Every word Southampton boss Russell Martin said ahead of facing Wolves

Q: How is the team news? Any new absences. Is anyone back?

RM: No, I think it's pretty much as is. Wee Man (Ryan Fraser) has trained the last couple of days but it's probably a bit too early for him to be back in the squad. He needs to build himself back up again. Everyone else seems to be good.

Q: Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Aaron Ramsdale got their first England call-ups. How have you seen him develop since you first started working with him?

RM: I think it's brilliant news for the club that we have Tyler Dibling in the under-21s as well, his first call-up to the under-21s which is great.

So with regards to Taylor, Lee knows him very well, he's been his captain for a while so he knows what he can bring.

I think for us he's been really huge, so last season on the pitch. This season we had a difficult start and I think a lot of our players took a bit of time to feel like they belong here and can compete here and really be the player they want to be here.

In the last couple of weeks, we've seen Taylor grow a lot as a character and leader on the pitch and take big responsibility, which he always has done for us with the ball.

His mentality to defend, to head the ball, to be aggressive, to attack it now at set-pieces is where he's become a real threat. He has to keep improving.

He has a lot of work to do but he's also an extremely talented young man with an amazing mindset and mentality which is obviously why we were so keen to get him last season.

Fortunately, we got promoted so we were able to keep him and now he's grown again and he has to continue to do that so it'll be brilliant for him.

I know he's trained in and around the squad before anyway when the under-21s have been used in training with the first team so I don't think he'll have any worries about that.

Knowing Taylor, he'll just be desperate to get on the pitch and try and force his way into it so I'm really delighted for him. As I am of Rambo to get back into the squad.

He's been amazing for us since he came in but in the last couple of games, he's really been big, really, really big. He got the clean sheet he deserved so yeah, its good.

Q: Just on Aaron, this recall shows his character doesn't it to be able to keep on doing that?

RM: Yeah I think so. Football's never linear is it, it's never easy and it's never straightforward. Some people have the luxury of being brilliant players and top players and staying there for a long time.

Aaron is a top player who's had to work the hard way to get there and then has had a bit of frustration recently and now finds himself in a place where he's really loved and really appreciated and is a big, big part of it.

I think that suits him and it helps him. It helps us and I think it's going to be really interesting because of the way he can do both sides of the game, take the ball, the passes he can find, the courage to take the ball and be able to start the build-up for us is huge.

The moments where he has massive saves at the weekend, the weekend before Man City so he has every asset to his game, every facet to his game and every asset that he needs to be a really top goalkeeper.

His biggest asset is his mentality so the fact that he has bounced back from a lot of adversity just doesn't surprise me one bit. That's also a big reason why we wanted him here because we knew it wasn't going to be easy and there'll be times when we are having a difficult period.

We know that he has the mental fortitude and the character to keep going.

Q: Kyle Walker-Peters wrote on social media 'Be calm nd trust the process'

RM: I think naturally it relaxes people a little bit but they've worked extremely hard so the intensive training hasn't changed, they've always been there, they've been together, they've really trusted in us and each other.

We just wouldn't have got through that period and yeah they have a lot of trust in what they're doing, a lot of belief in what they're doing, it's taken a huge amount of courage to keep doing what they're doing when results have been difficult.

Kyle's one of the calmest players we have under big pressure and I think he appreciates the role he has and the work that gets put into it. Now we have to use it as a real springboard to kick on so we have to make sure we back that up with another good performance and result tomorrow.

Q: Does last week's win raise expectations for supporters?

I don't know, I think every game is the same and the Premier League is so big, we try and win every game, we'll try and win this game, there's no easy games in the Premier League. I don't know what the expectation is, I know what our expectation is and what's really important to us and our performance.

I think we've made that really clear to the players so I think they understand that and they know that. They know why we've worked on what we've worked on this week so yeah we will go there with the aim of being us and turning the game into one that we want it to be which is always going to be the challenge,

Q: You played with Gary O'Neil, have you stayed in touch with him?

RM: We've stayed in touch, so when he was at Liverpool and Bournemouth and I was at MK in Swansea but not so much since I've been here and he's been a Premier League manager because things get very, very busy.

I look forward to catching up with Gaz, I had a lot of time for him as a team-mate and as a person so I think he's done a great job. He had an opportunity at Bournemouth and took it, a young English coach and did a brilliant job and now he's got a brilliant opportunity at Wolves.

He did great last season, I've got no doubt at some point they will hit their stride this season because they've been really unfortunate and they've had a really tough run of fixtures as well . We understand the challenge.

I look forward to catching up with Gaz after but we will compete against each other for 90 minutes, all the friendship stuff goes out the window for then but, I think it's great he's done so well.

We were probably two of the moaniest players you'd ever come across in training with an opinion on the game so it doesn't surprise me that we've both gone into this side of it and yeah. I'm really wishing nothing but the best after tomorrow.

Q: Were there ever conversations amongst yourself as senior pros at Norwich about how you view the game?

