Every word Russell Martin said ahead of facing Man City

Q: How did you react to the defeat to Leicester at the weekend? Have you seen the right type of reaction from your players this week in training?

RM: I saw loads of good stuff from them in the game. I don't think we have ever had a problem with them and how they work or culturally.

I think they have been very frustrated. The level of competition has been very good this week.

The reaction has been good in terms of the meetings we've had and the training we've done. Now they have to put it onto the pitch. 

Q: We understand the hierarchy are behind you. How have your relationships been recently?

RM: They've been great. Perception and reality are so far apart. A lot of people made up that it was do or die against Leicester - I'd be sacked after that game. 

In this profession, in this industry, you're just allowed to ask about people's jobs all the time. So I'm here, I have a really good relationship with the owners.

We're trying to build and grow something, build on what we've done over the last 15, 16 months or whatever it is.

I'll continue to do that to the best of my ability with the same love and care I have in the time I've been here.

The same will and want to improve with the same work ethic. So until I'm told otherwise, I will do that.

We have a really good, honest, open relationship. I want more points, they want more points. Should we have had more points? Yes.

I think if the performances and the data suggested much differently, if it wasn't maybe what it was, then maybe it's different conversations.

But I feel that nothing but support from them right now. And yeah, it just it won't impact my job either way.

Q: The fact you get that support from your bosses must be such a positive for you to be able to carry on doing the work that you're doing?

RM: Yeah, also like there's this thing with... I walked into training and on your channel (Sky Sports) it was breaking news that I'm still in a job.

So how that becomes breaking news at any point is incredible, but it was. Because everyone's desperate to see the first manager sacked in the Premier League.

Bookmakers, you guys, the TV, because it creates drama and then they can talk about the next manager.

So I don't listen to it in the same way I didn't listen last season when we were having a really good time. But I find it fascinating.

I find it all fascinating. The circus and the level of drama around the Premier League really isn't that much drama. There was never a conversation about Leicester being do or die.

I knew that. Although lots of people reported it to be that way. But like I said, there's never a comeback for that after.

So people can say that it hasn't happened. Now we have one of the toughest challenges we have, and that's my focus. It's not about what's gone on.

It's about the people inside the building and the people that gave me the job and gave me a new three-year contract in the summer.

They know I continue to do my very, very best and we're open to learning. We're trying to adapt. We're trying to grow a team in our way and trying to stick to who we are.

I knew that would be the biggest challenge. That hasn't changed one bit and I do think the level of criticism or scrutiny we face compared to a lot of others who probably have different expectations to us is really interesting. Really interesting.

Q: Has it been quite an interesting time for you to learn about the world of the Premier League, the pressures of the media, the things that get written...

RM: No, I've not been surprised by one bit of it. Not one bit of it.

Q: Manchester City in the Premier League at the Etihad. How do you come up with a game plan to pick up three points and get that first win on the board?

RM: In the same way we try with everyone else. I think you have to accept they're a brilliant team. We're a brilliant manager, brilliant players.

But the challenge is so exciting for us. It's what we worked so hard for last year. It's what we've all worked so hard for all of our footballing lives.

The challenge of going and playing against one of the best. We have to keep doing what we're doing. We have to stick to what we want to be and stick to it.

I think that's the challenge again, is to go there and see how brave we can be. We went to the Emirates and had some brilliant, brilliant moments.

We have to make sure that we understand why we did that and go there with the same fight and the mentality we had and try and have enough moments ourselves.

We want to come away knowing that we've given everything we've got. But also, if we do that, we have a chance. You have a chance in any game.

Things can happen, things change. We are going there with a game plan to try and win the game and not just to avoid too much damage.

I think you have to, otherwise, what's the point? And, yeah, I'm excited about it.

Q: When you look at Manchester City recently, how do you be on the front foot, get that first goal, but then shut them out?

RM: I think there's a lot of things at play. Whatever we do tactically, it's pointless if we don't build the lads up enough to believe they can go and take something.

So it will all be about our mentality. I can question the way we manage certain situations and especially with us being in front at the moment, the tension creeps into our game.

But I don't think I can question the players' character and their willingness to fight for us and run for us.

We've had half an hour at Bournemouth where that was the only time I really didn't like that. But the lads are giving everything they've got.

Honestly, they're a brilliant group and they have to continue to do that and they'll do that on Saturday. Let's see how far it takes us.

Q: Is this another opportunity perhaps for you to be creative in trying to find a gap in the Man City armour?

RM: I think we're always trying to be as creative as we can to try and find something that will help us in the game to adapt, to tweak.

We need to find some consistency in what's on the pitch, on who's on the pitch, to help build a level of performance that we're happy with.

We were so happy with a lot of it on Saturday that we go down to 10 men and the game completely changes. So that's not in our control.

What we can control is putting a team on the pitch that understand exactly what we're asking from them in most phases of the game, as much as we possibly can. I trust that they will have clarity in that.

Q: Any injury news?

RM: Yes, Yuki (Sugawara) had to come off, so we've managed him a little bit this week, or having to manage him. I think another 24 hours will depend on if he's ready to start or not.

We'll have to make a decision on that and Will Smallbone is out now for a little bit of time, which is really frustrating and disappointing for us.

Q: And Ross Stewart?

RM: Yeah, Ross is also out for a period of time. Yeah, you know, we spoke about that before, but so disappointing for him and for us. 

Q: You mentioned you need to find consistency. Does that sort of start on the training pitch?

RM: No, no, they train consistently. We are consistent with our work and with the way we work.

I think it's about consistency in terms of a shape that we're really comfortable with, that we can adapt in-game.

