Ronald Koeman was delighted with his team’s all out attacking start as they cruised to a 3-1 win over Newcastle.

• Southampton 3-1 Newcastle - match report >>
• Southampton 3-1 Newcastle - as it happened >>

Koeman named a very forward thinking team, with Graziano Pelle, Shane Long, Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic all in the side.

He wanted to squeeze the pressure on a Newcastle side lacking confidence as they stare down the barrel of relegation.

It worked a treat as Saints came racing out of the blocks, scoring an early goal and going on to win with some ease.

Koeman said: “First of all we had a great start in the game, and I changed a little bit the shape and put pressure on the players to play in this system with four strikers to start very offensively and really to press Newcastle from the start in the game, and that worked fantastic.

“Very fast first goal, good football, a lot of opportunities for the second goal before half time and finally a good result.

“Maybe a few moments in the second half that we had to score more goals but the whole team performance very good.”

Koeman knew Newcastle could be vulnerable given the state they are in and it gave Saints a chance to try and exploit their weaknesses.

They did just that to secure an important three points which closes the gap on sixth placed West Ham.

“You know if a team is really fighting against relegation they are not full of confidence,” he said.

“If you give them time and the domination in the game then they can grow.

“That was the reason to start how we start, to really press, start offensively and create problems with the speed of Shane, with the speed of Sadio, and that worked fantastic.

“That in my opinion is the key to win the game.”