Mauricio Pellegrino encourages Southampton to turn their form around

Mauricio Pellegrino has told his Southampton players to turn their season on its head in the next month.

Southampton could drop into the relegation zone by the time they host Tottenham at St Mary’s on Sunday, with pressure mounting on manager Pellegrino after no wins in 10 Premier League encounters.

Saints face Brighton, West Brom and Liverpool in a busy run of league action, with the FA Cup clash against Watford sandwiched in the middle.

Pellegrino still expects Saints to add January recruits despite missing out on Theo Walcott, who joined Everton from Arsenal – but has called on his current crop to transform their campaign.

“We are not happy with our position but in three or four weeks’ time everything can change. It’s part of our competition,” he said.

“I feel in our team the spirit is really good and everybody is conscious about what we need.

“I receive these messages from players every day, and we have to convert these feelings into stats.”

Saints are rumoured to be closing in on deals for Monaco striker Guido Carrillo and Spartak Moscow wing Quincy Promes, and Pellegrino refused to rule out moves for either reported target.

When quizzed on Carrillo, Pellegrino replied: “He’s a player that I know and the club knows well, but I will not talk about someone that is not here.

“The player is either 100 per cent yours, or nothing.”

On Promes, Pellegrino continued: “He’s an important player, an international.
“But again, I don’t want to talk about him because he’s not our player and we have to respect that.

“The players we want to bring in are obviously offensive.

“If we bring someone in it will be important for everybody at the club.

“We have to wait and I repeat that the board is working very hard.

“The market is very hard, to bring in players is easy – but to bring in good players when a lot of teams are fighting for them, that’s difficult.

“We have to wait for players where we are sure, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.

“To bring anybody just to bring in someone? No.”

On missing out on Walcott, Pellegrino added: “That is part of the market.

“The market has got offers and demands.

“I think we did everything to try to bring this possibility here but we have to accept that. It’s part of our job. Negotiations have two sides.”