Don’t blame Mauricio Pellegrino for everything… Southampton boss needs an open cheque book
Southampton have struggled for goals all season perhaps they need to change the philosophy of the club if they wish to avoid the drop.
WHEN Mauricio Pellegrino was named Southampton boss their fans were promised he would serve up ‘exciting’ and ‘attacking’ football.
"He understands The Southampton Way," blustered vice-chairman of football Les Reed in a speech more suited to a marketing seminar than the unveiling of a Premier League manager.
Only if The Southampton Way involves taking all the joy out of the beautiful game and starving the paying punter of entertainment.
Nine goals scored in 11 league outings having faced only one of the top six and being dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves’ reserves tells its own sorry story
‘It started with Clueless Claude. Continued with Pellegrino. We March Backwards.’ The damning verdict on Pellegrino’s short-lived reign from a twitter account named ‘Pellegrino Out.’
But with fans already calling for the Argentine to follow Claude Puel through the exit door is it fair to lay all the blame on Pellegrino?
How did Reed expect the former Alaves chief to honour his pledge without giving him the tools to bolster a forward line which out-scored only five teams – including the three relegated clubs – last season?
In fact the only change to Southampton’s forward line was the sale of former England star Jay Rodriguez to West Brom, leaving Pellegrino with even fewer options to mix things up.
Can Pellegrino be blamed for the fact Reed and his fellow board-room bigwigs have never suitably replaced Sadio Mane following the Senegalese flier’s £30m move to Liverpool?
Is this The Southampton Way?
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Is Pellegrino at fault for goalkeeper Fraser Forster’s baffling lack of form which has led to the giant Geordie being axed from two England squads in the space of three international breaks?
Forster has clearly been suffering a crisis of confidence since the start of last season so why did Reed sanction the sale of the highly-rated Paulo Gazzaniga to Tottenham for a minimal fee?
Is this The Southampton Way?
Whatever The Southampton Way really is, that twitter user is right, Saints are marching backwards and sleep-walking into a relegation dogfight unless Pellegrino is given an open cheque-book to revamp a squad in need of a facelift in January.
But on the evidence of recent transfer windows that would definitely not be The Southampton Way.
