Romeu: Players must take blame for Southampton slump, not Pellegrino

Oriol Romeu believes he and his Southampton teammates must shoulder blame for the club's perilous league standing, rather than embattled manager Mauricio Pellegrino.

Sunday's 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool left the Saints in 18th place. The Premier League's bottom half is so tight that a win next time out could lift Southampton to 13th, but pressure is mounting on Pellegrino as he has failed to instill a discernible philosophy since he was hired last summer.

"It’s not the manager's problem," Romeu insisted, as reported by Reuters. "We are the ones playing, and the ones that have to change this."

He added: "This season we have conceded too many easy goals. Then closing the game down, we have had too many times when we have lost points in the last minutes, so we need to know how to close the games, how to play under pressure, and then we will know how to get points.

"It is going to be very, very tight until the end (of the season). Every point is going to be important."

Southampton and West Bromwich Albion take a break from their respective battles against the drop in an FA Cup fifth-round encounter next Saturday at the Hawthorns. The Saints are next in league action against Burnley on Feb. 24.