Allan Saint-Maximin's brilliant response to Paul Merson gaffe after Newcastle United win

Saint-Maximin set up two goals in yesterday’s hard-fought 3-2 win over Southampton.

Merson had called the winger “Sam Maximus” on Sky Sports’s Soccer Saturday – and the 23-year-old changed his Twitter handle and tweeted the pundit after the game. Saint-Maximin said: “Congrats to our new players @Joewillock and Sam Maximus for their game! @PaulMerse told me that you did well guys.”

Merson responded: “Apologies mate. Well played to both of you today.”

United ended the game with nine men, and head coach Steve Bruce said: “The two minutes just after half-time summed it up, where we could have gone 4-1 up and looked very, very rosy indeed. Instead within a minute, it’s 3-2 and we’re down to 10 men. The last half an hour is awful, to be brutally honest. The resilience of the team, and the effort and the commitment of them, was terrific.”

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