Mauricio Pellegrino has claimed that Wesley Hoedt has been left out not for disciplinary reasons nut tactical, but can we believe that ?
Mauricio Pellegrino has spoken about the ommision of Wesley Hoedt from his starting line up in the last two games.
He said:
"Just tactical reasons because I feel now I have a lot of players can do it well but I can’t control a social media story. "
"I made my decision thinking about the team and to try to find the best way for every single game.”
But you have to question whether Pellegrino is actually telling the truth or covering up the real reasons behind Hoedt's absence.
He talks about social media stories, but they have appeared because they are plausible, certainly most were baffled when Hoedt was named as substitute against Arsenal and when he did not even make the bench for the Leicester game that got tongues wagging.
That perhaps suggests that this was not tactical but there is an issue, Hoedt has been one of our better performers when he has been played, you do not just go from having him as arguably a man of the match performer in your team to not even making the bench in the space of a week.
That was not in any way shape of form tactical and for Pellegrino to even suggest it was is somewhat insulting to the supporters intelligence.
Maya Yoshida is popular amongst Saints supporters for his attitude and 100% commitment, but few would claim he is a better player than Hoedt, he has his strengths but to be blunt and nothing against Yoshida, we paid a big fee for Wesley Hoedt for a good reason, the fact that he was suddenly dropped from the team was not tactical.
You make tactical changes up front or in midfield, usually at the back you try to get a solid stable and consistent back four or three, changes are made usually on the base of form only.
Of course Pellegrino has to say something, people are asking him why Hoedt is missing, especially in the media, but it is short sighted of him to try and cover it upby suggesting it is tactical, after all that is virtually an ommision he got his tactics totally wrong.
The manager would have been better to have fielded the questions with a straight bat and said very little, of course that would have left the tongues wagging, but that is better than trying to convince the supporters that Hoedt's absence is part of some masterplan, especially as that masterplan seems to have gone totally wrong.
It will be interesting to see how this now pans out, part of the managers problem is clearly that he has issues with his two biggest signings Hoedt and Lemina, add to that Boufal and Gabbiadini are clearly not happy with the roles they have been playing this season and Pellegrino is at odds with almost half of what should be his outfield starting XI given the transfer fees paid.
The big question is how Pellegrino turns this around, he has a a divided dressing room, but how divided is it ? is it the manager out on a limb at odds with all his squad, or is it just Hoedt or Lemina who are the problem ?
Solving the problem is a little tricky, if it is just two players then it can be turned around by Pellegrino, but the performance against Leicester City suggests that it is not, that was not a squad uniting together behind their manager, it was one that appeared leaderless and bemused.
Adrenalin carried us through during most of the Arsenal game, but it was drained out of us by the way the team was allowed to run itself into the ground with no real change till it was too late, against Leicester the life, confidence and belief was gone fro the team.
Social media is a dangerous thing in football, however what professional players want from their managers is honesty and consistency, Puel had the former but lacked consistency in his team selections that caused issues that cost him his job, will Pellegrino go the same way ?
We do not have a big enough squad to handle too many changes, especially at the back where we have four defenders who are truly International class and then several who are good back ups including Yoshida and Stephens, there is not enough competition at the back to warrant changes tactically, the quality is not there to truly challenge Soares, Hoedt, VVD & Bertrand for their places either in terms of performance or tactically.
If Pellgrino had explained just why it was necessary then perhaps we would have believed him, but the proof of the pudding was in the eating and we all know what happened.
A big end of year programme now looms for the manager, by the end of it he will either have showed his strength or will be heading for the exit, all we fans ask is that he is straight with us, of course he cannot reveal every little issue behind the scenes, but he needs to be honest and not try to tell us something that it is plain to see is not the real reasons.
If Pellegrino cannot be straight in his press conferences then how can he be so in his dressing room.
I truly hope that he turns out to be the greatest manager this football club has ever had, I wish that for all our managers as I do for all our players, but I also try to tell it how it is, that is why some thing I hate Yoshida, I don't and I don't hate Pellegrino either, I want him to succeed.