Maya Yoshia has suggested that Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino evokes memories of working with current Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Maya Yoshida has suggested to the Daily Echo that what he has seen from Mauricio Pellegrino on the training ground evokes memories from working under current Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino during his own spell at St Mary’s.
Pellegrino arrived in England in the summer after Claude Puel’s tenure ended after just one season. But unfortunately for the Argentine, the Saints’ start to the season has given the supporters little reason to believe that much has changed from the Frenchman’s often attritional style.
Southampton have failed to score in three of their opening four games. But Yoshida has suggested that rather than comparisons with Puel, Pellegrino is much more similar to the current Spurs boss.
“He has a good philosophy and we have to understand what we need to do and the training sessions are also really hard, but I had an experience under Pochettino which was similar and I’m sure if he continues like this we can develop,” he said, as reported by the Daily Echo.
“They both like to play football,” he added. “They like to press high and be aggressive.
“We have to fight for that. Our training sessions are really hard and similar [to Pochettino].
“Under Pochettino many players fly to another level and we need to take this opportunity to learn from that and have a good example to learn form. So why don’t we take this opportunity to improve ourselves?”
Given that Pochettino took the Saints to another level after the tremendous job that Nigel Adkins did at St Mary’s, Southampton fans will certainly be hoping that Pellegrino can have a similar impact and elevate the team after they appeared to stagnate – in the league, at least – under Puel.
There is perhaps a limit to how far Southampton can go without a freak occurrence like Leicester’s title win or without significant investment, but Saints fans would surely love to see another top-half finish that includes a cup run coupled with the kind of exciting brand of football that re-established the club at the highest level and arguably put Pochettino on Tottenham’s radar.
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