Pellegrino Approval Rating: Gameweek 3

It’s fair to say Claude Puel wasn’t the most popular of figures to have graced the touchline at St. Mary’s as Southampton coach with swathes of Saints fans baying for the Frenchman’s blood at the end of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign.

Mauricio Pellegrino is the man tasked with replacing Puel following a successful season with Spanish side Alaves. It’s early days, but we took to Twitter to poll Saints fans to see what they’re think of the man now trusted to take Southampton forward.

Pellegrino now has an approval rating of 33% after Saturday’s lacklustre 0-0 draw away at Huddersfield Town and 2-0 home defeat at the hands of the Championship’s Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup midweek. This is an alarming drop of 38% from last week’s approval rating of 71%.

After the shaky 3-2 win over 10-man West Ham last week, 28% polled were “still reserving judgement.” Worded differently, but those feeling undecided about the Argentine sits at 59% in a jump of 31%.

It’s also a jump of 7% from last week of those unhappy at Pellegrino’s management so far.

Standout comments from St. Mary’s Musings followers on Twitter include:

“Why does the manager always carry the can? Same individuals over the last year, regardless of the manager, haven't been doing their jobs.” — @lucyhighnett

“Like him so far, he's not had the easiest of starts with club issues but if we can nab that all elusive goal scorer in the next 10 days...” — @aidanrudd

“We always start slow but the decisions have been poor. Out the cup, playing Tadic, Gabbi subbed? 3-5-2.” — @vibesniper37

“Would be nice to see more positive changes, or a formation change, and see if he has the balls to drop Tadic.” — @tumness93

For the sake of context, St. Mary’s Musings put up a poll asking what they thought about Puel’s reign as coach. Interestingly, 35% of those polled were still undecided about Puel after a whole season—proving how difficult it can be for a manager to make his mark on a team within a year. Though, 58% polled said they were not in favour of Puel and only 7% said they approved of the Frenchman being Southampton manager—numbers which appear to be accurate, given the hostility directed at Puel from the stands at St. Mary’s last season.

So, overall, it would appear most Saints fans are now reserving judgement on Pellegrino’s appointment. We’ll track his approval rating each gameweek to see how he gets on coaching Southampton.

Mauricio Pellegrino Approval Rating for Gameweek 1: 64%

Mauricio Pellegrino Approval Rating for Gameweek 2: 71%

Mauricio Pellegrino Approval Rating for Gameweek 3: 33%