Every word Southampton's Martin said ahead of facing Newcastle

Q: Russell, it's already time to start life in the Premier League. How are you feeling? How ready do you feel?

RM" Yeah, I'm feeling excited about it. Really looking forward to the challenge. Really looking forward to the game. And how ready we are, I guess we'll see. It's always difficult, the first game. 

You don't know where other teams are. Pre-season games are very difficult to gauge anything from, really, in terms of when the league starts, because the opposition you're playing against are different. Formations change. Players change. 

We'll wait and see. I think the first game is always interesting. I feel like we're at a point now where we need the first game to come. I'm not sure if we had any more training time, what we'd work on because we're really happy with the work we've done.

And the players just need it to come now. I think everyone does. It'll be nice to get it out of the way.

Q: Not too many people are giving you much chance of staying in the league. Can you use that as motivation?

Yeah, I think it will become part of the story, I'm sure, for us. But honestly, even last season, when it was going very well, when we had a few tough moments as well, it just didn't affect us.

The external narrative doesn't affect the process or the work that we do, really, whether that's really positive or negative.

So, we all concentrate on trying to be the team we want to be, on working how we work, on the process that's got us this far, and trying to be better at it.

Q: You mentioned being the team you want to be. Your style of play has been talked about a lot, and concerns over whether that will transfer to the Premier League. Do you continue with that or do you modify and adapt?

I think there's a concern about any style of play transferring to the Premier League. If you look at the teams I've been promoting in the last few years, teams are doing things very differently. But if we played more percentage and a bit more directly, maybe, it wouldn't become about the style of play.

It would be about the players being good enough. Whereas I know that we're going to be defined by the style of play, it will be me and the style of play that won't be good enough. So, it's just really interesting in the narrative already about what people look for.

So, that will be judged at the end of the season and there will be moments I'm called naive and we're called naive, but we've done something for a year. We've done something as a coaching staff for nearly five years that's got us to the Premier League, that we really believe in.

I don't think it's right for everyone, but it's right for us and it's right for this club. And the players really believe in it, the staff really believe in it and I think the fans feel connected to it. So, we have to try and be better at it.

In terms of being comfortable, more comfortable with the opposition having a bit more of the ball than the guys are used to and that we're used to. But it doesn't mean that we're going to change when we have it or change our principles and the concept of the game for us.

Q: In terms of transfers, how hard is it starting a season not knowing for sure that you're not going to lose a player in the next couple of weeks?

RM: Yeah, I think, well the fairest thing for all is that it just shuts the night before the first game of the season. I think it's nonsense, it carries on, but I don't make the rules. And I think it only really suits the people with real power, financial power.

We haven't done the business we would have liked to have done as a club yet. We've done some brilliant business, some stuff we're really happy with, but we haven't done as much as we would have like. 

There's a long way to go and teams have a bit more financial power than us, the teams are waiting for their players to try and get more money. We may be waiting for players to leave our building, which can then enable us to go and do a bit more business.

So, yeah, I don't enjoy the transfer and I'm not sure any managers do, but it's part of it. I'm really happy with what we've done so far, we do need to do some more and we will do some more. And I guess how much we do, what we do will be defined by who leaves the building and also how the next couple of weeks go.

Q: Kyle-Walker Peters, how hopeful, how confident are you that he will stay this season?

RM: I'm a lot more hopeful and a lot more confident than I was six weeks ago that we might keep him. It was the same all last summer, it didn't let it affect him one bit. This summer's a bit different because he has a year left of his contract, so the situation changes a little bit.

But he was great for us last year, he's the ultimate professional in the way that he trains. And he's still here and he's in contention and he's a fantastic player and he knows exactly what we expect of him and he did it brilliantly last year.

If he is asked to play on Saturday, he'll have no problem at all.

Q: In an ideal world, I don't know how much you're willing to divulge, but if you didn't lose anyone now, how many signings would you like to make and what positions are you looking at?

RM: I think it's really difficult to say. I think it depends on the targets we're looking at. It depends on how hungry they are to play for us, how desperate they are to play for us, how much we really want them, how much money we have to spend. So much changes that.

So I couldn't give you a definitive number and also I'm really happy with the players we have and the core group that we have. I think one of our biggest strengths will be continuity and sticking with the guys and giving them the opportunity that they deserve after last season.

