Alan Pardew sympathises with Steve Bruce after Newcastle United 'got found out' by Southampton

The former Magpies boss watched on as a Sky Sports pundit as errors from Miguel Almiron and Sean Longstaff gifted the Saints’ two goals.

According to Pardew, Newcastle, who only registered two shots on target which prompted further criticism towards Bruce, don’t have a “great quality” team.

The 59-year-old believes United “got found out” by Southampton but called out players for not performing on the South Coast.

He said: “They haven’t got a great quality team in my opinion, they have to really work hard to get results and it all has to come together.

“When it doesn’t come together - it’s a problem and that didn’t come this evening.

“The shape he (Steve Bruce) has changed to, I thought suited them to be honest - the three at the back - but sometimes when you’re playing a shape and it doesn’t work, you have to try and work around it.

“Steve will sit down after this game and work out ‘maybe we change it a little bit’ because they got found out tonight by the 4-4-2 of Southampton.

“They had problems with the system but ultimately, I can feel for Steve because his individual players didn’t perform.

“You can forget about anything else, you have still got to have individual displays.

"Unfortunately for him, the Southampton players were at a different level tonight.”