If Saints lose at Watford then a large percentage of Saints support will be calling for the head of Mauricio Pellegrino, but will it prove to be the straw that beaks the camel's back for the club board. Arron Sanders takes a look.

Current Saints manager Mauricio Pellegrino’s future is currently under scrutiny, although the side are creating enough chances under his guidance such as the home game draws against Arsenal and Huddersfield Town to ensure wins, however the sides tendency to sit deep even when they have a lead has meant they have dropped needless points in recent games such as the two goals conceded at St Mary’s to Crystal Palace in the last 20 minutes last week.

Saints' former manager Claude Puel reached an EFL Cup final this time last year and yet by May there was a mood among the clubs board that the playing squad would not progress under his guidance, however the Frenchman is now performing well at Leicester City.

With Pellegrino there is not the disconnect between players and manager that was felt so strongly at the end of the Puel era and for the time being it is that bond which gives the Argentine the grace period that other Premier League clubs have not shown but also gives the club some reason for optimism. Even so, Pellegrino is under pressure to get results and acknowledged that the Watford game could dictate his future during his pre match press conference.

The Argentine ticked the boxes of Saints’ rigorous criteria for a manager although, he has at times over the season cut quite a withdrawn, contemplative figure. Saints’ two best managers of the recent Premier League era — Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman — had very different strengths. One was a developer of young talent, the other a big name with the authority to match. Where Pellegrino fits in is not yet obvious and it is that lack of direction which could ultimately become his downfall.

After four seasons of being lauded, the club were always mindful that there might be a time when they found themselves under pressure and then the approach they have adopted would be called into question. They are resistant to being dragged into the kind of short-termism that others, like Swansea City, have succumbed to and are not going to abandon the strategy that has made them successful. That will mean a test of nerve in the next few weeks.

However it remains to be seen how long new owner Gao Jisheng, will be patient with the clubs strategy if the potential of relegation and also the threat of a sharp decrease in value of his new investment continues to be tested.

What do you think Saints fans how long does Pellegrino have left in charge? Will a defeat at Watford mean it is his last game as Saints manager?

Photo: Action Images

bigmart added 08:51 - Jan 13 While I would prefer for Pellegrino to turn it around and go on a winning streak I can't really see it happening. Now that the disruption of vD has gone there are no more excuses. If we lose today and end up in the bottom 3, I would have thought it would be time to go. I have generally defended to club, management and players, BUT, there are times when decisions have to be made.

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ericofarabia added 09:31 - Jan 13 So much for The Little Black Box having both Player and Managerial Targets Identified in advance for just such occasions as we find ourselves in now!! Nearly halfway through the month and we find ourselves no nearer beefing up the team with a regular goalscorer or creative midfielder, let alone replacing a pretty inept manager. Okay, as a club we have managed to keep most of our targets close to our chest, but as each game goes by the possibility (probability) of relegation looms larger. A drab 0-0 today will do little to comfort the fans, and just delay the inevitable meltdown that will erupt with our next defeat.

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the_saint added 09:38 - Jan 13 I think he will be here until the end of the season regardless if we drop in the bottom three. I am seriously thinking about renewing my season ticket and before anybody says you should support your team through good and bad times my reason to the board would be how can I justify paying £1300 ( as I take my sons) plus all the match day and merchandise costs when I’m not being entertained or enjoying it. Now I don’t take this lightly as I have been watching saints for 40 years 20 as a season ticket holder and I go home and away ( more expense). Just comes a time when you start to think that all the money I spend on football could be put into the family budget like many other saints fans out there that can’t afford to go to games it don’t make them any less a saints fan than me or you. Mr jeshing take note even though you get the riches from sky don’t ever turn your back on the fans as we are the ones that make special.

