Staplewood Campus has been host to brawls and arguments between players and staff members, according to now said to be untrue whispers. Jones came under increased pressure following a sixth league defeat in his seven games as boss at St Mary’s and Monday saw the biggest media flashpoint so far. Some supporters claiming to have training ground sources reported suggestions of disputes and altercations but when they were put to Jones, he denies the sort.
Nathan Jones said: “That’s a non-story. There’s nothing like that. I mean, to be fair, I’ve been in groups, very successful groups, where they are and there’s aggression on the training ground, but here is a good group. It’s a group that gets on, it’s a group that’s honest and that’s one of the positive. They’re working hard, our running stats and our aggression stats are up. So they’re working hard and it’s a good group. Everyone looks in when you’re not winning games and stuff but it’s not that, we just haven’t been good enough in games, and I take full responsibility for that. And that’s the only thing. If we were getting results this would be a more wonderful place because it already has a good atmosphere. There is a good spirit in the changing room, around the camp and there’s good competition and there’s no issues like that.”
One of the players said to be involved in such arguments was Duje Caleta-Car, who became an easy suggestion after he was involved with the B team last Friday the day before a Premier League match. Saints CEO Martin Semmens, at Tuesday’s fans’ forum, revealed the Croatian international was removed at half-time of the under-21s victory due to a minor injury. Asked to clarify Caleta-Car’s situation for supporters,
Nathan Jones said: “It was a precaution. Some changes we make are precautionary to look after players and that’s first team or B team. Duje has trained fully since. We felt because of the suspension he was deconditioned, so did we want him to travel to Brentford and sit in the hotel? There’s only so much you can do there, or do I say to him he gets match minutes so he is better equipped and ready for if selected to play against Wolves. We had a conversation and he made that choice, I didn’t have to coerce him in any way and as it was he felt his hamstring because certain conditions might not have been exactly the same and so on. That’s why we brought him off.”
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