Sourced from Daily Echo article
Pellegrino: Two strikers is not the answer
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Mauricio Pellegrino does not believe that playing two strikers is the answer to Saints’ home goalscoring woes.
Saints have scored in just one of their last nine games at St Mary’s going into the visit of high flying Manchester United tomorrow.
With Manolo Gabbiadini, Charlie Austin and Shane Long vying for the striker’s role, some have suggested that Pellegrino could change system and play two up top.
However, the manager gave an impassioned reasoning as to why it is unlikely to happen.
He said: “It depends on the players, but if you see the majority of teams, why do the biggest and the best teams in the world play with one striker? Everybody is wrong, or not?
“For me it is not to put people in front, but to arrive with people in the box. It’s completely different the concept.
“Obviously, if you put people there (strikers) you will be strong in one moment, but the fight in modern football for me is to control the game, and you can control the game when you put people in the middle, more defenders, the winger, even the second striker. This is the key for me for 90 per cent of the games.
“Sometimes you have to play with three centre backs, sometimes with two strikers, and we did this in the past with Charlie, Shane, Manolo in some games, and we will keep going because you never know what will happen in the game.
“To score goals, my belief, it’s not the truth, it’s my belief, it’s not just to put in strikers.”
When asked whether simply calling for more strikers was too simplistic a way of looking at the problem, Pellegrino replied: “When you think about the manager do you think the manager will leave someone on the bench to not score goals. ‘I will leave a striker there because I don’t want to score goals’. This is not true.
“I try to put out my best team. The manager is the only person who wins, draws and loses every game, and I try to put the best. I make mistakes because it’s my point of view, but I make the best for Southampton. Not one player. I have to think about everybody, and the club, not just one player or the system “I choose 11 players because I think they will be the better player, best prepared to win the game.”
Saints’ three goals against West Ham was the blip in their recent home drought, but Pellegrino is hoping for better.
“You never know which is the recipe to score more goals,” he admitted. “Sometimes I will repeat that my job is to try to create an offensive connection to create chances and to be fair the other day I think we create chances and deserve to win the game.
“The majority of the game we were close to the goal with a lot of players inside the box and we are trying more and more.
“If I start with two strikers it doesn’t mean we score more goals.
“You can receive more crosses for example but you can be weaker in wide areas because you have just one player.
“In the Premier League between eighth and 17th there was six points and not too many goals between them and we were in this group.
“I see every game as an opportunity to improve this number.”
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