Pellegrino’s apology to fans as he accuses Saints players of ‘giving up’

SOUTHAMPTON manager Mauricio Pellegrino accused his players of “giving up” on Tyneside – and admits his Saints side were “never a threat” to Newcastle United. Rafa Benitez claimed a huge victory over his former player and coach, dispatching Pellegrino’s Saints team with ease during a comfortable 3-0 victory. Pellegrino was unimpressed by the attitude of his players, even apologising to travelling Saints supporters who chanted “We’ve had a shot” when Guido Carrillo finally forced Martin Dubravka to make a routine save just before the hour mark.

“When you concede in the first minute and little by little you feel that the game will be tough, every single negative impact is massive for you,” Pellegrino said.

“I observed some players who gave up and we cannot show this, to be honest. When you are losing 2-0, you have to try, and I think we tried to be in the game, to score one, but we were never a threat for Newcastle.

“The spirit of the team and the attitude is everything. We have been talking about this a lot of time from the beginning.

“You can have good players, you can have a budget, but without personality and spirit, it’s really difficult to compete at this level.

“When you do not play a good game, you have to show you are on the pitch, even running, even fighting, even playing football, and do the best we can. The worst thing was the attitude.

“We are in this position for a good reason, but we still have eight games and we are still alive.

“We have to say sorry to the fans. We did not represent the club with the values that the club has got.”