Every word Southampton's Martin said ahead of Cardiff City

You must be feeling confident after the last week? 

RM: I think everyone's feeling good. I think we're feeling confident in the place we're in, in terms of the performances and the results have been good, so it's been a big week for us.

Tomorrow's a completely different game, so now it's about getting ready for that and making the players understand what to expect and what's expected of them.

I think it's become clearer and clearer game on game in the last week, and with four games to go, the next three really don't matter if we don't take care of tomorrow. It's so important.

It's the biggest game of our season for sure, and we need to make sure we go and play in the way that we want to play and play the game that we want to play, which I think is difficult sometimes in this division, especially with what's at stake and the timing of the season.

The players have been really fantastic with that and very, very rarely step away from being the team we want to be, and they have to do that again tomorrow.

Cardiff are a side that don't have much to play for, does that give you an edge? 

RM: No, I think it's dangerous. I think that nothing to play for thing is just a bit of a throwaway comment in football.

There are thousands of people there watching them. Some people will be out of contract, some people will be on loan, and some people will be given opportunities maybe at this stage of the season that haven't had many.

So there's always something to play for, always, individually and collectively. I don't see that coming into it.

And also teams play with real freedom sometimes when they maybe don't have much to play for in terms of promotion or relegation. We saw Watford come here last week to our place.

They played brilliantly at Ipswich on Wednesday but didn't get the result and then you think, oh, well, there's nothing to play for. 

So it was a really tough game. It's a bit of a throwaway statement in football. Every game is tough in this division and this will be a tough one.

Will you have an eye on the other games involving promotion rivals? 

RM: I am not going to lie, we'll watch the game before ours, we always do. If there was a game tonight, we'd watch that as well.

It's a completely psychological game, football, whether it's the first game of the season or the last game of the season.

So mentality, psychology, courage, willingness to go all the way. That will all play a huge part in the next three or four games.

But it's also not something we can control at all. We'll watch it out of interest because we have two of these teams to play still.

Honestly, nothing matters if we don't win tomorrow. So we have to win tomorrow, so it's all about us and the rest we'll see. Y

You have to almost go full tilt into this game tomorrow, even though you know you've got that game midweek against Leicester? 

RM: Honestly, I've not thought about Leicester once. Full tilt is the only way. We have to go in every game to play the way we want.

If we go in with any eyes on the next game or any concerns about maybe the games beyond that, it's ridiculous.

Honestly, the way we play, the way we ask the players to play, there's no choice but to be full tilt and all in. That will be the same again tomorrow.

FA Cup replays have been scrapped. What are your thoughts on that?

Well, as someone who came through in non-league football... yeah, I don't think any of the clubs, we haven't been consulted as a club here.

I'm pretty sure the Premier League clubs would have been consulted on it. So I'm disappointed. The FA Cup is a beautiful competition and such a different competition.

Players, when they come from abroad, they know the FA Cup. They've watched the FA Cup finals. The FA Cup final day was such a big day when you were a kid growing up.

At the end of the season, the cup final would be there. So then for a club to not get the chance to go and earn some extra money and have their day?

This year you look at Maidstone, Ipswich and games like that? There are games that everyone remembers.

So yeah, I understand if they look at the players' welfare and the fixture schedule and all this stuff, there's that side of it.

It makes sense from a fixture side and looking after players but I'm not sure I like it. I'm just not sure the competition needed changing very much.

Get rid of extra time and all that stuff, yeah. But the chance for the underdog to have another day, a brilliant day, a memory and a special occasion is taken away.

And ultimately, the one thing that football does do in the lives of everyone that enjoys and supports a club is create memories and opportunities.

And we've just taken another one away. So I'm not sure that's a wholly good thing for the game, and I'm not sure the intention behind it will be to protect players from one more game.

As I said, we weren't consulted one bit. If we were, I would have definitely given my opinion so it is a shame.

For someone to come through the lower leagues in non-league football, it's a real shame for those clubs further down the pyramid.

We saw when the Super League thing was announced that football came together and really turned their backs on it. Do you feel like we might get a similar response from football? 

RM: I'm not sure it's the same thing. I don't know who's been consulted on this one.

The Super League thing was just crazy, even the way it was announced. But yeah, the fans won and football won at that point.

I'm not sure about this one. I don't know how you could go about it. I don't know who made that final decision.

But I think it would have been a sensible thing to ask every single club that is included in that competition what they feel and what they think.

I'm pretty sure, and I might be wrong, that 20 clubs in the Premier League would have been asked.

What makes English special is the pyramid and how many people have an opportunity to play professionally and the structure behind the Premier League and the Championship.

You look at all the players that have ended up playing for England recently, they've come through lower league academies and it's really special and unique.

 So to keep thinking you could forget about the guys right at the very bottom and just not worry about them, not concern yourself about them, is really naive and short-term, I think.

Also it's not fair. It goes with the TV money, it goes with the FA Cup, it goes with competitions, it goes with player development, all that stuff.

You have to be really careful if you just want to focus on preserving and protecting yourself and your money at the very top of that chain because things can change very quickly in football.

You pass Portsmouth every day anyway to Southampton and you must be impressed with what John Mousinho's done in his first job as a young manager? 

RM: I messaged John yesterday, we go back a long way as we played for the England Colleges team under 18, so 20-odd years ago now.

He's a really good guy, really intelligent. This is about John, not about Portsmouth, just to stress to our fans.

I texted him yesterday to say he's making the management thing look easy and putting the rest of us to shame.

Andy Cullen, the chief executive of Portsmouth, is a guy who gave me a massive opportunity at MK Dons and who I have a lot of time and respect for and a really good person.

I messaged him as well. For them personally, for Andy to take the punt on John as well, and on me initially, I'm pleased the young British manager is getting an opportunity again.

