The pre-match build-up may have been all about the man in the middle but Andre Marriner will never have had a quieter afternoon – nor witnessed too many games as one-sided as this.

This was very much the calm after the storm for Marriner a week after his monumental mistaken identity blunder.

There were no errors of judgement and few moments of controversy.

The odd cruel jibe of: ‘You’re not fit to referee’ was hurled in his direction but that was more to do with last week’s debacle than anything the Birmingham official got wrong. In fact it was almost as if Marriner wasn’t there at all – which is how it should be.

Marriner admits his Stamford Bridge howler had knocked him for six and in truth, Southampton could easily have eclipsed that number as they put hapless Newcastle to the sword and, instead of losing concentration late on as they have been apt to do, hammered the Geordies into total submission to record their biggest win of the season.

It must have been excruciating to watch for returning former Saints boss Alan Pardew – in the directors’ box rather than the dugout at the start of his four-match touchline ban.

If Newcastle’s travelling fans hoped the Pardew effect would have a positive effect on the pitch, Southampton’s dominance scuppered any hope of that.

‘Four nil to the Eng-er-land’ was the chant at the final whistle as Messrs Lambert, Rodriguez twice and Lallana gave another timely nudge to Roy Hodgson.

Dominance doesn’t always get its just rewards.

Rarely can a Premier League game have been quite so unequal. In the first half alone Southampton had 15 chances – eight of them clear cut.

Yet it took until stoppage time for Saints to strike courtesy of Jay Rodriguez, who could have had a hat-trick in the first 15 minutes.

For all Southampton’s neat passing, it was a route one move that broke the deadlock, Rickie Lambert beating the offside trap to latch onto Steven Davis’ long ball, then squaring for Rodriguez to tap home.

But for Rob Elliot, in Newcastle’s goal in place of the injured Tim Krul, Saints would have been out of sight by then. Save after save thwarted the home side who, to be fair, were also guilty of being far too wasteful.

But within a minute of the restart, the lead was doubled as Lambert was allowed a ridiculous amount of space to get himself onside at the far post and rifled the ball into the roof of the net.

Nothing was going to stop Saints now. After all, Newcastle had hardly threatened. The visitors did manage to at last create a couple of half-chances but before long were conceding again.

Elliott didn’t even move as Lallana’s spectacular 20-yard thunderbolt made it three and with time running out, Rodriguez turned and shot under Elliott’s body to complete the rout.

‘It was an amazing performance,’ said Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino.

‘Not just the result but the way we played.

‘We are still a growing team collectively and individually and this is very important for our development.

‘We haven’t always got what we deserved in some games but today we never let Newcastle back.

‘In the first half I was angry because we were creating so many chances.

‘In the end we made a hero of the Newcastle keeper which goes to show how well we played.

‘For the England players we have here, clearly it’s important to maintain their high standards to increase their chances of going to Brazil.’

A white-faced Pardew, who saw his old team leapfrog his current one, didn’t mince his words after Newcastle’s second heavy defeat in four days.

‘The energy between the two teams was marked.

‘We didn’t offer a threat and that’s a performance we need to ensure never happens again – at least for the last six games this season.

‘We gave the players plenty of rest after the Everton defeat but we are going to have to train very well and work on how to score goals and win games.

‘The fans left at 5.30am and watched a performance like that. Not good enough.’

—Daily Mail