Alan Shearer reveals what "surprised" him about Newcastle during 1-0 win vs Southampton

Alan Shearer claimed he was surprised to see how slow and ‘heavy legged’ Newcastle were in the first half an hour of their 1-0 win against Southampton.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football, our former number nine thought Southampton looked the better side before Fabian Schar's sending-off, feeling we looked "flat" prior to the red card. 

Shearer felt there was "no real pace" to our game before it went 10 vs 11 and too many "sloppy passes", but was full of praise for our response, hailing Joelinton's "incredible" display and our defending to see out a 1-0 win against a Saints side who could not capitalise on all of their possession.

Chatting to Gary Lineker and Micah Richards, Shearer said: “I was a bit surprised with Newcastle. Even with 11 men for the first 28 minutes I expected them to come out the blocks, the fans were buzzing, but they were flat.

“They seemed very heavy legged and there was no real pace to their game and giving sloppy passes away. Southampton I thought were the better team.

“And then the red card, and it’s pathetic by Brereton Diaz by the way, but when you put your head in, which both players did it was just the reaction from Diaz, you can’t really complain you’re always going to get a red card.

“But they hung on and defended really well, Southampton missed a few decent chances but big Joelinton in midfield was a beast he was incredible.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDyCp1tel5U&t=1818s