MANAGER Russell Martin admitted his squad will be given a brief bit of "downtime" before they have "no days off" in preparation for the playoffs.

Saints have eight days between their 2-1 win over Leeds United on Saturday and the first leg of their semi-final against West Brom on Sunday, May 12.

That is a welcome amount of time on the ground at Staplewood for Martin, who has repeatedly explained how important "proper" training is to preparation. 

Much of Saints training days in recent weeks have seen a large emphasis placed on recovery as opposed to working through new patterns of play or ironing out errors.

Southampton produced a much-improved display at Leeds having had time to work on a new system, something Martin is hopeful will be repeated ahead of their trip to the Hawthorns. 

READ MORE: How Saints made tactical tweaks to beat Leeds United on final day

"We will have a bit of downtime," Martin told the Daily Echo. "Then we'll have some time together away from Staplewood. 

"That will help us make sure everyone is really ready for what's to come because it's going to be intense.

"There will not be a day off now for sure for a week or two. After a bit of downtime, we will get back to training.

"They trained like beasts in the week before the Leeds game and they took that onto the pitch.

"The players have to be ready to go again like beasts for another two weeks, hopefully for three weeks. We will get to work."