Eight games. That’s all it took for Nathan Jones’s Premier League opportunity to disintegrate in his hands.
The former Luton - and now former Saints boss - oversaw a total of 14 games on the South Coast but with the club rooted to the bottom of the table, it’s those eight Premier League fixtures that really stand out.
One win. Zero draws. Six defeats.
Six goals scored. Two scored from open play.
16 goals conceded.
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The Jones era at St Mary’s is in the past just about as quickly as it arrived and in its wake there’s a bizarre and disastrous three months left behind.
Here’s how things unravelled so dramatically for the manager in the space of a few short - or rather long - weeks…
Liverpool 3-1 Southampton, Anfield
November 12, 2022
Visiting Anfield just 48 hours after his appointment, it was something of a free hit for Nathan Jones as his side signed off before the World Cup break with defeat to Liverpool.
After just one training session with his new group of players, Jones stuck with a largely unchanged side from the final match of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s reign, sticking with the back-five that had been in place for that 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United.
The new manager was almost instantly given a rude awakening as the harshness of the top flight when Roberto Firmino handed the hosts the lead after just six minutes.
And while Saints eventually fell 3-1, Jones would have felt buoyed by his side’s refusal to accept defeat equalising shortly after Firmino’s opener when Adams headed home before missing a flurry of chances in the second-half with a two-goal deficit.
The three goals conceded was far from ideal and the inability to take chances that could have changed the momentum of the occasion was part of a much wider developing theme but it was easy enough to be optimistic about Jones’s chances with the World Cup break ahead to provide respite and relief.
Speaking after the match, Jones lamented his team’s slow start to the game and promised that would change under him. Unfortunately, that was one of many problems he failed to solve as Saints ended up conceding the opening goal in the first half of five of their next seven league games.
Position post-match: 19th, two points adrift of safety
Southampton 1-3 Brighton & Hove Albion, St Mary’s
December 26, 2022
Warning signs were already flashing prior to Brighton’s St Mary’s visit but by full-time those sirens had grown in volume and frequency. Despite only returning from the World Cup break six days earlier in a slender League Cup victory against Lincoln City, Jones’s Saints appeared completely lost as Brighton ripped right through them.
The boss certainly wasn’t helped by a catastrophic piece of goalkeeping from Gavin Bazunu that handed Adam Lallana the opening goal but as would become commonplace, he failed to inspire a resurgence.
A Romain Perraud own goal made it 2-0 at half-time before Pascal Gross added a brilliant third as a timid Saints side backed off and allowed the Brighton midfielder to pick his spot from outside the box.
James Ward-Prowse notched the first in a flurry of goals to give Saints a consolation but Jones’s side were thoroughly outclassed on a day that saw some move from concerned to doubtful.
The result also left Saints on the foot of the Premier League table, only adding to the growing panic around St Mary’s.
Position post-match: 20th, two points adrift
Fulham 2-1 Southampton, Craven Cottage
December 31, 2022
The vast majority of Saints performances under Jones were far from good enough. That’s why they accumulated a total of three points in his brief tenure. But this game, must have had Jones starting to feel he was quite simply cursed.
Despite starting sluggishly - once again - Saints grew into the game and only conceded in the first half due to an unlucky deflection off of Ward-Prowse. But they hung in the game and equalised in typical fashion under the 49-year-old, a piece of magic from his captain.
They had chances to go for all three points but a draw would have been fine. Instead, they displayed their disappearing backbone and inability to defend from set-pieces, Paulinha heading home with two minutes of normal time remaining to snatch Jones’s first-ever Premier League point.
The result - yet another defeat - was a major concern. But the performance finally showed elements of improvement.
However, there was perhaps an even greater concern when Jones admitted after the match that his players had simply failed to listen to he and his coaching staff’s instructions for Fulham’s first goal from a training ground routine corner.
"We showed them the exact same set-play ten times," said the Welshman. "It's not the first time Fulham have done that. It's exactly the same positionally.
"To be fair, there are two offside players in the goalkeeper's eye-line for the first goal which we're not enamoured with either but VAR have cleared that. It's not something that's happened off the cuff as they do it week in, week out."
Should Jones have publicly denounced his players? Probably not. Should his players have stepped up for their manager? Absolutely. But either way, it was a theme of disharmony that never really left.
Position post-match: 20th, two points adrift of safety
Southampton 0-1 Nottingham Forest, St Mary’s
January 4, 2023
A new year and a new opportunity in an absolutely massive game. With both teams entering the night in the relegation zone, there was no mystery as to what was at stake. With fans already starting to turn on Jones, a win would have completely altered the mood. But defeat would merely emphasise to fans why they were right to have misgivings.
In a classically Jones Saints performance, his side fell completely flat as they failed to muster a single shot on target while gifting Forest their first-half winner.
It was a day of familiar themes. The fine margins. The failures in attack. The inability to defend for 90 consecutive minutes. And the boos that greeted the final whistle.
Jones already seemed on borrowed time despite his public belief that his team was getting closer.
“But we want to play front-footed, we want to play in the final third and make sure we’re playing in the other half. We defended well enough tonight - Nottingham Forest didn’t have any real opportunities. And we had plenty of opportunities around the box, we’ve just got to demonstrate more quality.”
This was a trend that continued throughout Jones’s reign. Brought in at least in part to help alleviate Saints’ defensive woes - according to Rasmus Ankersen - Jones often spoke about how he felt his team was on the right track in that record. But at no point could they put it all together, ending with zero Premier League clean sheets across Jones’s reign.
Post-match position: 20th, three points adrift of safety
Everton 1-2 Southampton, Goodison Park
January 14, 2022
Respite finally arrived Jones’s way following the Forest defeat as he earned his first win against Premier League opposition with victory at Selhurst Park in the FA Cup before shocking the world to beat Manchester City 2-0 in the League Cup quarter-final.
