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Southampton twice came back from behind to claim a point against Newcastle, with Manolo Gabbiadini scoring a brace
Match report: Gabbiadini strikes twice to give Saints point

 Updated 
Sun 15 Oct 2017 13.23 EDTFirst published on Sun 15 Oct 2017 10.00 EDT
Gabbiadini
Manolo Gabbiadini equalises for Southampton from the penalty spot. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Manolo Gabbiadini equalises for Southampton from the penalty spot. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

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And Mauricio Pellegrino also does some talking:

I think it was a chaotic game, in different terms. OK, we conceded a couple of, in my opinion, soft goals, after after we changed a little bit to play more direct, because they are really compact, and we put Dusan behind the two strikers, and after equalising we conceded another goal really quick, and after this I think we were in our best moment. In these 20 minutes we could win the game, but also we could lose the game. The feeling is, OK, maybe we could win, we could lose, but for the manager to see this type of game with a lot of different moments, I don’t like.

In some aspects yes, in others no. OK, I think Newcastle won a lot of second balls, but other things I think we have to improve in defence, because we are conceding every single game at home some goals, and goals we can avoid.

I think the game was really tough but with good intentions, on the part of both teams. I have to congratulate my players, how we react, but we have to improve in essential parts of the game. I think it’s one point, it’s not the best for us, but in how we concede the first and the second goals, I think a point is a positive way.

Rafa Benitez speaks:

I think during the game you could see that we could get the three points. After with the penalty, they were pushing. It was quite difficult, but we finished strong and we could have scored at the end. Difficult, but at least we get a point and we finished with ambition.

We did well, but still we conceded two goals so something was wrong. We have to keep working hard, keep improving, and my big disappointment was a pity for the fans. To bring 3,500 fans away, this distance and on a Sunday, we could have won three points and they would be happier.

We are fine, but we can be better and we have to be better and hopefully we will be better. We have to defend better, don’t concede two goals, attack better, to score more than two, keep the ball a bit better, but I’m still very happy with the team.

Dusan Tadic talks to Sky:

Second half we played more direct. We scored a quick goal and then we conceded a goal and after that we showed character to come back. I think we can play in different ways. also in the last couple of games we played with a No10. We created a lot of chances and didn’t score many goals. We can be dangerous in lots of ways. We came back, it’s good for character, but I think we can play much, much better and we will show that as the season goes, I think.

Manolo Gabbiadini also spoke, but his English remains basic and it would be mean to quote him. Suffice to say that he is “very happy” to have scored some goals.

So Manolo Gabbiadini, starting his first game for over a month, celebrated by remembering how to score, and then he did it again, twice dragging Southampton back from behind. It was a bad day for Fraser Forster, a lucky day for DeAndre Yedlin, and a reasonable day for everyone else. The point takes Southampton 10th, while Newcastle remain ninth.

Final score: Southampton 2-2 Newcastle

90+6 mins: Ritchie’s corner is headed clear by Van Dijk, and the referee’s whistle blows!

90+5 mins: Into added time at the end of added time. Yedlin’s cross from the right is headed clear. Then Ritchie’s cross from the left is kicked clear.

90+3 mins: Shelvey attacks, and though he’s tackled the ball falls to Gayle, and a good pass would have put Shelvey through! It’s not a good pass.

90+1 mins: We will have four minutes or so of stoppage time, but the first two of them are taken up by physios.

90 mins: It’s all going now. Southampton break and scream downfield, and suddenly the ball is bouncing about the Newcastle area and being randomly headed and booted in various directions. In the mayhem, Ritchie and Hayden clash heads and go down.

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89 mins: Goal-line clearance! Newcastle come forward and win a corner, Lejeune wins the header, and Davis is on hand to boot it clear!

86 mins: Boufal finds the overlapping Bertrand, whose cross is pushed clear by Elliot. The crowd roars. For perhaps the first time all day, they seem to believe.

83 mins: Boufal sends a tricksy exaggerated backheel straight into touch.

@Simon_Burnton You thought that was cynical from Long? He basically kicked the ball out of play, and Lejeune tripped him for no good reason

— Port of Brandon (@portofbrandon) October 15, 2017

When Long suddenly stopped it was only so as to ensure he was taken out. It’s like deliberately slamming on the brakes while you’re driving, just so the driver of the car behind you crashes into you and you can get lots of cash from their insurers. Of course, it is their fault – they should have left enough stopping distance – but it’s still not really cricket.

78 mins: Newcastle have come out of their shell a bit since the goal. A fine ball into the box finds Gayle, who taps back to Ritchie, who blasts a shot into the nearest defender’s face.

77 mins: Newcastle pump the ball into the area, and Lejeune heads weakly goalwards. Forster collects, to wild and ironic cheers.