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petedoors1 added 10:32 - Jan 13 It might save us from Relegation if we lose today and Pellegrino then gets sacked. We need a good manager to get us out of this relegation scrap.
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NewburySaint added 10:34 - Jan 13 the saint, I am in the same boat, & mindset, as you (28 years a ST holder & have 2 young children) and so couldn’t have put it better myself, enough said!
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A1079 added 11:46 - Jan 13 I have seen nothing in this manager to suggest he is up to the job. With Puel, he showed some qualities and certainly had some ability, it is just that the style and type of play, apart from the final and a couple of games either side of it, was dull and uninspiring and who wants to keep seeing endless home games with little entertainment value and no goals. Sadly, Pelligrino does not appear to offer anything - he doesn't seem to know his best side, even when he had a full squad - changing the team from one game to the next, he seems tactically naïve, on the face of it, he does not come across as a motivator. My personal view, he is the wrong man for the job. But, I think he will remain no matter what happens and partly that may be down to the fact, change him now and for whom at this stage of the season? Unless you go out to someone like Van Gaal and offer some wacking salary with an added bonus if he keeps us up, we are almost in a similar situation as 2005 where any appointment will now feel like a panic measure. The cynical in me, almost feels that the club/board are preparing for relegation to the championship. Kreuger recent poor PR event and decrying the size of the club is also a more interesting point than what was made of it. Quite why they would is beyond me, but that is a gut feeling. On a personal note that would not bother me too much as I like the championship and it would open up a world of away matches, but the way this season has been handled is wholly unacceptable and negligent mishandling and some people should be looking at the door at the end of the season no matter what the final outcome. I sympathise with the torn feeling of keep spending hard earned cash, family economic demands and spending money only to keep coming away frustrated and that unless you are wealthy, few of us have a bottomless pit. Certainly I cannot afford to do it but I am a passionate Saints fan whether I am there at the game or not.

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BuyEastleighFC4aBtea added 13:54 - Jan 13 Frankly I'm fed up reading about these attacks on our manager in the media let him get on with his job if he's sack so what.. let's face it there is a few poor performing teams as well in the PL The reason we are having issues this season is because we keep selling our best players season after season two wins and shoot up the league if we do that than we are midtable again! Stop blaming this manager and start asking questions of the board it's performance that should brought into question and no one else.

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kenis added 14:09 - Jan 13 Pellegrino is damned if he doesn’t change a team that’s isn’t performing and damned when he does for not knowing his first choices. I think it took him too long to play Charlie but Hoijbjerg has come in and done extremely well when form and injuries gave him his chance and Boufal has got ahead of Redmond. I also like many would like to see two up top, not a fan of the new 4-4-1-1 but at least he’s trying. Changing now means either a change in strategy for the manager post or getting someone else the fans won’t have heard of and who won’t have premiership and relegation battle experience, so unlikely he’ll go I think. (If we did change tack, Hughes appears to have lost his way and motivation, Monk & Beattie double act? Can they motivate the minders day international footballer? Koeman is probably too divisive, expensive and a step backwards.) I don’t know if it’s coincidence but Puel seemed to get more out of Gabbiadini than Pellegrino is able to get and actually shows how now any new man should be picked based on their fit with the playing squad and ability to motivate and develop the existing players. A bit like Carvalhal at Swansea taking out recent results and going with the guy on your short list would probably mean Pellegrino would still be the black box choice. Anyone saying let’s drop down and have some excitement needs to remember what it was like going week after week to half empty stadiums watching us get beat, less quality and when there was a player with talent watch him get sold to a club higher up the pyramid. We - like every other club now bar the newly promoted- can’t afford to drop down, our squad size and wage bill is mid table premier league, we’d go down and may never come back up. The three years on the rise and the first few back in the Prem were the best, but they were a bit like Leicester winning the league, they were a possible but unprobable fluke and I’d rather stay up and go again than risk going down.

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aceofthebase added 14:31 - Jan 13 I have just seen the lineup and wonder how we intend to score a single goal. Please, please, Saints prove me wrong.
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aceofthebase added 15:49 - Jan 13 It's worked! we are two goals up! What do I know!
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petedoors1 added 16:37 - Jan 13 Day 13 and Still No Incoming Players?
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petedoors1 added 16:54 - Jan 13 2-2 SACK THE PRAT.
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the_saint added 17:05 - Jan 13 Screamed g at him to make subs with a couple of min to go to kill the game off and he waits to they score total muppet
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aceofthebase added 17:24 - Jan 13 The players on the pitch just sat back and became completely disjointed. The manager absolutely helpless and must wonder why his players can't play for 45 minutes every game.
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aceofthebase added 17:24 - Jan 13 The players on the pitch just sat back and became completely disjointed. The manager absolutely helpless and must wonder why his players can't play for 45 minutes every game.
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dirk_doone added 19:16 - Jan 13 We need Paul Mitchell in as DOF and Javier Calleja in as manager. If Les Reed is allowed to carry on, we are going to nosedive down the leagues like Sunderland. #LesReed Out #PellegrinoOut
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