Maya Yoshida Makes Impressive Comparison Between Mauricio Pellegrino and Ex-Southampton Boss
Now entering his fifth year with Southampton, centre-back Maya Yoshida is one of the Saints' most trustable sources when it comes to assessing new managers.
The Japanese international has played every minute of the season so far under new boss Mauricio Pellegrino and has been discussing the Argentinean's start to life at St.Mary's with the Southern Daily Echo.
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“Compared to last season you can immediately see we are more aggressive. “We are more attacking. Last season we were defensively organised but a little bit too defensive. But we are trying to dominate games this season and most of the time control the game."
Pellegrino joined the Saints, replacing Claude Puel, from Deportivo Alaves, off the back of leading the newly-promoted side to an impressive ninth-place finish in La Liga.
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“He has a good philosophy and we have to understand what we need to do and the training sessions are also really hard, but I had an experience under [Mauricio] Pochettino which was similar and I’m sure if he continues like this we can develop.”
The comparison to the Tottenham Manager will please Southampton fans, who enjoyed life under Pochettino as the Saints finished eighth in 2013/14 whilst playing an attacking brand of football.
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According to Yoshida, Pellegrino could bring a style of football to St.Mary's this season: “They both like to play football. They like to press high and be aggressive. We have to fight for that. Our training sessions are really hard and similar [to Pochettino]."
“Under Pochettino many players fly to another level and we need to take this opportunity to learn from that and have a good example to learn form. So why don’t we take this opportunity to improve ourselves?”
If Yoshida is to be believed, then Southampton are in for an exciting season ahead and the Saints will be in for a good chance of exceeding their eight-place finish from last year.
