Joe Aribo’s boss at Southampton Nathan Jones insisted he will remain “thick-skinned” after his side were loudly booed off following a damaging 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest.
Disgruntled home fans vented their displeasure following Saints’ sixth successive Premier League defeat, with the full-time jeers followed by chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing”.
A precious three points for Forest lifted them out of the relegation zone, while Southampton remain bottom on the back of a fourth top-flight loss since the appointment of Jones.
“I can’t pre-empt what fans are going to do,” the Welshman said of the boos. “That’s entirely up to them.
“It doesn’t concern me. It surprises me a little but that’s their prerogative.
“The thing about being a football manager, especially when you’ve come from where I’ve come from and getting an opportunity here, I understand scepticism and so on. Fans have paid their money, they do whatever they what.
“For me as a manager, you have to be thick-skinned.
“It’s not the first time that I’ve been booed, it’s not the first time I’ve taken stick.
“You have to show real characteristics that bring you through this because when when we come through it, it will be proud moments for me.”
Calamitous defending once again contributed heavily to Southampton’s downfall as their precarious position became slightly more perilous.
Taiwo Awoniyi fired Forest’s 27th-minute winner – the game’s only attempt on target – following a sloppy error from Saints defender Lyanco to earn the visitors a first top-flight away success of the season.
Brennan Johnson assisted the goal having earlier struck the crossbar, while Che Adams wasted the best opportunity for the hosts, who slipped four points from safety due to their poor goal difference.
Former Luton manager Jones said Southampton must produce positive results to bring aggrieved supporters back on side.
“That’s the only way to change it,” he said.
“It was a front-footed performance tonight. We worked hard, we just didn’t show enough quality.
“You had a side out there that grafted, that had more situations than Forest and we just didn’t show enough quality and then gifted them a goal.
“There’s lots we can do better and we have to.”
Resurgent Forest have now taken 11 points from the last 21 available, having only managed six from the previous 33.
