Saints fans will be hoping that Mauricio Pellegrino is nearer to his similarly named fellow countryman than his immediate predecessor at St Mary's.

There are many comparisons to be drawn between Mauricio Pellegrino's arrival at St Mary's and his fellow Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino when he turned up at Saints in January 2013.

It is not only their country that they share in common, nor their ages with our new man being only five months older than the now Spurs boss, but also the manner in which they arrived at St Mary's.

Both came from managing clubs in Spain and were unemployed when approached by Saints with a record that does not exactly fill you with optimism. Indeed both were replacing managers who on paper at least seemed to be have better records.

But as Pochettino showed, sometimes a manager is a good fit for a club and that proved to be the case when he arrived although sadly he very quickly showed that he had little appetite or love for Southampton it's football club or the fans, steadfastly refusing to speak English in public.

So hopefully the comparisons will stop at statistics and Mauricio Pellegrino will show that he is overall a more dedicated manger to our cause, the first advantage is he apparently speaks fluid English from his time at Liverpool where i'm sure he would have learn't some of the Scouse vernacular, this will come in handy because he will be needing to use such local Merseyside phrases as "Do one La !" in the coming weeks.

Pochettino was dubbed by myself on this website Mo Po a nickname that caught on, Mo Pe does not have quite the same ring and it reads a little depressingly inferring he will mope about.

Perhaps Mo Pel would be better and it sounds much more positive than either Pochettino's monicker or anything else I can come up with.

What Saints fans do want from Mo Pel though is for him to play a far more attractive game than his predecessor, he has the squad to be able to do so and given that at times it appeared that we got to 8th and a Wembley Cup final in spite of Puel and not because of him, I think our squad is capable of yet another good season with the addition of one or two more central defenders.

The main thing though is that Mo Pel keeps the good work built on over the past few years and he deserves the chance to show he has what it takes and that the fans give him time to get things right.

It should be remembered that after taking over from Adkins Mo Po did not exactly excel in the final half of that season, indeed he gained exactly the same number of points as his predecessor did in the same number of games meaning that at the end of 2012/13 season the fans were not convinced about his abilities given his track record.

However we did not get on his back and gave him time and patience, something that Claude Puel did not have the luxury of.

I am not defending Puel, in the end he had to go, but there were people on his back before August was even out and that did not help his task.

We need to look back and give Mauricio Pellegrino time to show that he is the man to take us forward, we need to give him patience and more importantly we need to give him support.

There are those who are ready to knock the club at every opportunity, some seemed to be just waiting to say I told you so !

We have to take the strategy that we are for one good reason, that is we have no choice, we cannot compete with the top six on level terms, they have much more money, we have to compete the way we are doing, the only other alternative is to be another Stoke or West Brom, solid workmanlike sides with few players any other club wants, so they don't endure the summers we do, but it has been a good ride over the last three years, there is no reason why it should not be over the next three, hopefully Mauricio Pellegrino will still be here to enjoy them, if he is then he will have done his job.

Photo: Action Images

montecristo added 09:57 - Jun 24 think you are being somewhat unfair to Pochettino, he always speaks well of his time at the club and is an admirer of the club and its fans.He hadno english to speak of when he was appointed but did his best to learn , and learn he has, not an easy thing to do if you are out of your early teens when you start learning a foreign language.
5

JordSFC93 added 10:11 - Jun 24 To be fair to Mo Po if it wasn't for him there would'nt be a Southampton way of playing and he kept his word in a way because he said he would only leave SFC if Cortese left because it was his vision of the club that Mo Po fell in love with so I think he would of stayed if it wasn't for that.
6

highfield49 added 10:12 - Jun 24 I agree with montecristo and wouldn't be at all surprised if Poch has influenced Pellegrino to join Saints. They are apparently good friends and did their coaching qualifications together a few years back. I firmly believe that supporters will be raving rather than raging about his appointment in the coming months.
0

Vega added 10:36 - Jun 24 " a record that does not exactly fill you with optimism",thats what u thought and still do about this choice.lets hope it he will be the same
2

simmo400 added 10:38 - Jun 24 To Be a good manager it's simple you need good players. Apart from scoring a few more goals at home what will MoPel bring to Saints ? the same players will bring similar results so unless he has a magic wand he will have to perform miracles to get above 8th and a cup final appearance. Let's hope he is backed to during in who he wants and get shot of the chaff.
0

michaeljoycetf added 11:56 - Jun 24 I agree with Montecristo, you are being unfair to Pottechino. He was an excellent manager for us in all respects. He helped put Saints back on the map and put a lot of smiles on our faces. I for one was very disappointed when he left. I am far from convinced that we will improve on last seasons league position. perhaps our football will be more attractive but that might not be enough to satisfy the section of 'glass half empty' fans who have been a little too vocal this season.

4

halftimeorange added 17:11 - Jun 24 Anyone who watched Guillem Balague's interview on Sky Sports will have noted that he said "every single player in the Alaves squad flourished and improved under Pellegrino. He also added that Saints managerial recruitment policy is one of the most professional in Europe. In the same piece it was mentioned that Pellegrino had consulted Pochettino regarding the Saints opportunity and had taken his (Pochettino's) advice that St Mary's was a good place to be and he is happy to be head coach and leave other business to the board. Let's hope the new man gives us at least a couple of decent seasons before he's headhunted.

3

SanMarco added 18:02 - Jun 24 A note on language: MoPo was evidently pretty fluent in English when he arrived here, certainly far better than Puel anyway. I think it was a shrewd move to have the interpreter (one that Puel should have followed). I don't think MoPo was showiing us disrespect he was just cleverly managing his communication (and giving himself twice the time to think as he heard the question twice before he had to answer). It is my belief that MoPo was great for us until his last few weeks - he then, I believe, helped unsettle players and therefore had a part in summer exodus number 1. We await part 4 with trepidation, or I certainly do.... PS the new man's similarities to MoPo may come to haunt him if he makes a poor start: I can just imagine the 'by this time MoPo already had 10 wins under his belt...' type stuff.

4

BaselSaint added 19:19 - Jun 24 He just seems like a better fit for some reason- maybe we relate better to where he's coming from and if he can express himself a little more than Claude he'll be off to a good start. Getting excited now. Just the small matter of the transfers and acquisitions now!
2

SaintBrock added 14:00 - Jun 26 Hopefully MoJo?
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Rochdale Polls