Everton and Leeds United relegation rivals’ players unhappy with manager amid post-match rant

Nathan Jones has claimed he has been forced to ‘compromise’ on certain things as pressure ramped up on the Southampton manager.

The Welshman took charge of the Saints in November when he replaced Ralph Hasenhuttl. But the St Mary’s outfit remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League and are three points adrift of safety.

Jones has won just one of his nine league games in charge of Southampton - which came against Everton at Goodison Park last month. They suffered a 3-0 loss at Brentford at the weekend and talkSPORT has suggested that Jones’ position has been under review, with several senior players unhappy.

Jones, speaking at the loss in west London, alleged that he made former club Luton Town one of the best sides in Europe based on statistics but has detracted from some of his belief since landing the Southampton job.

“I’ve compromised in certain principles because of personnel and the way people want to play and so on and I’ve compromised because of fans and so on – it’s a few little things,” Jones said.

“But no more, I’ve been very successful playing a really fluent style and tried to implement that at Stoke but couldn’t because of certain things. I came back to Luton and was successful playing an aggressive, front-footed side.

“Statistically, there weren’t many better in Europe in terms of clean sheets, defending your box, balls in the box, xG and all those things. Pound for pound we were the best because we were spending next to nothing and getting results.

“I’ve gone away from that, maybe because it’s the Premier League, maybe because of certain players and internationals, I’ve had to compromise on certain things but no more.”