Because I've been there and I've seen it a lot when teams change too much. Whether that's out of fear or they need to feel they need to improve quickly, but actually they can lose a little bit of the essence of what they're about.

And when we've had a year doing so much work on certain things, it's difficult to then just bring a new player and drop them in. So yeah, I think keeping the core group of players and actually keeping some players that were so important last season as good a business as we'll do.

Q: You said you all feel collectively absolutely ready for a match now. So has pre-season gone pretty much as you planned the work you've been able to get into the play?

RM: In terms of the workload and the detail and how hard they've worked physically, yeah, it's been great. And we've managed to avoid too many injuries, which is nice. But yeah, I think you only know how ready you are when you step over the white line. It's what it's like. 

I've had pre-seasons where you've won every game, you feel great physically, you get to the first game after 40 minutes, and you're looking around and can't feel your legs. And it's been a tough afternoon.

So it all depends on the mentality of the team. And we will judge them on the things that we judged them on last year. They know this, the values of the team and how important certain things are. That hasn't changed one bit. 

And pre-season they've delivered them really brilliantly and they're learning and growing together all the time. And we just have to try and continue in that way.

Q: Do you have a fully fit squad more or less?

Yeah, pretty much. I think Kamaldeen's nearly fit, Ross Stewart is nearly back in contention, and Adam Lallana's nearly back. So actually, yeah, they're in a really good place.

Q: With it being Newcastle, I think you faced Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall before on the sideline from looking through it. Are they a good example in terms of, they also play attacking, expansive football

RM: Yeah, they're very different to us. They've been together a long time. Eddie and Jason have had a brilliant career. I think for a young British coach to look at them and see what they've achieved and what they've done is really great.

They've had the opportunities they've had and they've earned the opportunities they've had because it's not been an easy journey for them. So the fact they're doing it now at the very top level, got the team to the Champions League, I think it's an incredible achievement.

So yeah, it's a tough game and they have a really strong identity in what they do. They're really clear. I played against Eddie's team a lot as a player. It's a Bournemouth team and they were really clear.

So they're obviously very good coaches and they look like they have a team and a crowd and a fan base that are fully behind them. That's really powerful, especially up there at St James' Park.

So we know we're going to have to manage that and take the temperature out of the game as much as we can and try and be ourselves as much as we can. And then we'll see where it takes us.

Q: They've obviously got the likes of Isak and Gordon but are you and your staff and your players quite good at seeing past the names and just focusing on yourself?

RM: Yeah, we try and focus on us as much as we possibly can. So we make the players aware of their threat, of what we feel their real strengths are. Also where we think we'll be able to hurt them in the same way that Eddie will be about us.

In the same way that any manager in the Championship last year would have been prepared for us we try and prepare for them. But again, we embarked on a journey that was about us improving and growing whilst being aware and respectful of the opposition.

But I think it's a really important balance to not get here and then start just worrying about the opposition and the players you're playing against and the names you're playing against.

I think it's really important not to mythologise the Premier League and to build it up as this supernatural thing that human beings. They are really top players, but they are human beings. They make mistakes in the same way anyone else does.

I think what separates these guys is the physicality and the mentality to bounce back from a mistake and not let it affect them. So I want to see the same from our players. At times there will be some tough and scary moments in the Premier League for sure, but we have to continue to keep trying to be the team.

We'll not keep trying, the lads do it brilliantly, to keep being the team we want to be. That is the only thing that gives us the best chance of surprising everyone and doing what we are setting out to do.

Q: Adam Armstrong returns to his boyhood club that made him a player really. How confident is he and you as staff that he can transfer that prolific championship-scoring form into the Premier League?

RM: I think Adam feels like he has a chance in the Premier League now and a style that really suits him. And a team that suits him with the management and coaching staff and fan base and teammates that love him and love what he brings.

I think Adam's biggest concern is to see where his dad is sitting. If he is in the home stand or the away stand. So we will wait and see. But I have no doubt about Adam and his ability and how much he brings on and off the pitch to his teammates and to us.

So I am excited for him. I am excited for quite a lot of the guys that have the opportunity to really try and showcase what they do after a really tough time in the Premier League the last season they were in here.

So it is very different and they have to take the opportunity and they have to grasp it with both hands and continue to be the people they have been for a year for us. Because they have been really incredible.

