SAINT THAT RIGHT, MAYA
MAURICIO PELLEGRINO says Maya Yoshida was right to blast his flops. The Southampton defender launched a scathing attack on his team-mates after the 5-2 thrashing by Spurs and claimed they had got worse under Pellegrino. The Argentinian boss, who replaced Claude Puel in the summer, said: “The players are the first ones that realise that we are not performing well. “The first thing you have to do as a Southampton player is to be conscious. “We have got a critics spirit in our dressing room. Maya is one of the captains and I think the intention of the player is that he assumes responsibility and wants to bounce back from the situation.
“Maya is always the guy who is constructive and always making sure we are doing the best to push with this energy.”
Saints travel to Manchester United today looking to end a dismal run of one win in 11 matches.
Pellegrino said: “The first thing is to try and clean our minds and start doing simple things.
“The next couple of games we need to defend better, start to be more solid, more consistent and boost, little by little, the confidence.
“In some games we have played well but could not score more goals. This is one of the main problems and after we have made a lot of individual mistakes. Now we have to bounce back. The minimum is character and personality.
“We have to react and hopefully now in this period and in January we can change our mentality and do our talking on the pitch with actions.
“We have got the capacity to react and compete well. I know my players have good energy and they want to bounce back.”
United are also looking to rediscover their best form after dropping points over the festive period.
“Even for Manchester United it is difficult to win many games in a row because the Premier League is really competitive,” Pellegrino added. “Everybody is suffering this.”
Kelvin Davis is Saints’ new first-team coach. Golkeeper Davis played more than 300 games for the club over a 10-year period.