Saints form died a little in the final two months of Ralph Hasenhuttl's reign, but it could be said that some of those poor results were down to players out injured, when the Premier League returns on Boxing Day Nathan Jones will almost be back to full strength.
When Saints beat Chelsea 2-1 on Tuesday 30th August things were looking good, 7 points from their first 5 matches was a solid start and with the good form of some of the new boys to the squad, the season looked to have some promise to it.
But this game would be Romeo Lavia's last for two months as he joined Tino Livramento on the injury list and they would soon be followed by Armando Bella-Kotchap and Kyle Walker Peters who would miss the last games of Ralph Hasenhuttl's time at the club as the team could only manage 5 points of their next 9 matches that ultimately cost the Austrian his job.
But those 4 missing players were crucial, they could be said to be 4 of Saints best 5 players if you add James Ward Prowse to the total.
Nathan Jones had both Lavia and Bella-Kotchap back in the fold by the time he took over for his first game in the defeat at Anfield, although he would probably have had little input into the team selection that day, having to rely on his coaches given only having been at St Mary's for a couple of Days.
That seems like a lifetime ago now with the World Cup getting in the way, but the break was good for Saints as they are now able to have virtually a full squad ready for action when Premier League action returns in a little under two weeks time.
Lavia & Bella-Kotchap will have had time to get back to full time training with the latter being in the Germany squad for Quatar and Kyle Walker Peters is now fit again after his issues.
All 3 should be back in the squad for the visit of Brighton and be fit and ready to go.
The only one of those four injured players not likely to play is Tino Livramento, although he has returned to squad training, he still has a little ways to go and the final games of this year might be a few weeks too early, however he could be back in January.
But we can get around missing Tino, the pace of Kyle Walker Peters back in the fold will be a big help at the back.
Although some will blame our poor form entirely on Hasenhuttl they are being a little uncharitable, he was hit with injuries at the wrong time and we couldn't get a run going, now Nathan Jones doesn't have those problems, with a full squad we are quite capable of pulling clear of relegation, add to that a new signing or two in January and we should be fine.