HERE is every word Russell Martin said during his press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of Saints facing Leeds United in the Championship lunchtime kick off.

What has been the focus this week?

Consistency. Being really competitive with each other in training. Helping the players as much as possible, from a coaching staff point of view. Staying on a path that we believe is the right one and trying to connect everyone to that path.

There were two ways to come into this week really. One was to feel sorry for themselves and to come in feeling sorry for themselves after four defeats.

The other choice was to come in and attack everything and embrace everything, which they have done. I’ve been really pleased with the work this week.

I think we will really benefit from the time on the training pitch this week, I’ve loved the mentality of this week. I’ve really enjoyed it. I think we will come out the other side of it stronger.

How hard is that to do when you are trying to battle with the fact Saints haven't kept a clean sheet for a while?

The situation is what it is. It’s frustrating, it’s been painful and annoying. If you keep just talking about the problem. There is a lot of stuff we need to work on and improve.

I feel like we have really narrowed down and laser-focused on some things that are really going to help us. Any time we play you analyse the game and you learn from it. We practise relentlessly then we are going to perform.

It’s the same cycle. I hope everyone here now understands that we are going to behave in the same way. We are going to work relentlessly and tweak when we have to.

I’m really conscious that I’ve been through these moments at both of my previous clubs. I am here now because we stayed on the same path and we had conviction in what we did.

I am also really conscious that I will be praised if it works, if it doesn’t I’ll get called a stubborn git. It’s such a fine balance.

I’ve had some really good chats with the owners this week about how they can help us, and they have been brilliant. I get the feeling that everyone here is so with us.

The energy has been great, so different to the energy when we first arrived here 12 weeks ago. We will continue on that. I’ve got no doubt and real confidence that the results will turn around. You can’t just be outcome-based.

If you are, it can lead to a lot of pain - it’s not a very healthy environment. We have 38 games left. There has been a lot of teething problems and a lot of change. We now need to find some consistency.

Do Southampton have more teething problems than Leeds and Leicester because they are bottom of the league?

“We had less of a base to build on, Southampton finished bottom. You also have to put a lot of it into perspective. Leicester did a lot of their work early.

If you look at the players they have signed, they have been different as well. They went for two players who have played for England and have huge experience and character.

I’m pretty sure they were signed as much for that as they were for their ability. Less change on the pitch. Until they played against us they had pretty much started the same team for a while.

We haven’t been able to do that. That’s not an excuse. Leeds again did a lot of work earlier than us. We are also relying on three or four players to get fit during matches for us.

Taylor (Harwood-Bellis), Mason (Holgate), Ryan Fraser, Flynn Downes. We are paying for that. I’m not trying to make an excuse, we should be doing better. We are trying to get players up to speed whilst playing, but that isn’t easy.

I do believe having watched Flynn play on the weekend that he is there and is ready. He was outstanding against Middlesbrough I thought with the distance he carried and the energy that he brought.

Taylor will be so much better for this week, Mason as well. It’s been such a difficult start for him, but he will come through that. He is a good character. His character was a big reason for why we wanted to take him. He has been great this week with the way he reacted.

Ryan will be great if he starts. It’s like when you come back from a long-term injury. When you start the adrenaline is there, you are desperate to play and then you hit a little bit of a lull.

When you haven’t played for a little while you find that it’s similar. This week has been good for a lot of them and now it’s time to transfer that onto the pitch.

Joel Piroe - if he scores people will be saying ‘Why didn’t we sign him?’ Did you want him?

He’s an outstanding player. He was never a player that was an option for us because of the options that we have upfront. Would I have wanted him? Of course, I enjoyed working with him.

He’s a great character and a really top finisher. He was someone who bought into everything we wanted to do.

We had a tough start to life me and Joel. When we made it really clear to him what we expected of him, he was amazing. He’s been one of the best strikers and the best scorers in the Championship, so it’s no surprise that he has started the way that he has.

We have people on the pitch that know him very well and they know his game. That will hopefully help us. Would he have added to this group and helped us at some point? Yes.

Was it ever an option? No, because we have brilliant options here that we are really happy with and we ended up signing one (Ross Stewart) who will contribute hugely when he is fit.

How big would it be to beat Leeds?

Whoever we are playing tomorrow is an important game for us. The size of the game, both teams relegated, the following they will bring, it’s a good game. It will be a good game of football, two teams who try to play in a similar way.

They had a slow start and they’ve now really got into it. We had a good start and we’ve slowed down a little bit. But we are three points off them. It will be a huge day for us if we win.

We need to see a performance that looks more like us. We’ve been slowly building the last two games. We should have had more points than we’ve had in them games.

There’s been very little in the games but because of the moment that we are in, we’re on the wrong side of the results. It’s time to bring a level of performance that we haven’t for a couple of weeks in terms of intensity and aggression. I think we will get more of that tomorrow.