Southampton Boss Mauricio Pellegrino Feeling The Heat Ahead Of Everton Clash

Southampton Boss Mauricio Pellegrino Feeling The Heat Ahead Of Everton Clash
14:17, 22 Nov 2017

Five Premier League bosses have already been hurled out onto the managerial scrap heap this season - the first time this has happened since the 2007/08 campaign - and if Southampton’s struggling gaffer Mauricio Pellegrino fails to rejuvenate his stuttering side soon then he'll be in severe danger of joining the likes of Tony Pulis and Slaven Bilic in the rapidly-swelling job centre.

The former Alaves boss enjoyed a superb single season (2016/17) with the Spanish outfit, leading the newly promoted club to an impressive 9th spot and the Copa del Rey final. However, goals and entertaining football were not a key feature of what was otherwise a memorable campaign for the club.

With this in mind, Pellegrino’s summer appointment at the Saints was a bizarre one given that the club sacked Claude Puel for his negative and sleep-inducing style of play.

Therefore it comes as no surprise that little has changed since the switch around, apart from Southampton’s position in the table. Under Puel the club finished up in 8th, but now 12 games into the current campaign Pellegrini’s men find themselves down in 14th, just four points above the dreaded drop zone, and nine points adrift of 7th-placed Burnley.

Under Pellegrino the football has been both goalless and soulless. Southampton have been frustratingly feeble and fruitless in attack, and at times uncharacteristically jittery in defence, conceding in six of their last seven games. Subsequently many of the supporters have become increasingly restless, losing patience with the dull and dreary performances which have been a recurring theme of not only this season, but the whole of 2017.

Pellegrino came in for some stick for employing a negative team in last weekend’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Liverpool - a side who they successfully shutout four times last season under Puel. The Argentine opted to bench both strikers, Manolo Gabbiadini and Charlie Austin, instead starting Shane Long - without a goal since February - who was flagged by the disappointing duo of Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond, two players that have woefully underperformed this season.

As it stands the Saints have mustered just three wins and a meagre nine goals from 12 top-flight matches. A very disappointing return, made worse considering they were handed such a favourable run of fixtures...the Saints have only locked horns with two of the top-6 so far.

Two of their three wins have come against 18th-placed West Ham and rock-bottom Crystal Palace, while they’ve only found the net more than once in two of their 12 games to date. In fact, the Saints haven’t won by more than a one-goal margin in a whopping 21 matches dating back to a 3-1 triumph over Palace in April.

While a large portion of the blame is rightly directed at Pellegrino, the players have been off the boil for some time now. Since beating West Brom in April the Hampshire outfit have won only four of 20 league games: Middlesbrough, West Ham, Palace, and the Baggies. There’s a severe lack of urgency, desire and attacking intent, something which desperately needs to change otherwise the Saints will become embroiled in a relegation dogfight.

Pellegrino is now as short as 4/1 shot to be the next top-flight managerial victim. While, to some extent, he does deserve more time to implement his ideas, he'll have been made well aware of the ruthless nature of the Sack Race, which has already gobbled up Frank de Boer, Craig Shakespeare, former Saints boss Ronald Koeman, Slaven Bilic, and then earlier this week Tony Pulis.

A pitiful eight points from seven home games equates to one of Southampton’s worst starts in Premier League history. A third consecutive league defeat on Sunday - at home to struggling Everton who remain managerless - is unlikely to result in the sack, but it would pile even more pressure on Pellegrino ahead of a daunting match away to runaway leaders Man City. After the visit to the Etihad is a spicy south coast clash with Bournemouth, then Arsenal, followed by trips to Chelsea, Tottenham and Man Utd before the year is out…

Saints don’t look like beating anyone at the moment, let alone the league’s big dogs, and with such a daunting run of games to come the club’s new Chinese owner, Gao Jisheng, may be tempted to assert his presence and give Pellegrino the boot.

If a sacking does occur then Saints will have to think long and hard in their search for a new gaffer. Many thought that the Saints should have opted for Marco Silva in the summer, who switched Hull for Watford, but is now being linked with Everton. Whether the in-fashion Portuguese coach could be lured over to St Mary’s is questionable. Burnley boss Sean Dyche, and Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe are both options, but obviously employed and at the time of writing higher up in the table than Saints...on the hand Koeman is now free...

x
Suggested Searches:
The Sportsman
Manchester United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Premier League
Sportsman HQ
72-76 Cross St
Manchester M2 4JG
We will not ask you to provide any personal information when using The Sportsman website. You may see advertisement banners on the site, and if you choose to visit those websites, you will accept the terms and conditions and privacy policy applicable to those websites. The link below directs you to our Group Privacy Policy, and our Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at: [email protected]

All original material is Copyright © 2019 by The Sportsman Communications Ltd.
Other material is copyright their respective owners.