Newcastle United beat Southampton 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has told The Chronicle that he wishes he had left Allan Saint-Maximin out of his side on Sunday.
The Magpies hosted Southampton yesterday, and were looking for a fourth win in six games having beaten Sheffield United on Thursday night.
It wasn’t going so well when Danny Ings put Southampton in front, but Newcastle fought back to claim all three points through Jonjo Shelvey and Federico Fernandez.
Newcastle are up into the top half of the table after that win, but it wasn’t all good news for Bruce and his side at full time.
Winger Saint-Maximin pulled up injured towards the end of the game, and limped off leaving Newcastle to see out the final seconds with 10 men.
The French attacker impressed yet again with a staggering 10 successful dribbles, as well as a key pass and a shot on target in a strong showing.
However, he wasn’t fully fit going into the game, so his injury wasn’t a huge surprise, and boss Bruce has admitted he almost left him out of the side.
Bruce added that he wishes he had dropped Saint-Maximin, adding that he is disappointed in himself as he took a risk that could now hurt.
“That’s what happens when you play with fatigue,” said Bruce. “Allan has never had that before – in France, it’s half the intensity of here. Looking at him yesterday, he was the big one, and could he recover? I know it’s 95th minute but, obviously, he didn’t”
“I nearly left him out today – and, now, I wish I had done because he could be out for weeks. I’m disappointed with myself,” he added.
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