Armed with a bit of momentum for the first time under Jones, Saints once again gave themselves a mini-mountain to climb by conceding from a set-piece - this time Amadou Onana heading in shortly before half-time.
But on this occasion, they came roaring back into the contest. Ward-Prowse equalised just after the interval before the talisman notched a rapturous winner with a piece of dead-ball magic 12 minutes prior to full-time.
It was a week that seemed to galvanise the entire club and as Ward-Prowse and Che Adams pushed Jones to the front of the celebrations, it appeared a week that would galvanise the manager’s reign as well. He didn’t even make it another month.
This was the second of three real relegation six-pointers Jones and his team faced. In their credit, they got job done in this huge clash. But they lost the other two.
Post-match position: 20th, one point adrift of safety
Southampton 0-1 Aston Villa, St Mary’s
January 21, 2023
Back. Down. To. Earth.
If there was one game that summed up Jones’s truly disastrous spell in charge, then it’s a far more forgettable defeat than the drubbing to Brentford or the collapse against Wolves. It’s this one. Boring, uninspiring, and ultimately, zero points collected.
Che Adams saw a goal disallowed in the first half before Adam Armstrong missed a golden opportunity in the second. They did then have the ball in the net shortly after through, of course, Ward-Prowse, but this time the captain was denied by VAR’s belief that Moi Elyounoussi had committed a foul in the build-up.
The disallowed goal seemed to quell any growing momentum from Jones’s side and then came the true cherry on top of the ugliness that was this failure. With just over ten minutes left to play, the visitors, who had barely threatened scored the only goal of the game.
As predictable as it could be, Ollie Watkins got free from a set-piece and nodded home to turn the previous weekend’s Goodison win into something far in the rearview mirror.
"It was a goal that was overturned softly,” Jones said after the game of his team’s second disallowed goal. “I'm just really, really frustrated because I feel we deserved something from the game.
"We showed real naivety on the set play [for Watkins' goal]. The only way we are conceding is either [through] a counter-attack or set play.
"If we keep those out then we've got a good side."
They never did manage to keep ‘those’ out. They also never became a good side.
Post-match position: 20th, two points adrift of safety
Brentford 3-0 Southampton, Brentford Community Stadium
February 4, 2023
This wasn’t quite the end for Jones. But really it was. Much of the faith built up by the Everton success had already disappeared when Saints stepped out on the pitch in West London.
The defeat to Aston Villa certainly dampened things but the truly strange team selection en-route to rolling over at St James’ Park in the second-leg of Saints’ EFL Cup semi-final did even more damage to the belief around the boss.
Needing a response, Saints offered the exact opposite. From the opening whistle, Jones’s side were second-best as Brentford controlled proceedings while missing a number of glorious opportunities to make their frail foes pay. Not to worry though for Thomas Frank and his troops - the Saints collapse was on its way.
In the space of five minutes before half-time, Saints crumbled to concede twice and all-but end the match as a contest. The hosts added a third late on as Saints once again suffered from their remarkably consistent inability to defend crosses.
It was the heaviest defeat under Jones’s watch and destroyed the idea that he was in the process of shoring up the Saints defence. Perhaps the most damage came after the game, though, as Jones launched into a bizarre tirade, seemingly suggesting that he had lost faith in his own ideas or gone away from them.
“I've compromised in terms of certain principles because of, one, personnel but, two, the way that people want to play and I've compromised because of fans and so on, compromised on a few little things but no more.
“I've been very successful playing a real fluid style. I tried to implement that at Stoke City and It didn't work because of certain things, then I came back to Luton, we were a really aggressive, front-footed side.
"Statistically, there weren't any better than me around Europe in terms of aggression, clean sheets, defending your box, balls in the box, expected goals - all those things. We were pound for pound the best because we were spending next to nothing and producing so much and I've gone away from that.
“Maybe it's the Premier League because of how things look, because of certain players and internationals and stuff like that, but I’ve compromised certain things and I won’t do it again.”
From the moment he opened his mouth in the press conference room at Brentford, the writing was on the wall. It’s hard to come back from the above and while he lasted another week, Jones wouldn’t come back from it.
Post-match position: 20th, four points adrift of safety
Southampton 1-2 Wolves, St Mary’s
February 11, 2023
Finally, and somewhat mercifully, the end. Jones tried to go down fighting, putting out the strangest of his many strange team selections with Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right-centre-back in a back five and James Bree further forward.
Incredibly, it actually worked. Saints started the game with good energy and Maitland-Niles looked mostly comfortable in his new role. An excellent strike from Charly Alcaraz gave Saints the first goal of the game for the very first time under Jones and when Mario Lemina was sent off for a second yellow shortly after, it seemed that the previous week’s post-Brentford reprieve might actually lead to rewards.
But no. Once again, as has been a theme for at least the past year, Saints collapsed. Even against ten men they retreated into their shell and allowed Wolves to build up a bank of belief. That belief turned to concrete joy when Jan Bednarek - or Janny B as Jones affectionately dubbed him - clumsily put through his own net.
And from there, it seemed there would only be one outcome: a Wolves win and the end of Jones’s tenure. With just three minutes of normal time remaining the former duly arrived following another shocking passage of defending. And the latter? It arrived Sunday morning in the form of a brutally short statement on the club website.
“Southampton Football Club can confirm it has parted company with Men’s First Team Manager Nathan Jones.
“First Team Coaches Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan have also left the club.
“First Team Lead Coach Rubén Sellés will take charge of training and prepare the team ahead of next weekend’s game against Chelsea.”
And with that, just as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone.
Current Position: 20th, four points adrift of safety
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