Southampton: Saints Marching’s festive roundtable
By Chris Hughes
You’re enjoying Christmas round the Pellegrino’s and you’ve been pressured into giving a little after dinner speech – what will it include?
Ed: Think it would be hard to not bring up how abysmal the season has been so far, but try to filter in some positives if I can. It would generally be the most awkward after dinner speech going as I’m not too overly keen on how Pellegrino has performed so far this season, though would like to motivate at the same time.
Ewan: Now Mauricio, don’t you agree that a nice Christmas Day is a brilliant way to end your little English managerial adventure?’
‘Mauricio?’
‘No, not outside in the cold Mauricio!’
‘It was only a joke Mauricio’
Jack: As much as I would like to think I do, I’m not entirely sure I know more about football than someone who has won the UEFA Cup, La Liga and Intercontinental Cup, so I would probably skip the advice on tactics and how to play football, unless much alcohol was drunk, of course.
I would end up just telling Mauricio that it is important he doesn’t get bullied by Reed and Krueger in January. If there is a player that he desperately wants and is at a reasonable price, don’t be afraid to stand up to them and demand that player. He is the manager of the side, he needs to be able to trust and expect good performances from his players, especially if we do find ourselves in a relegation scrap come the end of the season.
Ben K: I’d throw in something about the style of play or making a big signing in January. However, the speech will be dominated by the steady season so far and wishing him luck for the rest of the campaign. At the end of the day, the club are better than the current league position but Pellegrino needs the approval from the supporters.
Dan: I’d tell the players to pull their fingers out and replicate the 2nd half of the season form that we saw in 2015/16 where we went from 11th/12th after 19 games to 6th at the end of the season.
Marc: I’d probably thank them all for their hospitality and for the lovely food, before emphasising the importance of two strikers up front and positive substitutions before the 75th minute. It would be a positive speech overall, with some hints about how to change a potentially worrying future.
Christian: Pellegrino, we’ve not known each other that long, but you have settled in nicely to the club, and I’d like to say on everyone else’s behalf, thank you.
Ben W: Simple. “STOP PLAYING TADIC.”
Erik: Assuming I had quite a bit of wine before this speech… I would thank him for his efforts, but let him know that I liked Claude Puel much better.
Nikos: I’d be aiming for a rousing mid-season pep talk. And hopefully I’d be thanking them for a traditional Argentinian Christmas barbecue!