Southampton have not won in their last five and now find themselves three points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Mauricio Pellegrino
Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier has suggested on Twitter that Mauricio Pellegrino is asking for trouble if he continues to drop the Saints’ best players from the previous game.
Pellegrino appears to be coming under increasing pressure amongst the fans. The Saints have not won in their last five, losing three and now find themselves just three points above the bottom three in the Premier League.
While the fact that they have faced Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea during those five games does mean that it would be somewhat unfair to be too critical of the results, some of the selection decisions have left the fans scratching their heads, including the call to leave Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on the bench against Leicester and Bournemouth, and do the same with Virgil van Dijk and Charlie Austin against Chelsea – though the latter did not come on on the hour mark.
And Le Tissier has suggested that if Pellegrino continues to persevere with his intriguing selection policy, he may find it difficult to keep his supporters on side if results continue to disappoint.
It is certainly baffling that he has left the likes of Hojbjerg and Austin out of recent starting line-ups given that the pair have arguably been their most impressive players lately – with the latter scoring in two of his previous three appearances heading into the Chelsea clash.
With a home game against Huddersfield providing some respite – on paper, at least – before games against Tottenham and Manchester United, you would imagine that not securing a positive result against the Terriers could be a huge blow for the Saints boss, and if the likes of Hojbjerg and Austin do not start, Pellegrino will surely find it even more difficult to argue that he is still the right man to lead the team forward.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
