Southampton Players Praise Calmness And Leadership Of Ruben Selles Monday, 20th Feb 2023 09:11 After the win at Chelsea, match winning goalscorer James Ward Prowse revealed that the squad were impressed by their caretaker manager's handling of his Premier League debut, however they the players were not so taken by Selle's suit ! Those who were at Chelsea on Saturday could not fail to notice that the Saints squad appeared to have had a great weight taken off their shoulders, they played with spirit, but they had also played with spirit under Jones , but there was something else that was back in their psyche that was missing. Perhaps it would be easy to look at the winning goal from Ward Prowse, it was a trade mark free kick, but a week ago when in two similar positions against Wolves the Saints fans were shocked to see that rather than shoot he played a short ball clearly worked out on the training ground.
Perhaps it was the second of those free kicks that showed the ball what the problem was, a manager who did not play to his sides strength's but was forcing them to play in a way that did not suit them. If there is a turning point in this season, perhaps it will be that moment deep into injury time against Wolves that will be see as the catalyst, the moment that the board and owners realised the problem was the manager. So although it looked like it might be Jesse Marsche in the dug out at Stamford Bridge at one point it turned out to be Ruben Selles who took charge.
Selles was a familiar name to most Saints fans, but not so much a familiar face and also an unknown quantity. Did he truly have what it takes to make a giant step from having never managed a team at adult professional level in any League, to the biggest one in the World the Premier League. Selles might have been dead in the water before he had started if he did not have the backing of the players, at 3pm on Saturday we were about to find out. From the start we played with a weight lifted off our shoulders, it was going to be a tough afternoon, but we were not going to go down without a fight. James Ward Prowse praised Selles in his after match comments: 'We're really pleased. It's been a tough week. There's been a lot of outside noise, a bit of chaos around the place but Ruben has come in and shown a bit of calmness and great leadership in that moment and settled everyone down and given everybody confidence in a familiar way of playing." 'I think you can see that belief from minute one. There was a game there to be had, you could feel that in the stadium and thankfully a huge win." 'It's a familiar way of playing for us. We want to be front footed and take the game to teams, especially if Chelsea themselves aren't in a great moment. 'A really positive result and one that we deserved. We rode our luck at times but you've got to do that. We've not had the greatest of luck lately but it was with us today.' 'This is a special moment, a special day for us as a club, and hopefully a springboard to turn things round. 'We have to make sure that we give 100 per cent no matter who the manager is. That's the task. To do that consistently over the next few games would be massive."
So although Ward Prowse was polite and refrained from any direct criticism of Nathan Jones, the inference was very much there, that Jones style of management had not been one of calmness, he had not lead the team but pushed them to play in a way that was alien to them and not playing to their strengths. To those at the game watching Selles showed he had an aura about him, he looked authorative, although he showed emotion is was controlled, sometimes you see a manager you have never heard of and know from his composure he will make it to the top, Mauricio Pochettino was very much in that vein and Ruben Selles although it is early days looks to be cut from the same cloth. Talking of cloth, JWP was not so praising of the suit that Selles was wearing, the Spaniard wore a dark suit, trendy trainers and a black rollneck at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as the Saints earned a vital 1-0 win.
Ward-Prowse after the game said: "I wasn't too sure about the suit when we saw it in the meeting He (Selles) joked in the pre-match meeting that we would have buy him a new suit if we won. “So, we will be off down to the local suit shop to get him a nice one. “This is a special moment, a special day for us as a club, and hopefully a springboard to turn things round." A nice way to end a great day for Southampton FC and showing that things are suddenly a lot brighter around St Mary's and there is now belief that we can turn things around. There is a long way to go yet and i do think that if Ruben Selles is given the job to the end of the season he will need to be given an experienced assistant with a proven Premier league background League to help him through the tough times. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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