I'm pleased for John personally because he's a good person and I'm really pleased for Andy because he's a really good person.

It doesn't mean I'm really pleased that Portsmouth Football Club got promoted, but I also think it's only a good thing for football down the South Coast.

For them two to do what they've done and the way they've done it is a really great achievement.

So congratulations to them and now it's our job to make sure we experience our own success in a couple of weeks.

On more serious matters, how's Gavin Bazunu?

RM: Gavin had an operation on Thursday and it was as bad as we feared. He's going to be out for around nine to 10 months as he has ruptured his Achilles.

I spoke to Gavin last night. He's got all his family over from Ireland and they're here to support him and the medical team here.

How quickly we managed to get everything done and the operation done is really fantastic.

I spoke to him before the operation and he wasn't in a good place, which you can imagine and expect after hearing such bad news.

But already last night, he was way more positive. It might be the anaesthetic. We'll rally round and he'll be in on Monday to come and see the guys.

He wants to be at the game Tuesday because this is Gavin, but we'll also have to assess that. Our biggest thing with Gav will be to try and slow him down.

He will just want to attack everything and hit it head on, so we are really devastated for Gav. He's a brilliant young man.

He's already a seriously strong young man and resilient young man and him being out gives other people opportunities.

The guys in the dressing room will certainly rally round, I know they would have already, and we look forward to seeing him on Monday.

It shows that football careers can be fickle and change overnight, doesn't it?

RM: I've said to the guys so many times, your career is just never linear.

You can't have it all your own way. I don't know anyone whose career just goes upwards and upwards. Maybe (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo. 

And even then they'll have disappointment and setbacks to deal with. Gavin has now had a huge setback, a huge disappointment in his life.

There will be some really dark and lonely moments during these next nine, 10 months.

When you dream of doing something and you do it every day but then that's taken away and you don't expect that, it's really difficult to deal with.

We will support him but we also have to accept there are going to be moments where he feels that but how you deal with disappointment will define everything you do.

That goes for like in life and in football, how you deal with disappointment and tough moments define you, I think, as a person and player.

I've got no doubt he will come out of the other side stronger, and it will give him a chance to work on stuff that he hasn't been able to since he was 18.

He's been playing first-team football since then, which for a goalkeeper is incredible, so I've got no doubt about Gavin and his future.

It's just a little delay and a pause in his career. And then when he gets back, he'll pick up where he left off." 

For Alex McCarthy, he must wonder what all the fuss is about. Clean sheet? 

RM: He got really bothered, didn't he? It was a really tough decision on who to pick. 

My brother actually sent me a thing yesterday someone put online about if I was Joe Lumley, I'd put in a transfer request right now, which is ridiculous. I don't know who wrote that.

Me and Joe had a really in-depth chat on Wednesday. And I didn't expect him to be happy about the decision but I spoke to him about why I felt the decision was the right one at the time.

He probably still doesn't agree, but hopefully he respects the decision. We had quick hug and I thanked him for the chat. In Alex, we have someone with a lot of experience.

A lot of experience at the highest level and has played for his country. We've seen what Joe can do, so I just wanted to see what Alex could do.

I think he did great. He had very little to do as a goalkeeper because the guys in front of him played brilliant, but what he did have to do, he did well.

And with a calm assurance, which he has, he's just so relaxed as a person. Nothing seems to faze him and I think at this stage of the season, that's important. 

So now it's a big decision to make for tomorrow, as it is with a few other players in the team.

You've got three away games in the last four, you have a good away record and can shut out the noise?

RM: I think our team is hard to play against. There's not been too many games this season where I feel like I did at Blackburn, where there wasn't enough intensity in running.

Then there was enough desire to defend our box and all that stuff, so I think that's testament to the players is their courage to go and play football and be the team we want to be.

We don't change our approach away from home. We have a fantastic away following that are travelling in huge numbers and are so vocal.

They've been brilliant. But the challenge for us is to always be the team we want to be, to always try and dominate the game as much as we possibly can.

The players, honestly, I have nothing but gratitude for them for doing it, and they have to do it again. They have to do it again tomorrow. And it will be a different test.

I don't know what the atmosphere will be like. I don't think I'm very well-liked in those parts so maybe that adds to the atmosphere a little bit.

I don't know. But the players will turn up, try and take the ball, want the ball, play and run for each other. And that's all I can ever ask them.

If they do that, I believe it will be enough. And if we don't do that, then it's always the moments we have difficulty in. 

It's an exciting challenge but I've no doubt if they bring the courage and aggression they brought on Tuesday, then we can turn it into a good day for us.

How do you show the side of cutting out the noise and handling it? 

RM: I think they've shown an ability to cut out the noise at home and away in some difficult moments. And that's not a criticism of our supporters.

Of course, when we're trying to play in the way we play, there are some moments that are really scary. And then a few anxious moans in the crowd at times. Not a lot.

It's a real minority, I feel. But when you work on something so much and you really believe in it, then at the first sign of a scary moment to then change the whole plan is really crazy.

So they stick to it and they stick to it brilliantly. It's why we win the game at Watford, I think. Because in the last 15 minutes, we played more football than we had all game.

And we built up better than we had all game, so it wasn't a case of really changing the plan. Then it ends up in us getting a free kick in the corner.

That's because we ended up pinning them back quite a lot. Away from home, I think it's about managing the temperature of the game in the crowd.

When the crowd feels that their team's starting to have a chance with us on the ball, the lads then have to have a run, a brilliant action, to then take that away from the crowd again.

And that takes a lot of courage. I love watching our team play wherever we are.

Away from home, you can hear the noise turned down with one action of real bravery or real intensity, then it's a really beautiful feeling for the players, I think.

We have to try and have that as much as possible between now and the end of the season.