RM: We just spent most of the time arguing on the pitch so I wanted him to go away and get the ball higher up and he wanted to take the ball off my feet. We got on really well and yeah, we used to have a lot of conversations around football.

Steven Naismith was the same and he ended up managing Hearts and did a really good job last season, currently out of a job unfortunately but I think as you get older, you form more of an opinion and you see more things on the game.

You discuss it of course with your peers and the people around you who have similar interests and our interest at that time, we were all obsessed with football and discussing it and disagreeing, that was the fun bit, disagreeing and arguing in the gym on the training pitch.

We've all got a different idea of the game but I think we all have clarity in what we want and part of that comes from those conversations when you're at the training ground and you're playing and you're travelling in hotels and stuff like that and yeah.

Q: Gary likes to have Wolves playing positively, as a result of that they've conceded a shed load of goals this season, do you pin this up as an opportunity we've got to get at them?

RM: No, I think the challenge is always the same for us, always the same, to impose the game you want, to try and create the opportunities you want and to be aware of the opposition threat and to be aware of how we can hurt them. I'm sure Gary's preparing his team in the same way.

Q: How important is the character of your players in making sure you capitalise on this positive moment in the right way?

Yeah, I think it's just so obvious for the players, it's the Premier League, it's not easy and we've won two games, one in the cup, one in the league, we had a good performance in Man City but we're still in a position we don't want to be in.

I think it's really simple, I don't think I need to make that any clearer to the players, I think we work on ourselves and the process we have which is to try and improve and we have a lot to improve on.

We have a lot to be happy about over the last week but we also have a lot to improve on so we have to just keep striving for improvement and growth in the team and as people. I love the feeling of training this week but also it's not been drastically different even when results haven't gone our way.

When people come here they may be surprised by it sometimes, the guys are still there, they still enjoy what they do and they haven't enjoyed the outcome of the results but I can't just focus on that and change our mood depending on the result, life wouldn't be very fun.

Q: What have you made of Yukinari Sugawara's adjustment to the Premier League?

RM: I think he's been outstanding. To adapt to a different culture, different environment, to not have his family here for the first couple of months as well and the way that he just dealt with that. 

They have come over now so Yuki is smiling - he smiles a lot anyway. I think he's been fantastic. The only thing that sort of disrupted his season a little bit was he took a knock against Leicester.

After the international break, with the amount of travelling, he does and then he went away and doesn't play, which makes it really difficult to come back with freshness and energy. I think he's been amazing, he's going to be a brilliant player for us.

He's ready for the Premier League and he's done great for us and he was so unlucky not to play at the weekend but came on a big impact and so now he needs to continue to do that.

Q: Just on the young players getting in the evening set-ups, can you just expand on how important that is for the club?

RM: Yeah I think young players need to see that there is a pathway so we have some really outstanding young talent in the club and Tyler's shown that. Yes, we've gone and got a couple from other clubs as well but I think it's part of the reason that we were brought into the club.

Trying to develop talent and also create asset value for the football club in terms of business but I think the more players you can have, young players, hungry players that are doing really, really well it's good for the club and it's good for the academy.

It's good for us as coaches to work with them to have a chance to really influence them as professionals, as people but also we have to accept the responsibility of the older players without Jack Stephens, Adam Lallana, Alex McCarthy. 

The guys who showed them how to act and behave every day, they're brilliant examples so it's not just from the coaching staff but I think we're really willing to give opportunities to young players if they are good enough, they're old enough. I think we've shown that.

Now the guys are getting their rewards for the hard work they put in and being really brave to try and be the people they want to be. I'm really delighted for all of them. We have to just make sure they don't lose hunger and they maintain what's got them this far.

I think sometimes that's the biggest challenge in a young player's journey but I think with these guys I have no worries about that, with the people I have around them and for us to keep being really demanding of them.

Q: With regards to Wolves, although it's not relevant to your team and you, some of the recent defeats there in the Premier League have almost been like chaotic games...

RM: Wolves are amazing in transition, they have a lot of really good players and a lot of athleticism so we have to try and avoid that as much as we possibly can.

Q: Is that the challenge though to keep your game composed in the face of it?

RM: I think the more the game becomes transitional and open, the less it suits us and the more it suits Wolves. I think that's really key.

Q: How important is it to not be sitting at the bottom of the table heading into the international break?

Honestly, it's so early on still, I don't know, the international breaks make the season feel so much longer or much further into the season than we are because it has been a while and you just can't get any flow really with these international breaks. 

They're a bit frustrating that they come in such quick succession. I really don't know, every game is really important, I mean that and whatever the outcome tomorrow, I really believe if we go there and the lads stick to the work and the detail and with the intensity they played at last week then we'll come out of it in a really good place.

If we don't, we'll deal with it and we'll keep working. In terms of that, a positive performance, a positive result, everyone can go into this last break before the intensity of the schedule kicks on a little bit and notches up a little bit, everyone can go into them feeling a bit better about themselves.

I want to go into the break feeling in a good place and positive and I'm sure everyone else does."