Every word: Southampton's Martin on Watford, Stephens and promotion

Are there any injury updates on Jack Stephens and Will Smallbone?

Will (Smallbone) is back in the squad as hoped and planned. Obviously, there is always a bit of risk involved but he has trained well for a couple of days. It is nice to have him back in the squad. Jack Stephens is back in the squad this week so it’s really good news for us.

How much progress has Stephens made?

I’ve been surprised by how good he’s looked, not in terms of his ability, but you expect a bit of rustiness and a bit of time to adapt and get back into it but he’s hit the ground running.

He has come back into training and added voice, added a huge amount of quality and he’s hungry to get back into the team and wanted to be back in the squad two weeks ago but had to be a bit patient. He’s putting big pressure on the guys in front of him who have played.

We have also had a few in-house games against the under 21’s and things like that so he can have some minutes as close to a match reality as possible. Will I be comfortable chucking him in at some point now? Yeah, I probably would. Would there be risk attached to it? Yeah of course, but with the experience he has and the fitness he has acquired over the last two months, especially since he’s been back on the grass and in the gym. He’ll be in a good place to produce a performance for us, no problem.

How impressed have you been with the centre-back pairing and the defensive side of the game?

Compared to the first eight games, the last 11 games have been incredible really with the defensive numbers the guys have produced. One because of the amount of courage the two take on the ball with Gavin (Bazunu) plus Flynn (Downes) in particular is huge.

That’s enabled us to give away far fewer chances through the build-up, through looking after the ball, and looking out for each other for sure. I've been so impressed with the aggression, the intensity of the team, the guys in front of them to press and to make them defend less. That needs to keep moving forward. The tenacity of the team. The aggression in the team with and without the ball.

What Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) and Jan (Bednarek) have given us is a huge amount of courage, aggression, and intensity. When I look at all the good moves we had on Saturday and most games to be honest, the foundation of that performance was built on the guys at the back taking a huge amount of pressure. Inviting it and then playing through it or around it with huge courage or intensity.

Jack (Stephens) knows he has a big task on his hands to get back into the team. He also knows and the other players know how I feel about him as a player and a leader. He would have been one of the first names on the teamsheet at the start of the season. Injuries opened up an opportunity for someone else and they’ve taken it. Now, Jack may have to wait for his opportunity a little bit. When he does, I’m pretty sure he’ll take it.

Competition is really healthy. We have some real top talent in that position. Eventually, we might see all three of them play together at some point. You’ve got Mason (Holgate) there as well who has been great when he came in. It’s a position we have a good bit of depth in now. I’m pleased about that.

How important has it been with the players competing for a spot in the team?

The lads compete with each other all the time. We show a lot of care and a lot of conviction in what we do. You have to have competition as well. It’s something that has increased more and got better and better as the season has gone on with the way they have competed with each other but in a professional way.

It’s not niggly and there is no real animosity but they really compete in training. That is so important because they are going to have to do that on a Saturday. We can’t be a team that’s nice and good with the ball and not without it. We have to be horrible with both. We have to try and be relentless with the ball, relentless without it and the guys know that they will have to work hard to get in the team.

Sam Edozie has been really unfortunate recently. He comes out the team, the team goes on a good run, and he’s had limited opportunity. He will be frustrated. We know he’s ready because he has trained so well and at some point his opportunity will come and it’s up to him to take it. He had one at Preston. It didn’t go as well as he would have liked and now he has to wait for his next one.

Ryan Fraser is the same. He comes off the bench, he has a big impact. Joe Aribo came off the bench on Saturday and had a big impact. He’s pushing and he’s ready. James Bree, I feel gutted for him because he came in and did so well but then we changed the shape a little bit so it suited Ryan Manning, we felt a little bit more than Bree. There will be a time when the game suits Bree again. He’s up against Walker-Peters, who in my opinion is one of the best players in the league but Kyle knows he has got Bree pushing him as well. Ryan comes in and has his best game because he knows that James is there.

