mrfahaji

“Krueger has said they are behind Pellegrino because he’s the right man for the direction they want to go in” What, down?

Stood on the sideline in the rain, with a bemused look on his face, Pellegrino looks a bit like Mr Bean.

I think he’s looked ok actually, has been finding pockets of space where he can turn and find a through ball. The conditions aren’t ideal for anyone but I wouldn’t say he’s been anonymous like in the past when he’s been stuck on the right. Is he about to come off now though...

If you're from Liverpool it's impossible not to have ambition because your life couldn't start from a lower platform.

Yeah it's a little concerning. Of course some elements of management would have been affected by van Dijk if he was being deliberately negative all the time, but there are quite a lot of things about Pellegrino that can't be explained by the 'cloud'.

Pretty depressing state of affairs that you're having to put this caveat...

Not that they give one iota about it.

Same, his sarcastic posts often make me chuckle. A lot of posters can be a bit aggressive or dismissive, but there are plenty of comments on here that merit such a reaction!

I can understand why we wouldn't take young players on loan from the bigger clubs, because it blocks the 'pathway' for our own youngsters, is a bit of a gamble in regard to their current ability to play in the PL, and if they do perform well there's no future benefit for us. But I'm surprised Walcott isn't a loan option. Can't see that his value would rocket no matter how he played given his age, and forking out god knows how much in fees and wages for a player whose ability, form and long term value is questionable doesn't seem like it fits with the clubs general strategy. Can only assume no loan option is coming from Arsenal (or they want a loan fee).

I remember the game well, was on Sky and Liverpool wore their amber kit if I recall. But why was it "infamous"?

From BBC commentary/5 Live: "Mauricio Pellegrino has just had an extended chat with Sofiane Boufal. It is a fair bet the Southampton manager believes Boufal holds the key to unlocking the Manchester United defence." Probably telling him why he's being substituted at half time...

I don’t share the opinion that we’re definitely going to be thrashed, under MP we’re capable of narrowly losing to every side in the division.

If he hasn't settled and wants to go back, that's a real shame. If he leaves because MP doesn't rate him, it's a bleeding and unforgivable travesty.

You see, I disagree on that last bit. I think our business model is the best chance a club like ours has to achieve sustainability and some success. Also, if we don’t adopt such a policy the alternative is to support more TV money and higher player spend, which doesn’t sit well with me. Where our model falls down is the failure to scout, attract and ultimately appoint the best/right managers. Koeman did well but I’m not sure how good he was, Puel was a bit left field but failed to push us on, and Pellegrino has been dreadful. We still have a decent squad of players, so there is a chance to turn it round, but the risk we have is that a team finishing 15th in the PL (for example) is going to find it harder to attract players like Mario Lemina than one finishing 8th or 9th. So even if we don’t get relegated, we are still very much on a downward spiral and if we don’t snap out of it this season we will find it difficult to do so full stop. Our business model stops working effectively if we’re not seen as a viable “best of the rest” contender.

You could also ask him to get something from the bottom shelf but the interview would be over by the time he got down to it.

Serious = not someone who has already been manager.

No doubt it’s a lot more money (50%) than they wanted to pay so that’s something. But I’m still sick that he’s going there. I so wanted all those Liverpool-luvvies in the media to be wrong, not to mention all their self-righteous fans. I also think he will make them significantly better, has been amusing seeing them fall apart at the back time and again. I am very angry at the board, they know a sale to Liverpool will be hard to stomach for the fan base yet they still went ahead with it.

Earlier in the season Romeu came out and bascially said "we're not playing very well because we're doing what the manager asks". Boufal made his feelings clear after West Brom, Hoedt has apparently had a bust up (although I think him getting uppity about not starting every game, if true, is wrong), and Austin had the subtlety of a Sledgehammer when asked after the Everton game whether he felt he should have been given a chance earlier. I have heard a snippet, from an admittedly third-hand source but also one with no reason to make things up, that none of the players get on with Pellegrino. Everything else we've seen would point to as much.

Redmond did ok at times under Puel. I’m not sure he’s had one good game for Pellegrino. Did he play right or left today?

I agree but there must be a way to show the manager how ridiculous he is to pick him. But then again, surely he knows what the fans think, it’s almost like he picks him deliberately to show who’s boss. Unfortunately all it shows isn’t that is a bl00dy idiot.

http://readsouthampton.com/2017/12/23/time-mauricio-pellegrino/ Sorry if posted already. Excellent article, pretty much sums up my thoughts.

That may be true, but doesn’t change the fact the man at the helm is clueless and we would be doing better if he wasn’t in charge. May be not be enough to fulfil the max potential of our squad due to other issues but at the moment I’d take a moderate improvement (ie not be scrapping against relegation).

If you worked with a Middlesbrough fan like I do you wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. Says they have been awful this season - for a team that promised to “smash the Championship” they’ve only played well 2 or 3 times. He hasn’t done well anywhere. He might not have been a disaster but if we sacked Pellegrino and appointed Monk our fortunes wouldn’t change much.

I wouldn't ever want BFS in charge at Southampton. But if asked the question, "would we be doing much better if he had been in charge for the past 5 or 6 games?" the answer would be a resounding yes. Even if I wouldn't want him as boss, it certainly hints that we can do much better than what we've got at the moment. Frank de Boer?