Sack race odds: Southampton boss Nathan Jones has backed himself into a corner

• Published before Southampton's 2-1 defeat to Wolves

Witnessing things in the wild, in their natural habitat, is always a thing of beauty. So it was wonderful to see what is essentially the conclusion of a Football Cliches podcast conversation play out at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The crowd couldn't have hit the notes cleaner when it comes to piling pressure on Southampton boss Nathan Jones during the 3-0 defeat to the Bees.

Romeo Lavia's substitution elicited boos and shouts of "you don't know what you're doing" from visiting Saints fans, followed up by chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning" by Brentford supporters. Saturday's sonata had a fitting finale from the Southampton end, too...

"Nathan Jones, your football is shit."

The football has, indeed, been shit.

A shock Carabao Cup victory over Manchester City aside, Southampton have been a rather oppressive outfit to watch under the guidance of Jones, especially in the Premier League.

Six losses in seven league fixtures has seen Saints drop from 18th to the bottom of the table during his short tenure, and Southampton have barely tested the opposition in that time.

Jones' side have scored only five goals in the seven matches, averaging 1.05 expected goals for (xGF) per game.

Those numbers are reduced to two goals and an average of 0.80 xGF per game across their last five Premier League fixtures, a span in which Saints have only created five 'big chances', scoring from just one.

It is the recent outings, including Southampton's convincing two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Newcastle, that fans have (correctly) taken umbrage with, resulting in a bizarre post-match reaction from Jones on Saturday.

"I've compromised," he said. "I’ve compromised in terms of certain principles because of one, personnel, but two, the way that people want to play and so on.

"I've compromised because of fans, and so on, a few little things but – no more. I’ve been very successful playing a fluent style, Luton were a real aggressive front-footed side. Statistically, there weren’t many better than me around Europe in terms of aggression, clean sheets, defending the box, balls in the box, xG, all those sort of things.

"We were pound-for-pound the best because we were spending next to nothing and producing so much. And I’ve gone away from that.

“Maybe it’s because of the Premier League or how things look – players, internationals and stuff like that. I’ve had to compromise certain things and I’m not going to do that again."

Admitting to "pandering" and "compromise" in interviews/press conferences is far from an empathetic defence and only serves as evidence that you might not be up to the task of leading a Premier League club.

Jones' comments on a successful time spent at Luton mean nothing to Southampton fans, either, further fracturing what already looks like a broken relationship between the two.

Whether his words on his stint at Luton, and the job at hand on the south coast, are based on arrogance, self-preservation or something a bit more positive is up for debate, as are the actual remarks.

Jones undoubtedly did an outstanding job with the resources he had to work with at Luton, even though the Hatters' recruitment has been excellent, but any claim that they were front-footed and/or fluid is a bit of a stretch.

After a disastrous spell at Stoke, Luton averaged 1.29 expected goals for (xGF) per game in the Championship during Jones' second stint, understandably looking nothing more than workmanlike as an attacking unit.

The Saints boss was right about Luton being a tough defensive team, though.

However, Jones' comments leave him in an extremely precarious position, a bind that will be difficult to free himself from.

Southampton fans already think the football is shit, so if the pandering and compromising is, in fact, a thing, what comes next might be just as much, if not more unwatchable to Saints supporters.

Jones' principles might make them a more solid defensive unit for the rest of the season, but if Southampton continue to create chances and score goals at their current rate, victories are unlikely to follow.

Attempting to shift blame has put everyone's focus squarely on Jones, and raised questions as to why the Saints haven't been playing his style if it is so good.

Only an unlikely run of wins will save Southampton and save Nathan Jones his job – a corner he has backed himself into.

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