Lallana buoyed by win over Newcastle

Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana says the 2-0 win over Newcastle at St Mary’s was a great display, and feels they could have scored more.

The victory coupled, with the 3-1 success at Queens Park Rangers in their last Premier League outing, saw Southampton’s rise out of the relegation zone ahead of both Reading and Aston Villa, a feat Lallana attributed to the quality of play across the entire team.

“We’re starting to find our feet, so we’re learning off each other and playing well,” Lallana told the club’s official website.

“We’re creating chances, which is exactly what we want to achieve. It would have been nice to get a couple more goals because we hit the woodwork three times and Jay (Rodriguez) had a goal disallowed at the end. We’ve kept a clean sheet, so it was an all-round great display.”

Lallana, who earned a call-up to Roy Hodgson’s senior England squad in September, pointed to the performances of Gaston Ramirez, who scored the Saints’ second goal, as well as goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, as key to the win.

“Gaston Ramirez is a class act,” Lallana said.

“He had a bad injury that kept him out for three or four weeks, so maybe he was a little bit rusty when he came back.

“But we all know what ability the lad has got, and it’s a pleasure to play and train with him. Hopefully we can all learn off him as we start to gel with him.

“Paulo made a great save when we were 2-0 up and that kept us in the game – you need that bit of luck sometimes.”

Southampton next welcome Norwich to St Mary’s Stadium and will be confident of obtaining another three points despite the Canaries’ recent impressive form.