Every word Southampton's Martin said on Ipswich, criticism and more

What is the team news?

Flynn Downes came off. He’s a bit doubtful for tomorrow. Apart from that, Bednarek’s back in the squad. That was it, wasn’t it? We’ve won our appeal with Kamaldeen (Sulemana) so he’s in the squad which is good news.

Reflections on the Leicester game? What are some of the lessons you learned?

We’ve lost two games in a row, but we had ten points in the previous four games before that. It’s been a tough two games. We’ve conceded too many goals which is obvious, disappointing, and frustrating. All very different as well.

We have conceded two goals early on in both and that makes it difficult. We came back into the game well the other night at 2-1, we had a couple of chances and then conceded a third goal.

It’s been tough, it’s been a tough two games, but I feel more excited about the group and what we are doing. I feel more excited than ever, I feel more positive after the Leicester game than I did before it. I’m sure I’ll be criticised for that, I’m sure I’ll be criticised for saying that I’m proud of the players, but I was.

We started so poorly, there was so much negative energy in the stadium, and I understand that but the two years or whatever it has been of battling here, staying up the year before, and then last year relegated. People have been unhappy with their club and what they’ve seen.

Three managers in however long then we roll into town and we’re trying to do something totally different with a completely different expectation than just surviving or just staying up in the Premier League. And we’re trying to build something with predominantly a group of young players that need help and need support and need foundations to build from really.

So, to go 2-0 down so quickly with the amount of negativity that was there, which I’m not criticising by the way, I understand that because I’m a football fan and I’ve been involved in the game all my life pretty much.

That’s not easy but we showed real courage and got back into the game. The fact that they could get through that moment together and then we conceded the third goal. The game in terms of chances and stuff was even.

They had a couple in the last 10 minutes where we had made subs and it had become tough and there were a few guys playing their first game. I don’t get overly emotional with results unless people are not trying so Sunderland hurt, not because people were not trying but the response to going two down was not good enough and I think the group has come a long way even since then really.

Every day they understand better about what we want. We had a tough night the other night, it's football, it’s life. It just comes off the back of one at Sunderland which was the worst one. Hopefully, we can get a positive one tomorrow, it will help settle everyone down and get rid of some of that negative energy but that’s not going to change overnight.

I said to everyone when I came here ‘strap in’, I didn’t expect to have to strap in as much as we have over the last two games, but nothing is easy is it when you’re trying to build something like this.

I understand it because I’ve been criticised for trying to do something in a certain way which is why I find myself here. Players just have to believe in it. I spoke to a couple of players from my previous club recently and watched a couple of the games.

They were sort of saying ‘We wish we could tell your players what’s to come and to relax a little bit because we’ve been involved in that process, we understand it’ and our players will feel that soon as well. We’re just thinking a little bit too much, a bit of energy around has affected things a little bit and we’ve just got to trust the work and we’ll be more than good.

Do you hope to see patience from fans?

Yeah but there’s no patience in life, let alone football is there? I’m not going to make excuses, the Sunderland performance was not good enough, and the Leicester result was not good enough, but I was also pleased with a lot of the performance.

Again, people will think that is crazy but when you know what you are looking for, you can understand the message before the game, we started terribly and that has happened too many times at the start of games now and at the start of the second half.

As a group of staff, we talk about that. We had an issue like this at a previous club and we sorted it, we’ll sort this one out. Patience is so important especially when you have been through the pain this club has been through and you are trying to do something very different.

There has been so much information for the players in the last weeks. Eventually, it gets to a point where nothing gets sacrificed, they’ll feel it, and it will be instinctual and beautiful, I am sure of that.

What are your thoughts on Ipswich?

Kieran’s (McKenna) done a great job. They had a brilliant season last season. They are on the opposite end of us in terms of time together. We haven’t started with the same team yet this season.

They understand their roles brilliantly and how they all operate within the team. They had some decent success last season which helps so I have been really impressed with them. They are methodical in their approach, and they tweak things for different opposition, and they have a real way of doing things.

They’ve started well. It is not a surprise to us, but we are at home, and we need to bounce back. Any opposition that we are playing tomorrow, does not matter. We must bring the best versions of ourselves and make sure we stay really brave.

Friday night was not helped by conceding an early goal. It took too long to find that again and find that rhythm. Tomorrow night we need to start in the opposite way.

How long do you think it should be before judgements are made?

There’s not a cut-off point. Once we have a settled XI and some consistency in that. We are talking after two games, two really difficult results.

Before that, I’m sure people were talking really positively about the club and seeing the signs of what’s to come.

Results dictate everything in football. Not in here, we’ve had a really brilliant couple of days discussing what went wrong and what went right and how we could have capitalised more.

We will be better than we were on Friday and if we win tomorrow, we are in a good place and everyone is a bit more positive.

We are quite far away from where we want to be and how we want to look but I’m also very proud of how far some of them have come.

If we were building off the back of similar work someone had done, in manner, style and game model, it would be easier.

We are trying to change so much so I am quite relaxed about that. People will feel how they feel but I’m relaxed about it, we will win more games than we don’t.

I’m not going to let the two results impact the work we do and how we feel. We have to work on some things, that is really clear.

We need to concede less goals but it’s not like there’s a pattern to many of them, they’re all so different – apart from the restarts – and we’re working through that.

When you haven’t been used to winning, when you score you feel relief rather than the winning to go on and drive that.

It’s also game management, we’ve given chances to teams too early in the game by going backwards too early, giving up territory too early – we’re building the players about that.

Given how you’ve conceded early goals, is it crucial now to eradicate that tomorrow?

I think we have to find a way to help the players manage the game without going away from what’s important to us.

We spoke about that on Friday and still ended up doing it so it has to be a bit of anxiety or us not beating the message home enough.

To do this, you have to go through a certain amount of pain to grow. Unless you’re given £100million to sign the best players in the world.

If it was easy, I think more people would try to do it. The pain now will help us later in the season and make it more enjoyable when it clicks.

Both clubs I have been at previously have had to get through a lot of pain to get where we wanted and by the end, the feeling we had with the players and the understanding they had, the results they had and the way they played was beautiful to watch.

I’ve got no doubt it will be the same here. We just need to speed up the process a bit and keep helping the players learn and grow.

So often the response to pain in football is to tense up, shut up shop and be a bit more pragmatic. All that stuff.

It’s not beneficial to the club or to the players over a long period of time. We want to grow rather than shrink and become safe and lose a bit of themselves, which often happens.

Gavin Bazunu was really good on Friday, how do you feel?

He was brilliant. We’ve done his clips and the way he distributed the ball and his decision-making was fantastic.

Gavin has gone with the attitude of ‘it is what it is’. He can’t change the narrative so there’s no point worrying about it.

He shouldn’t get carried away with the narrative when he’s keeping clean sheets either because I’m sure at some point he will be called the league’s best goalkeeper.

It’s our job to protect him more than we have done in the last two games but I admire his courage and his bravery, we’re going to need that.

He’s a brilliant young man. He will be so much better for this. To play as a young goalkeeper in a team bottom of the Premier League is not easy.

To come back from that is even tougher and he’s doing that slowly but surely. It’s not his fault we’ve conceded the goals we have in the last two games.