SAINTS manager Nathan Jones admitted new signing Mislav Orsic “needs to do more” but backed the Croatian international to find his feet in England.

The 30-year-old became Jones’s first acquisition at St Mary’s when he joined from Dinamo Zagreb for just over £5million this month.

Orsic was introduced gradually with substitute appearances, after scoring the winner in the World Cup third-place playoff in December, but has now made back-to-back starts.

The latest of those came as Saints defeated Championship Blackpool 2-1 in the FA Cup fourth round, but Orsic is yet to find himself coming close to a first goal.

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The Croat is likely to find himself on the bench on Tuesday, when Saints face Newcastle United in the EFL Cup semi-final’s second leg, after 120 minutes across the last week.

Daily Echo: Nathan Jones

“He needs to do more. Absolutely he needs to do more,” Jones told the Daily Echo, asked for his thoughts on the new recruit’s start to life at St Mary’s.

“There's bags of ability there and everything but he needs to do more. But let's be honest, he's two games into an English career.

“He's come from Zagreb where football is different and everything's different but we'll expect more from him over time. He'll get there and we've given him minutes.

Jones continued: “His two starts have been against Newcastle in a semi-final and against Blackpool in the fourth round, so he's had a good bit of exposure.

“He's had minutes in the Premier League. Let's judge him over time. At the minute we're not seeing the best of him and he needs to do more but he'll get there.”

Orsic has scored 129 goals across a decorated career, which includes four Croatian titles, appearances in two major tournaments and few injury lay-offs.

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