Q: You have gone from the Championship to the Premier League as a player and you are now doing it as a manager so you know the jump. What are the areas in general where you notice as a player when you go from that league to that league?

RM: Well it is the speed of it, the athleticism, the power. I think from when I was a player to a manager now the Championship is full of really outstanding coaches. So I think tactically will there be that many differences.

Of course when you are playing the top teams and the superstars then it changes a little bit but I think it is down to physicality and power. And mentality. And the level of scrutiny that you have to deal with.

So the noise levels already of the amount of people sitting in this room that I didn't see last season until the playoffs. So it changes all of that. So the players have to be able to cope with that and deal with that. And try and be themselves and amongst that.

So that will be the biggest challenge for us is to be ourselves throughout this season and I think it is a brilliant challenge for the players.

Q: You said they are very different to you and you can't talk. But obviously you know Eddie well with regards to how he plays. What are they good at?

RM: They are aggressive. They run so hard out of possession. They have huge numbers physically all last season. In the top two or three in the league for sprint distance, high-intensity runs. They have physical stature and prowess. And they have some really outstanding players.

And a really clear way of doing things. They have a lot of tools in their armoury. I think every team would have in the Premier League. It's a challenge I'm really looking forward to. And also one of their biggest strengths is the crowd, the atmosphere, the ground.

They all really buy into it. And it's the football that makes that city. When you step into the city centre where the stadium is in the city. When you go there, how imposing that is. So you have to deal with all of that.

I think honestly it's a great first game to really see where we're going to be at. And for the players to really feel some moments and to grow from and just to get out of the way. I think it's going to be a really tough one but they all are. It's going to be a brilliant, brilliant challenge.

Q: Do you reflect at all or enjoy the fact of where you've come on the journey? When you get out there and there's 55,000 people and you're like, here we go. Will you actually take a moment to be grateful for the journey you've been on?

RM: I don't know, it took me about 10 years to be grateful for being destroyed by Victor Moses at Wigan in my Premier League debut as a player. So I'm not sure I didn't play after that one. I got dropped so I had to get back in the team in a different position.

But I don't think in football you get time to really reflect and stand still. I still haven't really done that at Wembley, I've not seen anything. The feeling I had was enough right then. So maybe one day I'll look back.

I feel incredibly grateful for it but maybe one day I'll take time to really look back on it and feel it again and to enjoy that. But I was already getting prepared for this season. So on Saturday, whilst it will be a brilliant occasion for us as a coaching staff to manage in the Premier League, how the day goes will be how we remember it. So we will only remember it fondly.

And I'm really positive we'll have to go and perform and put in a good performance and get a result. Because if it's not, then I won't have the same feeling about it. It will just be a game that passes by and it happened and it was done.

But yeah, of course, when we've been on a journey taking over a team in League One in the relegation zone and playing in a certain way and losing the first four games and people questioning what we were doing and how we were doing it in the style of play.

So that question's been there for five years and that will not go away I'm pretty sure. Because I'm British and I'm still fairly young and not really achieved very much. So whilst it is an achievement for us to be there, I don't want to see it like that.

We need to feel like we deserve to be there and we belong there and we have to show that. And the only way we do that is by winning games there and really showing a good account of ourselves as a group.

And hopefully we'll do that. I think any game, by the way, where you've got two young British managers competing in the Premier League against each other is a fairly achievement in itself. Two young English managers.

Q: If I can, can you shed any light on Armel Bella-Kotchap? We know he's hoping to be in Hoffenheim but there were some scary stories about some harm. 

Yeah, he is in Hoffenheim and it's progressing. Armel, because it mentions the heart, is probably a scarier story than it actually is. He's had a really standard procedure on it. So they will investigate and do more tests of course.

But it's never really caused him a problem. We've all been aware of it for quite some time. And I expect and I hope for Armel that it will all be fine and it will all happen. I think it's, as I said, it's progressing.

Armel is fine, completely fine. I think it's a really good deal for all parties. So hopefully for him and for us and for Hoffenheim, it all goes through. And if it doesn't, we'll reassess and we'll get back here.

But there is no imminent threat to Armel and his health and safety and all that stuff. So yeah, how that was leaked and how it came out without context and detail is a little bit irresponsible I think. Because it doesn't do the player any favours at all. Or the clubs.