What We Learned – Newcastle 2 Southampton 2

Four goals evenly shared saw a draw that would leave neither manager entirely happy with his side’s defence.

An opening goal came from Graziano Pellè, who until that point had hardly touched the ball, before Papiss Cisse chested in a deflected cross that had looped over Saint’s goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to see the teams go in deservedly level at the break.

The second period was a much tighter affair with the Magpies hitting the front when debutant Georginio Wijnaldum headed home a superb cross from Gabriel Obertan. Substitute Shane Long ensured that his team earned a point on the road rising to meet Dusan Tadic’s cross in the final fifteen.

The managerial battle 

This match saw the Premier League coaching debuts of Newcastle’s Steve McClaren and Southampton’s Erwin Koeman, brother of regular coach Ronald Koeman who is absent due to surgery on his achilles.

McClaren would be the far happier of the two managers with his side’s performance with the Magpies looking the better team for the first half and the two teams equal in the second. Koeman’s players seemed a little off the pace at time getting caught dwelling on the ball and not capable of the insightful passing and movement needed to open up the defence. This could’ve been, perhaps, due to eight of the starting XI having been in actions just three days prior in a Europa League match.

Debutant’s varying degrees of success

Some seem to have hit the ground at St. James’ Park running whereas others may take a little bit longer to adjust to life in England’s north. Substitute Aleksandar Mitrović had a first contribution that he would rather forget earning a yellow card for a nasty tackle before even having touched the ball.

Wijnaldum almost had his first goal in black and white in the opening stages of the match but saw his goal bound effort from inside the box blocked by the chest of Steven Davis. The offseason signing from PSV did manage to get his name on the scoresheet in the second half when he headed in from ten yards.

At the other end of the field Chancel Mbemba had a few moments of poor communication with fellow centre-half Fabricio Coloccini, which saw Pellè comfortable head home the opener and a few other occasions players were left unmarked in the box. This was to be somewhat expected as the two hadn’t played together during the preseason and the man from Congo had an otherwise solid game.

PHOTO Chancel Mbemba looks keen to make an impression as he arrives ahead of his #BPL debut for @NUFC #NEWSOU pic.twitter.com/ulT6YRScXB

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 9, 2015

Though already having started their 2015-16 campaign with Europa League matches against Dutch side Vitesse, many in the Saints’ lineup were making their Premier League debut for the club.

Stekelenburg had a reasonably solid time in goals and could hardly be held at fault for either of the goals conceded and Cédric Soares looked comfortable occupying the right-back position. The Portuguese fullback covered well defensively though looked a danger to receive marching orders after an early booking. He seemed energetic in going forward seeing a superb save from Tim Krul the only thing stopping a powerful drive from hitting the back of the net and his cross assisting the first goal of the game.

Cuco Martina was a little more inconspicuous in terms of his impact on the game and his contributions going forwards but seemed just as comfortable operating on the right hand side of the defence as the man he replaced at the half.

Defensive frailties

Both defences had questions raised about them throughout the 90 minutes with neither looking to the standard required to keep out the Premier League’s best attackers.

At the heart of the Newcastle defence Mbemba and Coloccini seemed often not on the same wavelength and players went around unmarked in dangerous areas. The centre-backs communication with the fullbacks also appeared lacking at times unable to track the fluid transition of positions between Southampton’s forward players inside the box. McClaren will be seeking major improvement from his defenders in order to ensure that Newcastle improve from their position as having the second worst defence in the league.

Southampton on the other hand had the second best defence in the league last season bettered only be champions Chelsea. This record would make the lapses at the back even more worrying for Koeman. Captain José Fonte seemed to lose his bearings on a few occasions whereas Maya Yoshida was caught on the ball twice due to poor touches. The Dutch manager will be asking his back four to majorly lift in future outings.