Every word Southampton's Martin said on Wednesday, transfers and team

How do you assess preparations for the new season and excited to get started?

RM: I’m looking forward to it a lot, we’re all excited to get going. Every manager or coach works hard for five weeks to get to this point and then you can’t control anything else.

It’s about the players stepping over the white line and doing the rest. How do I assess preparations? 

The preparations have probably gone as well as we could have hoped, especially with all the noise surrounding the players and that stuff.

They’ve coped with it really well and I’ve got so much respect and gratitude for what they’ve given us over the last few weeks – I’m really pleased with that.

The team has probably changed twice since the start of this week and it will probably change again tomorrow depending on what happens.

It is what it is and it shows the club have done well in terms of the profile of player they have recruited over the last 18 months to two years – we’ve got many assets.

How has the noise been with certain players linked away?

RM: I think the players have dealt with it really well. We have to put out a team tomorrow night that is capable of being fully present and all-in on what we’re trying to do.

I hope between now and tomorrow none of that changes. The players have been great because you have agents, media, social media and loads more to contend with.

A lot of the players who have gathered interest are very, very young – so it’s really not easy to deal with all of that. They’ve been really honest all the way through.

Jason has been really honest with the players and has let me know the full picture as well, which you don’t always get, but here everyone has been really transparent. That helps.

You plan and prepare for the best hours of the day which as coaches are out on the grass, as long as that continues whatever happens in the next four weeks we will be prepared.”

Will James Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia be involved?

RM: Both will be involved tomorrow night as it stands, I don’t know if anything will change between now and then.

Do I think they will be Southampton players by the end of the window? I have not got a clue. What I hope and what I think are probably very different.

However, it would be pointless to come out and say I think they’ll be here or I don’t because ultimately I have no control over that really.

If they’re both not here at some point or one of them isn’t it will be because the club and the player have both had something that is beneficial for everyone.

I think that’s why it has dragged on so long so far and I think it might continue to drag on, but both of them while they have been here have been great, at very different stages of their career.

Sheffield Wednesday away is a tough match to start?

RM: Yeah, we’re well aware of that having played there a few times myself. On the back of the success they had last season, they’ve got a new manager as well.

This probably surprised a few people including myself given what Darren (Moore) did for them last year. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Darren as a manager and as a person.

I probably expected him to be in charge for that but they’ve got a new manager with real success last time he was in this division.

It will be really interesting as pre-season can be very different at times, our job is to prepare the players for what is to come.

Packed Hillsborough on a Friday night on TV, it might look very different to pre-season. It’s a really exciting game to be involved in and the players have to get used to a different mentality now.

As a relegated team from the Premier League, you have a target on your back – they want to prove they can beat you and that you’re no longer a club in the Premier League.

That poses a different challenge to the players and the way we’re asking the players to play is different – any game would have been exciting.

But with this challenge, the atmosphere they can create – the way they overcame Peterborough in the playoff which I’m not sure could have happened at many places.

We have to make sure they aren’t allowed to gain momentum and to turn it into a game that’s about us and not them.

Any areas you are looking to strengthen?

RM: It depends on who leaves the club to be honest as we have 28 players, we have a travelling squad of 21 or 22 and six players training today who won’t be involved.

We’re delivering two sessions on the pitch today because of the size of the squad we have so to add to that at the minute would probably not be a brilliant idea.

It’s a case of seeing who goes and in what positions – we’ve got targets in pretty much every position, trying to be prepared for what’s to come.

We’re really clear on the profile of player we want at the club and in terms of the technical capabilities of the player.

They have got to add in every department and make us better in every department rather than just adding to the squad.

Who do you think will be the big challengers for Southampton this season?

RM: I have not got a clue – that’s the beauty of the Championship, right? It’s why so many people are interested in it.

It’s going to be interesting and there’s always a team or two who surprises everyone. I think we’re really aware of that and the players will become aware of that.

It’s as strong as it has been for a long time, the Championship, due to the size of the clubs coming down from the Premier League and the amount of teams still in there.

There’s so many different challenges tactically, different styles and managers and ways of doing things. We’ve got a bit of knowledge over the last two years and hopefully that helps us.

I’m not going to make any bold predictions, we want to try and get back to the Premier League as soon as possible – we’ll see how the league looks after five or 10 games and at Christmas.

What is the team news?

RM: I think Sekou is the only one we have a question mark over at the moment, so we will see how he is on the grass this morning.

Stuey is back, Joe Aribo’s back, Jan Bednarek’s back, so that’s really positive for us – three really good players and good characters who will help us, for sure.

Are you clear about your XI – Kamaldeen linked with a move away?

RM: I thought I was clear but it’s clear as mud now with everything going on! Who hasn’t been linked with a move away.

Kamaldeen’s injured, genuinely. He’s good, he’s been smiling, he has good energy, I really like him from what I’ve seen.

I’ve not seen him on the training pitch very much, unfortunately. He went away with Ghana in the summer and played a bit of football so came back a little bit later, and he’s picked up a small injury.

It’s not a major one, but it would be madness to rush him back for the first game and compromise anything else. 

He’s a young man with huge potential, and hopefully he’ll be involved very soon. He’s probably a week or two behind the others in terms of what his injury is.

We’re really excited about the group. In a couple of positions, it’s a really close call and you could probably play either or, but there are guys who have had more minutes, there are guys who are in a better condition to play the first game.

I think the team is going to look very different from Friday night to Tuesday night (against Gillingham in the League Cup), and then in a couple of weeks’ time, it’ll probably look very different again.

The team we put out, we’ll be really happy and really comfortable with, as we will on the bench, and it’s our job to make sure when the transfer window closes we look even stronger than we do now.

What about Sheffield Wednesday as a challenger?

RM: They are a team with good energy and togetherness as they showed last season and they kept the majority of the squad together, which is really important.

Teams often make a mistake that when they get promoted they make wholesale changes too quickly. I know a few of them as well.

I have played with Josh Windass and I have played with Barry Bannan, it’s our job to make sure that our players are aware of the quality of the opposition and how we can hurt them.

The focus is very much on us but we need an awareness of what they offer and the biggest part of that is the connection with the supporters and the atmosphere.

How do you feel as manager, lots of uncertainty but then an international break in a month?

RM: Well, I want as many points as possible from the opening month. I want the team to look a certain way and to show people there are some things to really look forward to.

I want to see the team grow and it will be different tomorrow night to the first international break – honestly, the football is the easy part.

When we’re at work, we’re all in, constantly talking about football and the hardest part is everything around it – living in a hotel with your family not around you.

Hopefully, over the next month, we will begin to all get settled and the football will be an enjoyable part of the next four weeks – I hope.