLucan added 19:09 - Mar 11 We've got a bad manager, a bad set of players or maybe both. It's difficult to say which it is without changing something and the only thing we can change at this stage of the season is the manager. So let's get on and do it and quickly. If we get a new manager in now he's got 3 weeks to get the team playing the way he wants them to before the next league game. That's a fair amount of time. Who should we get in? It's got to be a hard son of a bitch who speaks proper English and can walk into that dressing room, kick some ass and command respect straight away. Marco Silva's been mentioned. If he won't come then maybe van Gaal.

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AirFlorida added 19:24 - Mar 11 Bet Wigan can't wait to gorge on our soft underbelly. As much as I loathe MP, and his Fisher Price tactics, these players don't seem to understand what being a professional is. They get paid dream money to work every minute they are on that pitch: shit tactics or not, earn your wage! Shameful.
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Consigliere added 19:44 - Mar 11 I've reflected on this for 24 hours and have come to the same conclusion I had at full time. San Marco, American Saint and especially Stoke (with whom I have debated before) - You are right and I was wrong. Time to eat a large slice of humble pie with a jug of cold sick on the side. I had thought that things might get worse with a new man appointed this late in the season. I had thought that the current manager was best placed to turn things around. I actually even thought we could win this game or at least achieve a draw - indeed I would have accepted a battling loss if we had scored a few goals and it had been end to end stuff. It was not to be. This match epitomised our season, dull, lifeless and unproductive midfield possession. People travelled a very long way to watch this rubbish. Saints fans know that the pen is mightier than the axe. Not for us the hooligan antics of invading the pitch mid-match or shouting obscenities at the board and scaring youngsters in the family section. We take to the page to express our views and we do it well. If they have any sense the Board will sit up and take some notice. It is obvious that the manager has to go but it might as well be now because as another contributor has said, if he just told the team to get on with it they couldn't have performed any worse. It is pointless to call for the Board to be sacked. We aren't the shareholders and we have no power as owners, but we dohaVe a say as paying customers (or as monetised extras for the TV shows in reality) and our voice demands to be listed to. We the people have spoken and (eventually) we will not be ignored.

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Consigliere added 19:46 - Mar 11 listened rather
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king_sid added 20:18 - Mar 11 A few observations from yesterday - Our problem is not our defence, it is our utter inability to convert possession into chances/goals Stephens and Hoedt are clearly not Fonte and VVD, but they are decent enough players We clearly lack big characters in the team I’m beginning to think Lemina is a bottler – he has been truly dire in several big games where we have needed a big performance from him And why the hell was Romeu left out? On the NBC stream I watched it was suggested it was because they didn’t want him suspended for the Wigan game!! JWP is a very decent player – I don’t know why he is the whipping boy for so many. There were many worse than him yesterday Tadic is just awful & Boufal is not much better. At least Redmond & Sims get at defenders And why did he bring on Long & not Gabbiadini? It was almost wilfully perverse not to play Gabbiadini & Carillo together. I think Moped knows he’s gone at the end of the season come what may & is more concerned with proving a point (ie not playing 4-4-2) than keeping us up We have good players in our team, but he has drained the life out of them with his cautious, keeping possession at all costs game. If/when we go down it will be because of the lost points against poor teams where he bottled the chance to win To be honest, I really don’t see any way back from here.

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simmo400 added 20:58 - Mar 11 Bad players make a bad manager. My st would pick the same team bar 1 or 2 players. The team isn’t pulling their weight for what ever reason there not turning up in the games not giving There all. is it player power to get him the sack ?
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SaintBrock added 21:13 - Mar 11 The whole thing stinks! There is big money at play in there somewhere.
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Colburn added 21:58 - Mar 11 And to top it off, Pellegrino has benched Reed’s top signings from the last two seasons so many times this campaign, as if to suggest he doesn’t rate Reed’s ability to sign a player.. What are you waiting for Les? Relegation I assume.. 🤯
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 22:24 - Mar 11 Slaven Bilic. That's our man. He did wonders with Croatia and in his first season at West Ham, they finished 7th. The move to the London Stadium ruined thier home form and he got the boot for it. He's a motivator, respected, won't be afraid to give the players a kick up the arse. He's the one to come in and keep us up. C'mon Les, make it happen.
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DorsetIan added 22:52 - Mar 11 Ill take a piece of that humble pie too please Consigliere... I don’t understand why we are so flaky and fragile, but too many times now have signs of improvement been topped off not by a win, but by an abject failure (Watford and Leicester at home, Spurs, Liverpool and Newcastle away). Are we too young, not physically strong enough, missing an on field general, or just petrified? Difficult to know... Someone mentioned Strachan as a temp replacement. Not saying he is the answer but it does seem that we need someone now who can instil a bit of backbone and maybe turn these players into a football team.

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highfield49 added 08:05 - Mar 12 Now that would be interesting, playing at West Ham with Bilic as the new manager. Bring it on!
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Consigliere added 11:06 - Mar 12 Fair point well made Dorsetlan, happy to wear sack-cloth whilst serving it to you!
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wibbersda added 12:50 - Mar 12 Here's a tweet I saw today. Think on how you'll be remembered Les - "Ever since the Chinese takeover there has been almost a lack of interest in the club from the board. Sat on their hands whilst we headed for the relegation trapdoor. We could have been saved but they did nothing."
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Consigliere added 21:14 - Mar 12 A warning not to cross the Consigliere - manager sacked 13 minutes ago1
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