NEIL AND WOOLMER IN A WAR OF WORDS
SOUTHAMPTON manager Mauricio Pellegrino says he will not be making any special plans to deal with Chelsea maestro Eden Hazard today. Saints travel to Stamford Bridge having won only one of their last eight games and fresh from being battered 4-1 by former boss Claude Puel’s Leicester in midweek.
Stopping Hazard has been the key to getting the better of the champions this season, but Pellegrino said: “We don’t do something special when we play against important players. We try to defend him in zones.
“If you do man-to-man marking, this type of player can move in different places and it will be difficult for us.
“We have to be really focused and don’t let him receive the ball too much where he is dangerous – but the most important thing is to think about us first of all.
“For us it is a good opportunity. The last few games against the biggest teams in the Premier League we have played well.
“Chelsea are a team that don’t need to dominate you too much to be dangerous because on the counter- attack they have players who create. They have players who can run 30 or 40 metres with the ball like Willian, Pedro, even the fullbacks and Morata (inset, below).
“They are a side that is comfortable when they are deep in different situations.”
Saints’ worrying run of form means they are only four points above the relegation zone.
With the trip to
Chelsea followed by visits to Tottenham and Manchester
United, Pellegrino knows his side could find themselves scraping around in the bottom three by the end of the festive period. The Argentine (right) added: “We are thinking about trying to improve this. “Southampton finished six points above relegation last season and there are a big group of teams involved. It is very tight, you cannot be relaxed.
“My pressure is intrinsic with my job. And my job is to try to achieve good results and play good football.” While Pellegrino questioned the attitude of his players after their Leicester mauling, defender Maya Yoshida has warned his team-mates they have to prove they are up for the fight. Yoshida said: “I could not guess it would be like that before the game.
“It will be really difficult again, but we knew we have difficult fixtures. It is not about the tactical or physical but more about mentality and basic things. We have to show our spirit.” NEIL WARNOCK claims he has been ordered to pay a £2,000 misconduct fine after being “betrayed” by fourth official Andy Woolmer.
The League Managers’ Association have told the Cardiff boss to plead guilty to his misconduct charge after being sent-off at Reading on Monday night following a comment-by-comment touchline dossier gathered against him by Woolmer.
The Northamptonshire official, 52, who has been a referee for the past 14 years, is alleged to have kept detailed notes of his conversations with Warnock, who was sent to the stands in the 78th minute by referee Steve Martin for what the manager claimed was something “trivial”.
Warnock (above) said: “I feel betrayed. I said things to the fourth official Andy Woolmer – who I have known over many years and been one of his biggest fans, sending letters in about his refereeing – and it is those comments I have made personally that are being used against me.
“I said things to him during the game and he must have written them down from the first minute. I find it very unusual for a fourth official to make notes like this.
“The LMA say I have no option other than to plead guilty and get fined £2,000. That’s a disappointment to me and I feel really let down.
“I don’t think fourth officials should write things down like that. I don’t feel what I said to him could be construed as offensive, not the way I spoke to him. I didn’t say it to the TV or the radio or the media, I said it to him.
“There were things that happened on the Reading bench – I never went out of my technical area, but you didn’t see Jaap Stam in his area.
“I wanted to have a personal hearing, but I’ve had to accept what the LMA say.”