NO MAUR
Now Saints ready to turn to Silva in last-ditch gamble to beat the drop
BOTTOM OF TABLE
SOUTHAMPTON will bring in a new boss in a final desperate bid to stave off relegation. They finally ran out of patience with Mauricio Pellegrino after an awful run of results.
Assistant manager Carlos Compagnucci and assistant first-team coach Xavier Tamarit have also left the club. Southampton have won just one of their last 17 league games and slid down the table to fourth bottom, leaving them just one point outside the drop zone with eight games to go. Saturday’s humiliating 3-0 defeat at relegation rivals Newcastle proved the final straw.
They hope to have his replacement – their fifth manager in four years – in charge in time for Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Wigan.
Rather than look for an interim boss to see them through to the end of the season, the Argentinian’s successor will be a permanent appointment. And the search for available candidates was well underway last night.
Marco Silva (below), out of work since being sacked by Watford in January, could be considered again though any approach would be complicated by the fact he was overlooked by Southampton last summer and interest from Benfica.
There has been a fear around St Mary’s for some time they were sleepwalking towards relegation under Pellegrino, who failed to justify the decision to appoint him as Claude Puel’s successor in June.
Puel was sacked despite leading Southampton to eighth and the EFL Cup final last season.
The Frenchman’s uninspiring football annoyed fans and he also lost the dressing room.
But the Saints’ style has proved just as bad under Pellegrino.