Southampton entered Saturday’s clash with Wolves desperately in need of a result.
After all, the Saints were bottom of the Premier League standings, four points from the safety zone. The matchup was also crucial for Wolves as the West Midlands club started the day just two points off the bottom three.
The south coast club found themselves in a glorious position early in the match. New signing Carlos Alcaraz put the Saints in front and Wolves were down to 10 men in a span of just three minutes.
Despite the man advantage for over an hour of playing time, Southampton lost the game.
The Wolves stunned the Saints with two second half goals to rack up the massive three points. An own goal from Jan Bednarek in the 73rd minute leveled the score. Then a late goal from Joao Gomes sealed the deal for the visitors.
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As if Nathan Jones wasn’t already feeling the heat, the excruciating loss added to the pressure on the head coach. After the game, Jones was full of emotions. “It really is a lot of emotions, but it’s really disappointing,” the manager told Sky Sports in his post-game interview.
“To be fair, we were in full control of the game when [Wolves] had 11 men. When they got 10 men down, he was actually a bit apprehensive. But I thought we controlled the game with no problem. We went head on, we were aggressive. To be honest with you, we were a proper team.”
“Then, when they lowered 10 men, there were no problems. Then we had a glorious chance to make it 2-0 and we didn’t. And then that seemed to push them a little bit more and then they showed a little bit more quality in the last third.”
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Jones also pointed to the fact that Southampton had 17 shots, but only two on target. Clearly, the manager was not happy with the finishing touches for his players going forward.
“We have to show a little more quality and killer instinct,” Jones said. “We had 17 shots. When we don’t take risks and put the balls over the crossbar, it’s always going to be difficult”.
The unforgivable loss could put pressure on Southampton officials to make another change to the position. They have already made one management change this season when Ralph Hasenhüttl was sacked in November.
However, Jones stated that the club has to keep fighting. “I couldn’t feel more pressure than I have this week. We have to keep fighting,” Jones explained.
Photo Credit: IMAGO/PA Images
