Daily Mail

SELLING SAINTS PAY PRICE

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SOUTHAMPTO­N last won a league game in November. Despite this, it is said that the manager Mauricio Pellegrino is not under immediate pressure. The club is supportive of the situation he inherited from Claude Puel. This would be the situation in which they finished eighth in the league, having reached a major domestic final. So not a bad situation at all, really. More urgent was the situation he inherited from the owners: the one in which the best players are relentless­ly sold, leading to a decline in the standard of the football. Puel also copped the blame for that, mind you. Southampto­n were not as exciting as they had been in previous years, it was said. Maybe they would have been more exciting with some of the players available to his predecesso­rs: Graziano Pelle, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane. Southampto­n have sold excitement to the highest bidder for years. And it is catching up with them, as invariably happens. A tipping point may have been reached. Few clubs can act as Southampto­n have without consequenc­e, so this is a crisis entirely of the club’s making. Pellegrino just happens to be there at the time.

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