PREMIER LEAGUE STRUGGLERS Southampton have sacked manager Mauricio Pellegrino after nine months at the helm at St. Mary’s.
The club also conirmed that Pellegrino’s backroom staff would be following the Argentinian through the exit door.
The Saints currently languish in 17th position in the Premier League after suffering a 3-0 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday. They’ve won just one of their last 17 games.
A club statement issued tonight read:
Southampton Football Club can today confirm that it has parted company with First Team Manager Mauricio Pellegrino. Assistant Manager Carlos Compagnucci and Assistant First Team Coach Xavier Tamarit have also parted company with the club. We would like to place on record our thanks to Mauricio, Carlos and Xavier for their efforts during their time with Southampton, and wish them well for the future. The club will look to appoint a new management team as soon as possible, with the search for a replacement already underway.
Now in their sixth successive season in the Premier League, Southampton haven’t finished lower than 14th in any of the previous five, but face a battle for survival with just eight league games remaining.
Following Saturday’s defeat at St. James’ Park, Pellegrino said he observed some of his players ‘giving up’ during the 3-0 defeat which left them only a point above the drop zone.
“When you concede in the first minute and little by little you feel that the game will be tough, every single negative impact is massive for you. I observed some players who gave up and we cannot show this, to be honest,” he told reporters at his post-match press conference.
“When you are losing 2-0, you have to try, and I think we tried to be in the game, to score one, but we were never a threat for Newcastle. The spirit of the team and the attitude is everything. We have been talking about this a lot of time from the beginning.
“You can have good players, you can have a budget, but without personality and spirit, it’s really difficult to compete at this level. You can lose, you can play badly, but you have to show another face on the pitch. For this reason, I would like to say sorry to our fans because we couldn’t represent our club properly. This is the worst thing that we did today.”
Newcastle’s victory moved Rafa Benitez’s side four clear of Southampton, who have won just five of their 30 Premier League games this term.
