Southampton: Former Saints boss Pellegrino has a new team
By Marc Walker
Former Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino has moved on from being sacked by the Saints and joined Spanish La Liga side Leganes.
After a dreadful eight months at St Mary’s, the Argentine was eventually shown the door by the Southampton hierarchy in March with the club perched perilously above the Premier League relegation zone.
He was in charge for 34 matches and accumulated a win percentage of just 23% with some turgid football when the club really needed a positive influence.
He now joined Leganes who – like Saints – finished the season in 17th place. However, they were comfortable enough in staying in La Liga after collecting 14 more points that 18th placed Deportivo La Coruna.
He could prove a success there after a highly successful previous season in charge of fellow Spaniards Alaves. During the 2016/17 campaign, Pellegrino led them to a 9th placed league finish in their first top-flight season for 11 years and a Copa Del Rey final.
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The 46-year-old’s tenure on the South Coast will not be remembered fondly and the Saints fans grew increasingly impatient after a number of terrible results.
A run of 12 league games without a win between November and February saw the team sucked into the relegation fight that would run until the last games of the season.
Just 1.09 points per game came in Pellegrino’s time in the St Mary’s dugout, and his record is the seventh worst of all the managers that the club have had in their history.
His style is clearly more suited to smaller sides where fans are just hoping for survival and not attacking play. The Saints fans have used to attractive play that gave them plenty of value for their money under Mauricio Pochettino’s and Ronald Koeman’s guidance since their arrival back in the top-flight.
He just wasn’t the man that was needed at Saints and it was a poor appointment from the under-fire board, but the Saints fans will surely wish him all the best for the future as he certainly wanted for the situation to improve whilst he was at the club.