But also people and relationships on the pitch. I've made a lot of changes to the team to try and find when you're not winning, it's really easy to go searching for something.

But the level of performance in the last couple of games we've been fairly happy with, so we don't want to veer too far away from that.

We have a big squad, and we're trying to make sure we use that to the best of our ability.

Q: You also said for a game like City, you need to build the players up to believe that they can win. How do you do that as a manager?

RM: It's the same for every game. We show them the good stuff we've done and why we do certain things.

If it's right for us in terms of principle and concept, it's always right, regardless of the state of the game.

I think at the minute we go away too much from our principles and it's just tension that does that, and not winning has done that.

I think you can approach it in so many different ways. You can go there and try and defend for 90 minutes and nick something.

You can go there and actually try to play with courage and try and have moments yourself. I hope we've given them enough courage to be able to do that.

Q: Everybody knows the way that you're playing, you talk about it a lot... 

RM: You talk about it a lot. I don't. You do. Yeah, I do with my player. It's well talked about in a positive way, I think, a lot of the time.

Q: Was Pep then someone, his style of play, was that the kind of thing you were looking at when you were making your way early on?

RM: Yeah, I think they're, yeah, it's the most enjoyable version of the game to watch.

Q: Coming up against someone like Pep, playing that kind of football, the trophies he's won, that kind of thing, that's what it's all about.

Like I said earlier on in the interview, it's an amazing challenge, an amazing challenge that we've all worked so hard to get here.

The challenge is not to be overawed by it and not sit there and watch Man City and appreciate how good they are, to try and challenge that and to try and have moments ourselves and to show that we actually deserve to be here.

It's a beautiful challenge, it's a brilliant one and one I'm really, really looking forward to.

Q: Do you think actually your stars are very similar, a certain graphs that will show you closest to City in terms of speed of build-up and things like that? Is Russell Martin's stamp on the team different than Pep's?

RM: I think everyone's stamp on the team is different, I'm sure. Yeah, every team he's had has dominated the ball, every team we've had has dominated the ball, but they've all been different, in the same way his team.

So as a coach, to have some conviction in something that you want to be, to set your stall out to do that, but then finding a way to do it with each group of players, it can be very different.

But the concepts and the principles of the game and what you want, I don't think will change very much and I think it is football in its purest form.

To try and have the ball and to try and create and be aggressive with the ball and when you don't have it, to win it back as quickly as possible and his team do that amazingly well and better than most.

They're a really top team and I hope we can earn their respect by putting in a performance that is on the pitch that we're happy with and proud of.

Q: You were talking about being open to learning but what are you learning as a coach for your first season in the Premier League?

RM: I think it's just about making players believe that they can be the player they want to be at the highest level against the best players.

I think the level of ability and tactics and athleticism and all that stuff can be fairly big, but really when you put it in the grand scheme of things, it's not that huge.

There are some exceptional talents and all that stuff, of course, but I think the best players have the best mentality. I really believe that.

I think the best teams have the best mentality and yeah, I want to keep learning about the way we're doing things and what we need to adapt in the Premier League. 

I think the biggest thing is that we just have a group of young men that are trying to grow and big scrutiny all the time and it's our job to keep them on path.

We need to do things that we think are right for them and right for us and to keep growing in the way that we were asked to grow.

I'm really enjoying the learning and the challenge of it all, but yeah, in the midst of all the noise, about maintaining true to what you want to be and who you want to be and the players and that's the biggest bit of learning.

I think that's the most challenging bit, so that's been interesting.

Q: Everyone knew it was going to be tough so how do we get expectation and reality closer?

RM: Yeah, I think there's four teams that haven't won yet in the Premier League, which I don't think has ever happened, it probably shows you how tough it is at the moment.

We should have won, we should have won a game or two by now, but we haven't, so I think expectation in-house, we always knew it was going to be tough, but we wanted to attack it in our way and we are, we're trying to do it in our way.

I think, but it's so close, one win can change everything. We just need to make sure we're always in with a chance of doing what we want to do and to do that we need to win a game or two fairly quickly.

We're not going to be defined by Man City away, I've said that all the way along and we're not. We need to pick up more points against the teams that we're going to be really competing with and we've been so close, but it's been frustrating.

Q: You've had eight games and you've given a lot of different players chances, are you closer to knowing which players you can almost trust week in, week out?

RM: I don't think it's about trust, I think you trust every player we have here.

I think it's about finding the right balance and what the team needs and what's more important in this league was maybe more important in the Championship and also about performance.

There are certain players that have a level of performance that makes it really difficult to leave them out of the team.

Then there are maybe a few other positions where it's a bit more up for grabs because we haven't really found a formula there yet. 

I think that changes all the time but I think we have people that if someone needs to come out someone else can come in and we know we're going to get a certain level of performance.

The hardest job is balancing that and picking the right team and trying to keep everyone engaged and focused.

Q: One player you get asked about, how does Adam Lallana get more minutes or why hasn't he had more minutes since his appearance against Ipswich?

RM: Bournemouth is just a different game, Arsenal is a different game and then he was going to come on the pitch on Saturday and we go down to 10 men.

I don't think that's the game for Adam to come on but I think Adam's really involved in the process with us so we have a lot of chats, a lot of honest chats, he understands.

He was brought here to help on the pitch and off it and he has helped on when he's been on it. But I think at 36 years old we can't expect him to play every single game.

There are certain games where he can really help us and somewhere he maybe needs to come off the bench rather than start games depending on how he feels as well.

I think he's a supremely talented player, he's a really experienced player and he'll definitely help us at some point.