You would have thought that Nathan Jones would be a little more careful in what he says to the media after his car crash post match interview at Brentford, but as we head towards the home match with Wolves he has once again been saying some strange things.
I have nothing personal against Saints manager Nathan Jones, but I hoped he would be keeping things quiet before the do or die game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, but it seems that he can't just shut up and let his football do the talking.
Speaking about our trio of injured players, Juan Larios, Kyle Walker Peters & Stuart Armstrong Jones had this to say:
"It’s a bit early for Juan. The other two [Armstrong and Walker-Peters] are a lot further ahead so, how early it is Saturday to play them, because they’re important players, again, not because we don’t like them or think they can’t improve the team, it’s about putting them into games when they’re ready so that’s what we’ll do.”
This sounds like something you get in the school playground "not because we don’t like them" what a strange sentence, why would he suggest that he did or did not like them, no one has suggested anything else, is he getting a bit paranoid you have to ask yourself.
Jones also denied that he there was any bust up's on the training ground or that he was at odds with any members of his squad.
Asked to clarify Caleta-Car’s situation for supporters, Jones told the Daily Echo: "It was a precaution. Some changes we make are precautionary to look after players and that’s first team or B team. Duje has trained fully since.
"We felt because of the suspension he was deconditioned, so did we want him to travel to Brentford and sit in the hotel? There’s only so much you can do there, or do I say to him he gets match minutes so he is better equipped and ready for if selected to play against Wolves.
Another strange quote, Caleta-Car was suspended for one match, that being the home game against Blackpool in the FA Cup, when most of the other players who were first choice at the time were rested, some came off the bench and others did not, indeed James Ward Prowse was not even in the squad.
Caleta Car was fit to be on the bench for the trip to Newcastle on the Wednesday evening, but did not get on the pitch, on the Friday he found himself playing for the B team and was fit to start that game and looked perfectly ok up to the half time whistle.
Given his last game between the Newcastle game sending off and the B team game was only 10 days and that he had trained full time up to that, just how had he become deconditioned.
James Bree made his Saints debut up at Newcastle exactly 10 days after his last game for Luton Town, why was he not deconditioned after 10 days, yet Caleta-Car was ?
But perhaps his strangest comment was a rambling anecdote to try and justify that he was the man to save Saints.
Reflecting on his previous difficulties in football, the ex- Brighton and Yeovil player brought up this anecdote.
"I think every situation is unique, but look, I went to Luton, I was homesick when I went to Luton when I was a player. The manager left, David Pleat left, my next move was then to go to Spain [with second-tier outfit Badajoz].
"No logic in that because I'm homesick in Luton and then I decide to go to Spain. I enjoy a challenge, I want to be the best version of me. I could have stayed in a mining community, been a PE teacher and had a nice life, married a nice Welsh girl. Beautiful. I didn't. I want to test myself on every level. And that's nothing against Welsh women,"
What a strange thing to say, just what did it mean in reference to Southampton Football Club, Jones has mentioned in the past that his in laws are Saints fans, was he suggesting that he could have married a Welsh woman rather than her !
I actually feel a little bit sorry for Jones here, he strikes me as a man who is perhaps a genuine person, there is no reason why he shouldn't be, nice people manage football clubs and fail, it doesn't make them bad people just bad managers, likewise bad people win a lot of things in football, people like them for that.
Jones seems to be desperately trying to justify his position at every turn, he seems eager for people to like him and respect him, sadly I think he needs to just shut up and let the football do the talking, that is what will win him respect and ultimately decide whether he has a future at St Mary's in the longer term.
He seems to not be in control of his feelings when in the spotlight, all the pictures I have downloaded to this site bar about two have him waving his arms about in a very animated fashion, football managers need to lead from the front and gain the respect from their players that way, in any football dressing room and i mean any from Sunday League upwards, the players would be sniggering if their manager had outbursts such as this, I doubt Southampton FC is any different.
Underneath it all Nathan Jones might be an honest and thoroughly decent human being, but that counts little in football.