Southampton: Saints dip gives Pellegrino work ahead of International schedule

Entering the second international break of the season, Saints and Mauricio Pellegrino are gutted to have slipped up against Stoke City, but has asked the team to maintain their playing style.

Fraser Forster, who was recalled to International duty during Thursday’s early announcement, could not have helped his side any more than he did, having saved a penalty from Saido Berahino, whose goal-draught continues. However, Mauricio Pellegrino is having his own difficulties too.

Manolo Gabbiadini came off of the bench to try and make a mark, but it was impact substitution Peter Crouch who nipped the game in the bud late on in normal time.

Yoshida levelled for the Saints with an unbelievable scissor-kick which arrowed into the top left hand corner, but despite their best efforts to close out the game, Crouch claimed the vital three points for his new respective side.

The international period will offer a time of reflection for Mauricio Pellegrino and his side, who are level on points with Stoke City at around mid-table. So far, his team has collected eight points from seven fixtures, not a resounding return by any measures. However, we have witnessed worse, take Crystal Palace and Leicester City who cannot seem to get a kick-start this season.

So what will Pellegrino have to look at approaching his next run of games?

Possession

Despite dominating Stoke City with 70% of the total possession, Southampton have struggled for goals this season, so it was no wonder why they could not find a winner. They have managed two goals in the last six games, one against Crystal Palace, and the other during this defeat.

Nothing in this department has changed since last season, where Southampton remained in possession for good parts of the game, but rued their misses, scoring just 41 goals from 38 Premier League fixtures.

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Perhaps they are missing character in the final third to make the most of opportunities. West Ham showed this sort of spirit on Saturday for example, as substitute Diafra Sakho gave the Hammers victory with seconds remaining of normal time, arguably saving Slaven Bilic’s job. Unfortunately, the same could be said about Southampton’s opponents, Stoke City.

Integrating Virgil van Dijk back into the squad is crucial as a unit to fulfilling this task, who is a natural leader of the side. It will be a slow process still, as Van Dijk gave away a penalty on Saturday that could have wrapped up the points early on for Stoke.

The average pass completion in the side is also fairly impressive, Mario Lamina having completed the most with 90%, Oriol Romeu second with 85.1%, and perhaps the surprise star this season, Maya Yoshida, with 83.9%.

The problem seems to be going forwards, in spite of the various options they have. Shane Long has been the most influential in the air, winning 2.9% of balls in full-flight. However, he has not been rewarded with a goal as it stands, which is where you would look to your other strikers ordinarily.

Manolo Gabbiadini would be the first player you could count on, but he has chipped in with just one goal in all, so then heads would turn to Charlie Austin. Yet, he also has just one to his name.

So if it’s not the midfielders fault, and the strikers are there in numbers, who is to blame?

Manager

I’m not so crude to suggest Mauricio Pellegrino’s days are numbered, as I believe he still has a lot to offer the top division, but if results do not start to change, fans will indefinitely lose their patience.

He needs to encourage his players to fight for games in order to turn their fate around. The players are clearly very happy playing for Southampton Football Club, even Virgil van Dijk, who has not become complacent despite ongoing speculation during the summer transfer window. Therefore, Pellegrino should not be too harsh on his squad.

However, he is the gaffer, and he needs to call the shots. He has displayed so far that he is not shy to withdraw players from the starting XI in order to get the team balance right for each game, and also to preserve the squad’s fitness, which seems very high.

Most of his team remain ready for training over the international break, therefore the manager has the chance to implement the perfect tactics to test his next opposition Newcastle United.

The Toon have been in scintillating form under Rafael Benitez. Pellegrino needs to study carefully how they play football and reinforce that concept into his player’s regime.

I have faith in Mauricio Pellegrino, following a largely successful career as a coach, and also his demeanour given in interviews as Saints boss. Before the worries creep in though, he needs to inspire that confidence into his player’s so they can go out there and perform on match days.

Otherwise, the manager’s curse may well hit the Argentine too.