I am going to say it!! Yes I am, Nathan Jones......................

Danny Addick said:

PeaksAndValleys said:

Danny Addick said:

Addick Addict said:

(Continued)

In All, This is What to Expect (TL:DR)

Right, so that's his tactics done and why he came to play them, so here is some more quickfire what to expect:

Positives:

• Will get the most out of players already at the club as long as they are humble enough to be played in unconventional roles

• Will relish the opportunity to work with and improve raw talents like Small, Larios, Mara, Livramento, and Smallbone in particular (as these guys' profiles resemble what he'll want in his ideal diamond tactic)

• Will relay as much passion as the fans give him, unequivocally

• Will adapt tactics both in game and long-term if it isn't working - something he's learned from his notoriously stubborn tenure at Stoke

• Will recruit outstandingly if given leeway and freedom in the market - signings that seem unusual tend to turn out the best.

• Will improve the ambition of the squad if they buy into his vision.

Negatives:

• Media-handling; the rest of the league's fans will loathe him, but you'll love him for it as it creates a great us-against-the-world mentality which ultimately wins game

• Has his favourites; rewarding loyalty is often a double-edged sword and is sometimes hesitant to acknowledge when a good servant is in bad form. He's also very data driven so will continue to play players who aren't meeting the eye-test or pleasing fans if their data is okay

• He'll sell your wingers if they can't prove to be adaptable to his full back-based systems

• Youth development is something he doesn't really consider that much, though this might be because our academy is years behind the first team. He considers 23 and 24 year olds as "youngsters" and will often only give them odd minutes.

• Doesn't take the domestic cups seriously, though he might at a club that actually has a chance of progressing past the early rounds like Southampton have.

Sorry for the long post guys but I hope it gives you a good understanding as to why he's absolutely worshipped at Luton Town. He's brought great success to us while galvanising the fan base and making us believe we can be a serious club again. He also fixed us financially and instilled a permanent transfer policy of developing under-utilised raw talent and developing them. Please give him a chance, he's a difficult character but the guy bleeds passion and will die for Southampton to do well, no matter the adversity. Thanks for reading and good luck for the season, we'll all be rooting for you from Bedfordshire.

EDIT: How could I forget his PowerPoints?! When he wants a player, he invited them to the training ground and shows them a PowerPoint presentation about where the club will be in x amount of years, and a detailed plan for their individual development. It's often joked about, but it really works and many of our signings have credited his presentations as the main reason they signed!

Bit shocked that a fan managed to write that - it’s superb! The only bit that’s rung true to us is that his recruitment really has been hit and miss. 

Not sure if this is a joke or not - basically the whole thing rang true for us

Edited - sorry meant ‘not’

Ah OK, makes more sense! 

I get what he was thinking with Apter, Knibbs, Kelman. Young and impressive in L1. But I don’t with Tanto, unless they guessed his stats showed he’d fit the champ well. 

thenewbie said:

Danny Addick said:

I get what he was thinking with Apter, Knibbs, Kelman. Young and impressive in L1. But I don’t with Tanto, unless they guessed his stats showed he’d fit the champ well. 

I expect Summer to see less signings like Kelman, Apter etc and more in the general vein of Sichenje, trying to find better value for money. If there is someone of proven quality then by all means go and get them, but Jones likes his data so would probably be interested in unearthing hidden gems.

Addick Addict said:

One is always a bit apprehensive about positing a monologue but as it wasn't me that wrote the analysis and it made a lot of sense, I think it was worth it. There were any number of things that stood out but one in particular:

• He'll sell your wingers if they can't prove to be adaptable to his full back-based systems

Now I can't believe NJ signed him, or Apter agreed to joining, without his role being clearly defined. It's clear that he hasn't been able to adapt which begs the question whether he ever will be able to. That, of course, leads us to TC and whether NJ sees him in the same role. Primarily they need to be able to defend and then get forward or a needs to do that basis. 

I think Apter was clearly shown Thierry Small’s role last season, and happy to sign for that. He was pretty unlucky that after a good start, we signed Bree who is a better player than Apter, and then the LWB issues meant he got even fewer opportunities. Reading between the lines it seems like Apter maybe didn’t react to these well 

I think the role is an issue, but I actually think an issue that we seem to ignore is that Apter might just not be good enough yet, and the championship is a tough league that he couldn’t make the step up in 

I expect he will be loaned out to league 1 again next season, we will hope he can produce some decent attacking numbers that lead to us being able to sell him and recoup a chunk of the fee we paid for him 

NabySarr said:

I think TC is different. Because firstly he does the work off the ball that Jones wants, he probably covers more ground than most of our players and is one of our fittest. And  he also has a skillset that no one else really has in our squad has so he offers something different 

Sounds a really good player, what’s his end product like?😜…..yes within the squad he has a particular skill set that is useful.

Garrymanilow said:

I think people hoping for a move to a more fluid playing style next season are going to be sorely disappointed. The second season is the absolute worst one for promoted teams. You lose the promotion momentum - which saw us 5th in December and offset our form collapse - and just have the reality of a difficult full season in front of you. Oxford are looking like feeling that this season and Pompey have spent most of this season in trouble. Plymouth felt it the season before, Rotherham before that. If we stay up this summer's transfer window is going to be the absolute most important one we've had in a long time and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same but moreso in terms of doing what we can to get by rather than a style overhaul

I see where you are coming from but the way we currently set up reduces our ability to score goals and therefore win matches and often invites pressure. Without change we are almost accepting another season of looking over our shoulder. Personally I think we can and must expect a little more than that. I think we have the basis for a Championship team and with perhaps as few as four astute but quality signings we could really consolidate. I’ll be very disappointed if we get more of the same next season because I think it means we’re not progressing. 

ShootersHillGuru said:

Garrymanilow said:

I think people hoping for a move to a more fluid playing style next season are going to be sorely disappointed. The second season is the absolute worst one for promoted teams. You lose the promotion momentum - which saw us 5th in December and offset our form collapse - and just have the reality of a difficult full season in front of you. Oxford are looking like feeling that this season and Pompey have spent most of this season in trouble. Plymouth felt it the season before, Rotherham before that. If we stay up this summer's transfer window is going to be the absolute most important one we've had in a long time and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same but moreso in terms of doing what we can to get by rather than a style overhaul

I see where you are coming from but the way we currently set up reduces our ability to score goals and therefore win matches and often invites pressure. Without change we are almost accepting another season of looking over our shoulder. Personally I think we can and must expect a little more than that. I think we have the basis for a Championship team and with perhaps as few as four astute but quality signings we could really consolidate. I’ll be very disappointed if we get more of the same next season because I think it means we’re not progressing. 

I agree that we don't actually need to make a lot of signings to see significant differences, if those signings are the right ones. Someone who replicates the energy and athleticism of Doherty but can actually pass, a Sichenje equivalent to cover Bell, possibly an upgrade in goal and we'd probably look a bit more impressive.

Obviously the trick would be finding those players in the first place.

Didn't know what that would be when I clicked it but my mind went to Ramsay's usual posts and it made me realise what I really want is a weekly highlights reel of Nathan Jones doing his nonsense on the touchline. Get me some violent nail biting, screaming at the fourth official, cartwheeling in anger and screaming at Harry Clarke and I will be happy every week no matter what the score is

Go and get the masterclass meme…

Genius.

I'm going to say it yes I am....Nathan Jones, you absolute legend!

carly burn said:

Write him off at your peril.
As long as he doesn't get his head turned, we'll be alright

Can we loan him to spurs til the end of the season for a few mil?

He should never be doubted again. Incredible what he has done to our club.

NJ haters crying this evening