Southampton leads the Premier League after beating Newcastle | football

Earlier this week, Ralph Hessenhotel said he loves to go under the radar, but that will be increasingly difficult after Southampton’s rise to the top of the league. Premier League, And the move to the top of the English first division for the first time since 1988.

Che Adams opened the scoring before Stuart Armstrong clinched the points eight minutes before the match, as they sidelined impoverished Newcastle team aside for their third successive league win. After eight matches, Southampton was superb with 16 points, a number they didn’t collect until nearly midway through last season. Actually, this time last year Southampton They were toiling in the relegation zone with a -17 goal difference.

The transformation, overseen by Hasenhüttl, who once again choreographed the chilling rhythm of the seam, was awesome. “It’s a bit scary what we’re doing at the moment,” said the Southampton coach. “We wanted to show ourselves that we are now one step ahead in our development.

“The result is temporarily taking center stage on the table, and this is only for a few moments, but it is good for the fans and players, to create a picture and have fun. For me it is important not to lean.” There is little risk of that. Southampton was ruthless here, eager for what their manager calls “the red zone”.

For Southampton, the bigger question is how they would behave without Danny Ings, their hero who is due to be out of action for six weeks after undergoing minor knee surgery on Thursday. The simple answer was subtly, as Adams walked in in seven minutes, seconds after forcing sprawling Carl Darlo into a clever tackle.

Darlow defeated Adams for the first time but was overshadowed by the striker’s first air strike moments afterward. Adams flatly finished off Theo Walcott’s pure spin, but that was the kind of goal that made Steve Bruce rip his hair off. Instead of moving the ball to safety, Miguel Almiron chose to try to turn and get his way out of trouble. However, on charges of fondling at the edge of an 18-yard square, Kyle Walker Peters attacked the Newcastle midfielder before Walcott seized the ball and fed Adams.

Ings may have been the main source of goals in the past two seasons but there is more content for this Southampton side below the surface. They worked their way through the periods of this match and Walcott twice came close to putting on an impressive shift up front.

Every Southampton player joined the celebrations when Armstrong punished another piece of neglect defense late and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy had little to do until he was brilliantly saved from substitute Guillenton late, and he may have also joined the crowd.

A few seconds after kick-off, some fireworks littered high behind Northam’s End, which is usually the home of a powerful mobile group. Here Newcastle plays a deep yellow, kit manufacturers said, but apart from having Alan Saint-Maximin come to life every now and then, Bruce’s team hardly inconvenienced Southampton.

For Newcastle, Callum Wilson was limping down the tunnel with a hamstring complaint, after 24 hours of examination it was revealed that absent Ryan Fraser had torn his hamstrings, worsening the evening. Sean Longstaff headed straight at McCarthy in the first half but Newcastle never threatened and the win over Everton last Sunday was a distant memory. Bruce said, “The first goal summed us up.” “I think consistency is the big thing, which bothers me the most because we didn’t look anywhere near where we were five days ago. This inconsistency bothers me. But unfortunately, this inconsistency is the thing that plagued me for the 15 months I was here.”

At times, Southampton would play Newcastle and when a simple pass was cooked for Saint Maximin, the frustrated Bruce scratched behind his ears and put his hands on his face.

Darlow exquisitely reached his fingertips at the Romeo Beldriver player and pushed Lascelles off the line after Jan Bednaric hit the ball into the goal and skipped a second Southampton until late. This time Longstaff was guilty of going over the edge of the 18-yard box, calling Armstrong for theft and punishing another misstep.

“Keep it there, let them run,” said Hasenhotel, as he kept Bidenarik inside their half of their stadium. For most of the night, Newcastle was chasing the shadows.