Southampton Boss Mauricio Pellegrino Calls for Calm as Saints' Plight Continues

Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino has urged his side to remain calm after they slipped into the relegation places following their 2-0 home loss to Liverpool on Sunday. 

The Saints headed into the game on the back of their first win in 13 games, but they looked sluggish against a classy Liverpool side and have now won just one of their last 14 Premier League games. 

The loss, coupled with wins for their relegation rivals, leaves Southampton one point from safety in 18th place. Argentine boss Pellegrino sought to quell the mounting pressure, calling for his side to remain calm and to keep fighting: "We are in one situation, but we have to keep going, keep fighting," he told Sky Sports. 

"We understand the emotion of the fans, everything in the Premier League is tight and everything changes.

"I am convinced we have got good pace to try to win the next game. It will be long until the end, we have to be there, recover our mentality and in football everything can change in two or three weeks."

"We didn't show what we are in the second half. The two goals were too much. We had to show another phase because we needed to score just one goal to be in the game until the end," Pellegrino continued. 

"The second half was really bad. Overall the anxiety was really high, we were not calm and gave the ball away all of the time."

The Saints' next Premier League fixture will be away to rock-bottom West Brom - where Pellegrino's side will be hoping to clinch only their 6th win of the season.