5 Managers who could take over at Southampton
Since Southampton sacked Claude Puel, the current Leicester City manager, they have found life in the top tier of English football very difficult. Appointing Mauricio Pellegrino during the summer of 2017 looked to be a long-term vision for the club, but with that came major disappointment and the team has struggled on the pitch.
The much-travelled Mark Hughes took over from Pellegrini during the back end of last season and managed to save the club from a relegation to the English Championship. The problem is this season looks like it might go in a similar direction as last with the club almost certainly going to be locked in a battle to stay within the division, not exactly the aims that this group of players should be aiming for given the quality that they possess.
Hughes has plenty of experience managing at the top level with Fulham, Stoke and Queens Park Rangers amongst a host of clubs he has led in the Premier League, but despite this, he has not got the best out of this Southampton team and currently they look like a shadow of the team they could be.
An opening return of 5 points from a possible 18, with 3 defeats from 6 games will already set alarm bells ringing both with supporters and with the Southampton board. In 17 games for the club Hughes has only 5 wins, (https://www.transfermarkt.com/mark-hughes/leistungsdatenDetail/trainer/1646/verein_id/180/datum_zu/2018-03-14/datum_ab/0000-00-00) and one of the most alarming issues especially for the rest of the season is that Hughes does not look like he knows what his strongest eleven is, or the best tactics to play with this team.
Away to Wolverhampton Wanderers is next up in the Premier League for Hughes and his team, fail to get a result and the pressure rightfully should be on Hughes and for his future at St Mary's. The Southampton board must surely have an idea of who could be in line to take over from Hughes if results do not improve and certainly if there is no improvement in performances.
#5 David Wagner
The current Huddersfield manager was linked strongly with the Saints job when the previous manager Mauricio Pellegrino was sacked earlier in the year, however, has stayed on with the Premier League strugglers. His current side is still winless in the Premier League, however keeping Huddersfield in the Premier League last season is still enough to merit his big reputation in the game.
The former Borussia Dortmund coach has won a lot of fans and experts over with his style of play and his ability to deploy tactics to his players, however, this season might just be a real struggle for his Terriers side who sit rock bottom of the Premier League after the opening six games. Joining Southampton would give Wagner the opportunity to work with an upgrade on players and the chance to build on his reputation within the English game.
The German manager could bring the possibility of playing a good attractive brand of football that the Southampton fans are more used to watching after the success of Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman at the club. Prizing Wagner away from Huddersfield would certainly be difficult but a move that in the long term could certainly benefit the club.