GOAL! Southampton 2-2 Newcastle (Gabbiadini penalty, 75 mins)

That’s a super penalty, sent high into the side-netting to the taker’s right!

Manolo Gabbiadini of Southampton scores his sides second goal from the penalty spot. Photograph: James Marsh/BPI/REX/Shutterstock
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Southampton have a penalty!

74 mins: That’s a bit cynical from Long, and silly from Lejeune. Long trades passes with Boufal and then just stops; Lejeune doesn’t, and thus runs right into him.

73 mins: Yoshida has the ball, 10 yards inside Newcastle’s half. He looks up, sees lots of blue shirts and passes backwards, to widespread disgruntlement.

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70 mins: Ritchie’s free-kick from the right is headed partially clear, and Lejeune, off-balance, shanks a shot comically high.

69 mins: Newcastle bring Gayle on and Joselu off. “Can someone explain to me how Fraser Forster does not get roundly lambasted in the same manner as Claudio Bravo did last year?” asks Matt Loten. “Is it the fact that he didn’t come in to the Southampton side at the expense of another English keeper, á la Bravo and Hart? Or the fact that he is at a ‘lesser’ club, and therefore press and pundits just aren’t paying a great deal of attention? I cannot fathom how a player as consistently poor over the last 18 months as Forster has been has not missed a single league game in that time. Southampton’s backup keepers must be absolutely shocking.” He’s getting plenty of criticism, though what he really deserves and needs is some time out of the limelight, and the team.

"Forster hasn't covered himself in glory" - Claridge

Was he at fault for #NUFC's second goal?#SOUNEW ⚽️ 📻 https://t.co/SrTTGubbgu pic.twitter.com/jFgu3PZh0a

— BBC 5 live Sport (@5liveSport) October 15, 2017

66 mins: In theory, Merino’s arrival means Shelvey is now a little more advanced. In practice this means he is now spending most of the match standing 20 yards outside his own penalty area, rather than 10.

63 mins: Southampton have had 68% of possession in the last 10 minutes. Newcastle ignore that, spring downfield, Atsu tricks his way into space on the left and passes to Ritchie, whose 30-yard shot is deflected wide.

60 mins: Gabbiadini, with Lejeune at his back, goes down in the area. The referee gives Newcastle a free kick, to the striker’s fury, but he had a fistful of shirt there and was tugging it wildly.

59 mins: Boufal, with his first touch, turns deliciously away from Ritchie. He may do nothing else today, but that was very nice.

56 mins: It is not a second booking. That was an obvious and undeniable cautionable offence as you will ever see.

55 mins: Yedlin, booked for dissent in the first half, takes out Redmond. Surely this is a second booking?

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52 mins: That does not look good for Fraser Forster, who should really have held on to the first shot, should certainly not have just shovelled it back to his opponent, and even then should probably have saved the follow-up.

GOAL! Southampton 1-2 Newcastle (Perez, 51 mins)

Well that didn’t last long! Ritchie plays in Perez, whose low first-time shot isn’t great but isn’t held. The ball rolls back to Perez, who slams it in from an acute angle!

Ayoze Perez of Newcastle United scores their second goal past Fraser Forster. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
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GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Newcastle (Gabbiadini, 49 mins)

Redmond picks out Gabbiadini’s run into the box but his first touch takes him wide. He gets to the byline, pauses, turns around again, runs back to the edge of the area and then, just when it looked like he was mucking about and wasting everybody’s time and would never ever pass the ball to anyone ever again, shoots low into the near corner!

Southampton’s Manolo Gabbiadini celebrates scoring their first goal. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters
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47 mins: Newcastle hit the bar! Perez has the ball on the right, falls over, seems to have lost it, gets up again and runs off with the ball. Joselu pokes a toe at his cross and sends the ball looping up, over Forster, and down onto the woodwork.

Half time: Southampton 0-1 Newcastle

Newcastle sat back, defended deep, randomly scored and then sat back and defended deep again, only more so. More boos greet the whistle, as Southampton trudge off.

45 mins: Newcastle have a throw-in, deep in Southampton’s half. It’s thrown to Joselu, who has nobody anywhere near him as he spins and volleys goalwards. That would have been the world’s least excusable goal had it gone in, rather than looping tamely high.

42 mins: A quick rat-a-tat passing exchange around the area ends with Redmond sliding to Long, 16 yards out. He’s immediately pounced upon by three defenders, and his shot is deflected up into the air, and his header bounces to Elliot.

41 mins: Lovely work from Tadic on the left, twisting this way and that before eventually squirming into space. His cross, though, is rubbish.

40 mins: Bertrand finds Tadic with a low pass into the area, but he is immediately closed down by two defenders, and the ball deflects wide.

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