Lawrie McMenemy said something in his speech at the opening of the Saints Exhibition at Sea City on Wednesday evening that made perfect sense and hopefully will prove prophetical.
Lawrie McMenemy was a canny lad as a Saints manager, he knew how to motivate and get the best out of players and new when they needed coaching and when they didn't.
But one bit of his speech struck home, he mentioned that he thought that Saints would be fine now they had Mark Hughes, he said that Mauricio Pellegrino was a coach and not a manager, but he had a squad that needed managing more than ite needed coaching.
In contrast Mark Hughes is a manager first and foremost and he will concentrate on managing the squad and that will be a big boost to the fight against relegation not to mention the opportunity of FA Cup glory.
I saw his point and could see where the former Saints boss was coming from, I have watched Saints teams this season who have been technically good, they knock the ball around, but they are playing to a rigid formation and it all seemed over coached, the emphasis was on pass pass pass and there was a tendency not to try and hit that killer through ball or shot, but to keep passing to a man in a Saints shirt.
At Wigan that changed and lthough the first half was difficult, as it was always going to be on a bumpy pitch with a swirling wind and a home side up for it, Saints knucked down adapted and then imposed themselves on the game, most importantly they were not afraid to pass and shoot, Paul,Cook will say his side were hard done by and didn't deserve a defeat and that is true of their first half performance, but in the second we created more chances and could have had four.
So Hughes will leave the coaching to his coaches and will man manage, he will install discipline and a work ethic to a squad high on quality, but short on confidence.
We saw just why Mark Hughes was the man for the job at Wigan, now he has a bigger test at The London Stadium, but I feel that he and indeed our squad are better placed to tackle it than they wre two weeks ago under Mauricio Pellegrino.
No disrespect to our former manager, he was a nice guy doing his best, but ultimately as Lawrie McMenemy said, he was a coach, better suited to being a number 2 than the manager of a team.