Tonda Eckert refuses to be drawn on Southampton job after win over Charlton

Tonda Eckert declined to declare his interest in the Southampton manager’s job on a full-time basis despite a thumping 5-1 victory at Charlton – but his side are doing the job application for him.

The Saints scored all the goals in the first half at The Valley as they made it three straights wins for German Eckert since he stepped up from Under-21 duty after Will Still’s sacking at the start of this month.

Finn Azaz netted twice for the visitors with Ryan Manning, Caspar Jander and Adam Armstrong also breaching a Charlton side that came into the match with the second best defensive record in the Championship.

Asked if he was more ready to go public with whether he wanted to be Still’s permanent successor, Eckert claimed his focus was purely on the midweek home assignment against Leicester, saying: “I would like to prepare the team on Tuesday night. That is going to be a big challenge. We hope to keep the momentum going.

“We knew Charlton were an intense team and it would be very difficult to come here. They don’t give you so many spaces to play but the spaces they gave us today we used quite well.

“I don’t know if it takes us anywhere if I make big statements. We need to confirm our performance game after game. It is a big one coming up and that is the challenge.”

Armstrong, 28, collected two assists to go along with his sixth goal of the season and, along with flying machine Leo Scienza, caused untold problems to the Addicks backline.

“We knew they would be very tight on him and that other spaces would open up – he did that very well,” said Eckert, who opted to start academy product Cameron Bragg in midfield instead of the more seasoned Flynn Downes.

“I’ve known Braggy for a couple of months now and he deserved every single moment of the game today and every single moment he had with the fans when he came off. He has dedication to the game like no other.”

It quickly turned into a torrid afternoon for Nathan Jones in his first encounter against Southampton since he was sacked after just 95 days in charge in February 2023.

Jones said: “For 20 minutes they were as good a side as we’ve seen at this level. We didn’t do the things we do normally – that has basically cost us.

“We don’t defend the box well enough for the first goal, we allow certain things to happen for the second, which kind of kills it. They then go up a level – you really worry when they get three and four quickly.

“We showed a lot of character in the second half but that was a learning curve for us.

“With the greatest of respect we are stretched. We had four fit defenders and one of them (James Bree) couldn’t play today because it is against his parent club.

“We had wingers playing in wing-back positions, so it was tough. We didn’t quite get things right – we gave them a bit too much respect and then they were able to play into front. We were deep and not as aggressive in winning that first ball, like we normally are.

“They had runners and quality to really hurt us. We looked open.”