THEO Walcott has insisted he feels like there is already a "connection" between the Saints players and new manager Nathan Jones. 

The 49-year-old Luton Town boss replaced former manager Ralph Hasenhuttl following his sacking last week and took the team to Liverpool for his first Premier League match.

Jones has been straight-talking in his media addresses and has highlighted the concession of goals as the main problem that sees Saints sit in the bottom three after 15 games.

Walcott, 33, fell out of favour with the previous boss and has only featured three times this season – albeit his one start came in Hasenhuttl’s final game – and was used as a 60th-minute substitute on Saturday.

"Obviously it has only been a few days with the coaching staff, but there is a connection already I feel with the coach and the players, and I think that is really important,” the veteran said, speaking on talkSPORT.

“It will take time of course, but to some extent we don't really have time now, hence why everyone needs to make sure they do their programmes and come back fully fit.

"I've heard a lot about Nathan Jones' work and it is very hard work and very demanding. He asks a lot of you, but you have got to be ready for it and you have got to be ready for the fight.

“Of course, we have got a lot of young players who are still sort of trying to figure out the Premier League, which is fine, and I feel like they are going to have to sort of skip a few pages in the book to come up to play in the Premier League right now."

Walcott also revealed more about how he will spend the upcoming weeks, starting with the next few days as players have been granted time off.

They will then rejoin Jones and start what Walcott has labelled a “pre-season”, before facing Lincoln City in the EFL Cup and then Brighton as the Premier League returns on Boxing Day.

"I'm not going anywhere, just the simple fact that the kids are at school and we don't want to take them out of school, which is fine,” Walcott admitted.

“I have got a few things I want to do though and we have got programmes we have got to stick to, and obviously now with the new manager, Nathan Jones is very hard working and we have got to be sure that we are ready to go.

"But I feel like it is a very challenging moment for a lot of players who are not going. Normally with tournament football, it is at the end of the season and you get that time off and you can just switch off completely.”

He added: “I think it is important to switch off, of course, mentally, but I feel like because there is a bit more of a break. We have two weeks away, so you do what you have got to do and then we have a pre-season.

"For me, personally, it is another pre-season, because I missed pre-season due to a small injury, so I am using it as an opportunity to build and obviously it is going to be a real challenge for us at Saints coming back towards the Christmas period."

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