10 February 2023 , 10:43
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Under-fire Southampton boss Nathan Jones has come out fighting against his critics, believing that he's "categorically the right man for the job".
The bottom-of-the-table Saints have only picked up one win from their seven Premier League games under Jones, who left Luton in November to succeed Ralph Hasenhuttl. Although their shock quarter-final victory over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, and a much-needed win at fellow strugglers Everton, gave Southampton supporters an inkling of hope in January, fans have now turned on the Welshman - as demonstrated by their furious "get out of our club" chants during last Saturday's 3-0 loss away to Brentford.
After the crushing defeat, Jones made headlines with a series of eyebrow-raising claims; such as that he'd made 'compromises' to his style of management to benefit the Saints and that his tactical feats at Luton were some of the "best in Europe." Arsenal legend Ian Wright was among the pundits to slam his "strange" comments, but that seemingly hasn't dented the 49-year-old's confidence.
Ahead of Saturday's home game against an in-form Wolves side, the result of which is tipped to decide Jones' future as Southampton manager, he declared: "I categorically think I am the right man for the job because I know the work I do.
"If others, outside influences or anything, feel that I don't know. But if you ask me I categorically think I am the right man for the job. I know what I can do and what I do on a daily basis and I know what we need."
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Using the pre-match press conference to reflect on his previous difficulties in football, the ex- Brighton and Yeovil stalwart brought up an anecdote. "I think every situation is unique," Jones began. "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].
Nathan Jones' future as Southampton boss could be decided by Saturday's result against Wolves (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)"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," he mused.
What will be a tough test is stopping Julen Lopetegui 's resurgent team this weekend, but Jones has no fears going into the Wolves clash. "I want to test myself," he reaffirmed. "I have always wanted to test myself. I wanted to test myself and be a player and survive. I knew I wasn't brilliant as a player but I was the fittest human being in history.
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Nathan Jones is adamant that he's up for the fight at a toxic St Mary's (Robin Jones/Getty Images)"I thought 'I'm going to cling onto this dream and get as high as I can'. While I was doing that I then took coaching badges and learnt off people, and I wanted to be the best coach in the world. That's what I wanted to be. I learned to develop, then it came to a point where I thought I could be a manager. I didn't set out to be a manager but then I loved it.
"I loved the pressure, loved it when the team won, got more enjoyment out of my team playing well than me playing well when I did. Now I'm hurting like anyone else, like any Southampton fan. I'm not saying I'm a bigger Southampton fan but my life depends on it now. So I don't go to the pub after and stuff like that but my life depends on this, and I love the pressure, I love the challenge."
Jones will be hoping that his challenge of keeping Southampton up is still the same come Monday morning.