That’s a squad that is healthy and they understand that we give everyone so much detail and energy and I feel like they need to be ready. We try and make them as ready as possible. We always talk about it, we have another three-game week. Every three-game week we have had so far, pretty much everyone’s got on the pitch. Sekou (Mara) came on and had an impact on Saturday.

Every time you get on the pitch, you need to take the opportunity to get closer to the team or put yourself in the starting team. The guys who are already there wearing the shirt, have got a job to stay in there so you need that in any successful squad. We are really fortunate with the amount of talent we have.

Do the players that are left out feel they have a shot to play because you have shown you will pick players that play well?

I think we have been quite flexible with shape and tweaks during the game. Everyone realises they have a chance at some point. The hardest job for any manager is to keep the players who are not playing happy, motivated, feeling part of it, feeling like they belong. I think they understand whether you are the captain of the team or you have only played a couple of games, everyone can be involved at any point.

That is so important if you are going to have success and it’s so important if you want players to be ready when they come on the pitch and to understand their role. Today, we coached the life out of the players, we gave as much as we could and the same for the guys who are not playing.

The under-21’s come over and we prepare them so they are ready when they come on the pitch for their role and so they are as ready as they can be. That’s our job to keep doing that and to give them as much energy as possible.

What are your thoughts on Watford and their recent wins?

Every game is tough in the Championship but this is the toughest game that we have had for a while. They’re in a really good place with a manager who seems to have evolved a lot since his last time in the Championship with West Brom. They have a mix of everything. They are direct, physical, and athletic, they can play as well. They are playing some really good football and they can mix their game up. They have some really good players and it will be a really difficult challenge for us and the players are aware of that. The players have to be aware that every team that comes up against us at the minute is an obstacle that could get in the way of what we want to achieve.

We are going to play three teams this week that are all really clear in their identity and have some stability in what they are doing with their managers. For Watford, it is the first time in a long time they supported the manager and gave him a new contract when in the past maybe people would have expected a change at that club. That has made everyone move forward together at that club and it has made them stronger for sure than they have been for the last two seasons.

It is a huge credit to the manager for that and it is a group of players that are fighting really hard for him. Coventry has huge consistency in what they are doing because the manager has been there a long time. I have huge respect for them and it is the same with Blackburn, the manager was there last year and he is building something and they have continued it and taken it on to the next level.

This is a tough week for us, there is no doubt about it. There is no point in pretending to the players anything else. Whenever we have made the players aware of what is coming, they have stepped up to it. They have been amazing in taking on whatever it is they feel about that opposition and then doing the work and making sure they stick to the detail on the pitch. It is the same tomorrow. There are going to be some scary moments, I’m convinced of that. How we ride them out and how we deal with them will define the result. If we can continue doing what we are doing with the players and the mentality and the conviction in what they are doing, the belief, the courage, and match that with the aggression then we are confident about where we are going. It’s up to us to try and turn it into the game we want to. It will be tough but it’s exciting.

How much motivation is there for the players to keep the unbeaten run going?

It is something to be proud of. It is the longest unbeaten run in the country right now in any division. I said to the players they should be really proud of themselves because that was on the back of four defeats as well. That is incredible what they’ve done, I’m proud of them and grateful to them for that.

The motivation now is that we are hunting three teams above us who keep winning. Any other year, I think we’d probably be top or second in the league right now with the points tally that we have. It’s not enough this year. We are chasing two teams that have made the best start in Championship history. They keep going and are relentless and we have to do that because we are playing catch up. Leeds also seem to keep matching our results. It makes it exciting. We have to stay in and around that and keep hunting people. We are trying to be proactive and positive.

When you are hunting rather than being hunted, it’s difficult so we can’t go on a run of trying to defend and protect an unbeaten run, it’s not how I think or how I feel about it. This is a tough game against a team who are going to try and stand in the way of what we are trying to achieve and a team that is trying to achieve what we want to achieve as well. They will be in and around it at the end of the season, I’m sure. We have to try and beat them. It’s that simple.

We aren’t trying to protect anything, we’re not going to hang on to anything, we are going to try and do things in our way. That’s being respectful to the opposition but making sure that we are prepared and ready to put in the performance we need.