Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has put Graziano Pelle’s yellow card down to frustration following his fifth booking of the season against Stoke yesterday.
Bojan scored the only goal of the game in the 10th minute as Stoke defended admirably against the Saints at St.Mary’s and Pelle’s yellow card means that he will miss the trip to Manchester City next week in the Premier League.
Pelle already has nine goals this season in all competitions and will be a big miss for Southampton at The Etihad. With Jay Rodriguez injured for the foreseeable future and Shane Long only just having returned from injury; it will be interesting to see who Koeman plays up top next week.
It was a rash moment for Pelle as he was booked for the kicking the ball away in frustration. Ronald Koeman has put the card down to Pelle not controlling himself in the right manner:
It’s all about the frustration of the player.
He was not playing well, he was not scoring and the team was not winning, but you have to control yourself always.
That’s difficult, we know. But, ok, if it doesn’t happen today maybe it happens next week.
It’s always a question if you are one booking from a suspension. It’s always when, when, when it happens.
Ok, normally you have to control yourself. He knows. We know. We have to accept it and we will play another [number] nine next week.
