>
Nathan Jones clashed from the start.
He inherited a struggling squad that contained some players who were already resigning themselves to this season being the only one they fell into and needed to somehow inspire a change of belief.
It wasn’t the unanimous choice of the Southampton hierarchy, with strong support for Torino manager Ivan Juric among others, outweighed by key decision-maker Rasmus Ankersen’s long-term interest in Jones dating back to the days of the first at Brentford.
And then there were the supporters, disappointed at the appointment of a Championship club manager and doing little to hide it, leaving Jones shocked by some of the vitriol coming from the stands before he had managed to get halfway. his first Premier League home game.
Jones has been unable to deliver results to help him overcome those significant hurdles.
Nathan Jones was sacked by Southampton on Sunday after just three months in charge
Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to Wolves was the final nail in Jones’ coffin at St Mary’s.
He was always against it as Saints boss, with the club’s fans at his back from the start.
Just three months and 14 games into his reign, it came to an end to much relief among supporters as Southampton had to take their bet naming him had failed.
They turned to Jones in November after firing Ralph Hasenhuttl. The Austrian was seen as a good manager but unpopular with many of his players, a manager some felt they couldn’t talk to.
In that sense, Jones was considered a breath of fresh air.
He interacted with his players, he had a human touch and both the Welshman and his coaching staff were very loved by the squad as people.
Most of the squad also considered him a good manager.
However, the main problem was the disconnect between what he was trying to train and the players he had available to put that training into practice.
Jones was appointed with the task of replicating his overcoming and style in Luton.
As he described, perhaps now infamously, following the 3-0 thrashing at Brentford that pushed him to the limit, they excelled in categories such as pressing, box tackling, defending own box, aggression , shots on goal, putting pieces.
The squad considered him a good manager but he never had the right players at his disposal
Jones realized pretty quickly that he didn’t have what he needed for that task at Southampton, but he was left torn, or “committed”, as he put it after Brentford, since that was what he had to meet, a demand he was reminded of. from within his own coaching staff as well.
Jones’s team also knew they didn’t have enough athletic players for the task, and many were eager for a change in their playing style. However, in his eyes, any attempt to make those changes didn’t come fast enough.
And, in the end, no middle ground was reached and the lack of clarity in approach was evident in Southampton’s most important results: one win and seven losses in Jones’ eight Premier League games.
Jones’ attempt to replicate the expected defensive improvement was undermined by injuries.
Jones was ready to make a change in goal after the World Cup and bring Alex McCarthy back.
It was felt that the older McCarthy’s greater experience would help him run the Southampton defense slightly better than young prospect Gavin Bazunu at this stage of his career.
Jones realized pretty quickly that he didn’t have enough athletic players on his team.
The fired boss also didn’t have much luck when it came to injuries during his time in charge.
But just before McCarthy returned, he sprained his ankle and hasn’t made the team since.
Armel Bella-Kotchap has struggled with injuries that have sometimes left him unable to train for half a week.
Duje Caleta-Car has been trying to manage hamstring and other fitness issues, hence his recent appearance in the B team as part of attempts to bring him up to speed.
The January signing of Mislav Orsic has also been a cause for concern.
What Jones needed before all that was some early wins to calm the storm and calm the doubts bubbling beneath the surface among his players about whether a Championship-appointed manager could keep them in the Premier League.
But they never came – he lost his first four league games before finally winning his fifth and only win at Everton – and the initial enthusiasm following his appointment was replaced by a dwindling belief in him among the team as results failed to back up the methods. .
He was also considered overly emotional in his reaction after the games, which caused concern.
At times he was also considered too emotional in his reaction after the games, something else that caused concern. He was told that he seemed distraught after one particular game.
His post-match response to the defeat at Brentford was a more public example of that, and in retrospect, Jones can look back on some of his media interactions with some regret.
That occasion at Brentford included a downplaying of talented midfielder Romeo Lavia, after his substitution led to anti-Jones chants, and raised eyebrows in terms of how he chose to handle speaking publicly about a young player.
Unfortunately for Jones, with the Southampton results and the disapproval impossible to ignore in the stands, there was far less surprise when the ax fell just before 10am on Sunday morning.