This has happened too often under Hasenhüttl and now Jones. When the game is level, Southampton have both the worst attack and worst defence in the league.

After going behind, Southampton can peform a lot better, around mid-table level. We’ve got results that way, but even doing it well doesn’t earn enough points across a season.

(we’re also badly underperforming expected goals defensively, but that’s a separate problem)

Across a season, battling from behind and “protecting” draws can’t earn enough points to survive. Jones will quickly learn that almost every PL team is happy to have the ball, so he’ll need to find more ways beyond set pieces to influence matches across the whole 90 minutes.

There’s still some hope for Southampton because underlying numbers are around 15th, and we still have to play teams around us at home. But it means less when the effort mostly doesn’t go towards earning three points.

Play around with the data yourself: macro-football.shinyapps.io/live_table/ by Hugh Klein.