NATHAN Jones revealed two Saints players approached him and said they did not think he should change to a five-at-the-back during Wednesday’s win over Manchester City.

The Welshman added he is open to information from his players, who can “get a feel” for the game from their unique position on the pitch, but ultimately he is the decision-maker.

Saints went on to win the EFL Cup quarter-final versus the English champions 2-0, before following it up with a 2-1 victory at Everton for Jones’s first maximum points as a Premier League manager.

Jones had revealed he spent several minutes of the half-time break in the dressing room at Goodison Park conversing, before relaying a gameplan that would go on to turn a one-goal deficit into the win.

READ MORE: Jones: First Premier League win was 'a long time coming'

And asked by the Daily Echo who is involved in those discussions, Jones responded: “It’s me and my coaching staff, we have to find solutions for the players.

Daily Echo:

“With the greatest respect, on Wednesday night, we had two players come over to me and say ‘I don’t think we should go to a five-at-the-back, we can get the press on in a four’.

“I said, with the greatest respect, ‘thank you, for that, but this is what I feel’ and we saw that we still had a threat against City.

“At Everton, we came up with something and made sure we went back to the original gameplan, and that’s all it was because we weren’t aggressive in the first-half. We had to be front-footed and we got our rewards.”

Probed if he sees the players approaching him with tactical thoughts of their own as a positive or a lack of control, Jones beamed before the question was even uttered.

“It's absolutely a positive,” he said. “I get paid to make the decision but the information I get, sometimes players can get a feel for a game and I trust my players.

“I don’t see it as anarchy, I don’t see it as them questioning my tactics. I see it as my players saying, ‘gaffer, I think we can get a bit of a press on a bit better’.

“Then I can say, ‘good, but I’m more concerned with something else and that’s why I’ve done it’, and then they go out and execute it perfectly.

“But look, I’m open for that. It’s a democracy but in a democracy there is always a decision-maker, and that’s what I’m paid to do.”

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