SAINTS manager Russell Martin admitted he lost some sleep for a couple of nights as he accepted full responsibility for their 5-0 defeat at Sunderland.

It was also not the ideal time to suffer his first loss in the role, he says, with no fixture for two weeks to focus on and put it right.

The timing also meant Martin and his staff were working with a much-reduced group, with 16 first-team players and many top academy products away with their countries.

With just days until the visit of Leicester City in the Championship, Martin invited the Daily Echo to watch how they operate in Monday’s training session.  

10:30am

With training set to start at 10:30AM, the Saints players begin their activation out of sight of the Markus Liebherr Pavillion’s balcony.

Assistant manager Matt Gill was already setting up cones and drills when we walked past the training pitch on our way in, at least 15 minutes earlier.

Director of football, Jason Wilcox’s office is positioned next to the manager and the coaches, also offering him access to the balcony to view training.

10:41am

Daily Echo:

The first Saints players now emerge and it shows the scale of the absences due to international duty. Just 10 outfield players come out.

These are Kamaldeen Sulemana, Ryan Fraser, Mason Holgate, James Bree, Adam Armstrong, Flynn Downes, Charly Alcaraz, Juan Larios, Zach Awe and Princewill Ehibhatiomhan.

Goalkeepers Alex McCarthy and Joe Lumley work on the next pitch down with coach Dean Thornton, emerging later in the session.

Martin is vocal now in order to lift the energy. After a quick warm-up, all players are paid up and assigned one training dummy – one-touch passes and move.

10:50am

The players now rejoin to make a group of 10 and move into a rondo, with manager Martin, assistant Gill and coach Carl Martin taking part on the periphery.

Daily Echo:

As Wilcox joins us on the viewing platform, a big slide tackle in the middle generates a roar from the Saints players making a circle.

The rondo, a glorified game of piggy in the middle, is played at a fast pace and the oldest drill in the book for teaching players to retain possession of the ball.

11am

That focus continues with a 15-minute drill, set up in the right half of the pitch with just one goal in play.

The attacking team are set in a shape that resembles Martin’s matchday system, with two players at the back of the setup ensuring speedy recycling of the ball.

Two wingers flank one centre-deep and one centre-advanced player, with just one touch allowed to play the ball forward up the pitch under pressure from the assigned opposition.

The ball moves in and out, and crucially around, the press, involving all players before reaching the ‘striker’ in the area.

Only then is the striker permitted to take more than one touch as he works himself space and looks to beat the goalkeeper.

By this stage, there are several eyes on the session with the likes of kitmen and medical staff watching on from the sidelines at Staplewood.

11:15am

Daily Echo:

Played within a rectangle marked by training cones, over around only a third of the length of the pitch, small-sided games begin.

Holgate, Downes, Fraser, Ehibhatiomhan and Armstrong take on the team of Bree, Awe, Alcaraz, Kamaldeen and Josh Lett – McCarthy and Lumley in the net.

Coaches flank all sides of the rectangle in order to speedily return the ball to play if it leaves the designated area.

Martin orchestrates proceedings from the touchline this time, recently joking that Scotland’s Stuart Armstrong has asked him when he’s going to finally give up getting involved.

Kamaldeen is intelligent, full of flair and considered highly promising by Martin but with his injury this summer is not yet completely fit.

Fraser is sharp in this drill, striking the ball with venom but firing narrowly wide on a couple of quickfire occasions.

The losing team in this drill is punished with a half-length sprint before being called back into action by the boss.

11:30am

Amassing behind the goal as the short-sided games come to an end is an army of under-21 players – and coach Olly Lancashire.

The bit that everyone actually looks forward to at training, regardless of what level you are at, has come.  

Each side is populated up to 11-a-side but it is not just a laugh and a joke like my old club’s 11v11s to finish a Wednesday evening on the astro.

One rule Martin barks out to keep up the intensity, for example, is that if a throw-in takes longer than five seconds possession is immediately conceded to the opposition.

The orange team pummelled the non-bibs and Martin was left ‘disappointed’ with some of the application shown.

“The oranges have been in the box five times in eight minutes, that is not good enough,” Martin yelled. He added: “You’re stitching each other up.” 

The boss then demanded the 10 more minutes of work left to be at an exceptional standard, and youngster Awe was one of the most vocal as the two groups rallied.

“Yes, much better,” Martin then added, approvingly. The former Swansea City man addressed these moments in an interview later and hopes the players value his authenticity.

11:55am

Daily Echo:

As Martin calls time on the session, all the players gather for a lengthy debrief. All the staff gather too – Gill is Martin’s right-hand man.

Martin holds lengthy individual conversations with Kamaldeen and Alcaraz, while McCarthy leads a small group of players in an impromptu crossbar challenge. Lumley and coach Thornton were among the last to vacate the pitch.

Daily Echo:

12:45pm

Lunch is served from 12:30PM inside the canteen in the Markus Liebherr Pavilion. A second canteen, the academy diner, houses the youth teams and women’s just down the corridor.

Academy director Andy Goldie – back from the continent – gives Martin a debrief on the exploits of around 10 Saints prospects away with England’s youth teams last week.

Deadline day signing Ross Stewart, who joined from Sunderland, is present at lunch with his new teammates – despite injury keeping him out of the session.

Lumley, signed as keeping back-up following the departure of Willy Caballero this summer, introduces himself to new faces and quips about his and Martin’s first meeting.

It is a different dynamic for Martin, beginning the session with just 10 outfield senior players after hosting as many as 30 at points this summer.