Every word Martin said on Southampton's fitness, Hull and 'busy week'

How is the fitness looking after the international break?

We are in a pretty good place, I don’t think we have had any unexpected surprises. A couple of the lads needed a bit of a rest having played three games in a week and having not done that in a little while - or ever in some cases.

Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) is in the squad, we will see today whether he is fit enough to start or not. He has come through that pretty well.

He played with the injury, we didn’t know about it until after the game. That’s his mindset and mentality.

He’s a young guy so maybe in a year or two he comes off when he feels something because he might have made it a little bit worse.

It’s not too bad and it hasn’t been too serious. There will be a couple of people who we will have to manage this week because they have been away on international duty.

We have a three-game week again, the people organising the fixtures make it really easy after an international break.

That is what it is. Every manager has a juggling act. You have to look at the three games, but you also have to look at each game as the most important one.

This (Hull) is the most important one. We are playing against a good side tomorrow and we need to put out the strongest team and try to keep as much consistency as we can with one or two changes.

Then we approach Preston after that and Birmingham after that one.

What has Taylor Harwood-Bellis added?

He has brought a really brilliant mentality. He played the first three games just not fit at all. We knew we would have to get him fit whilst playing games.

I spoke to you about that, we had to do it with a few players; him, Flynn (Downes), Ryan Fraser, Kamaldeen (Sulemana) when he was coming back from injury, it’s never ideal that.

We felt like the team needed him at that point because he has natural leadership ability - you can see why he is the England Under-21s captain, you can see why he has been promoted and played well over 100 games already at his age and in a position which is really something.

It’s one of the toughest positions to play where experience counts for so much. He has come in and given us reliability. He is really brave on the ball.

He is solid, I completely get that, he has a warrior mentality. He wants to fight, he wants to win, he is aggressive. He has also brought us a lot of calm and composure with the ball, as well as his voice.

When Jack (Stephens) went out, it was something we didn’t have a huge amount of. He has brought a lot of that. He has been all in from the start.

He was frustrated with his first few performances but we told him that he didn’t need to be. We knew how good he was. He wasn’t fit yet because he hadn’t played a game in pre-season.

He is at a point now where he is starting to get into a bit of a rhythm which is nice. We will have to look at these three games because he is on the back of a small injury, but I think he and Janny (Jan Bednarek) are enjoying playing together.

They are learning all the time about each other’s game and what is required. They have a lot of feedback and a lot of conversation.

The rest of the defenders, even the ones who aren’t involved, will sit in on the unit meetings. We go through clips, they have feedback and they talk to each other.

I’ve really enjoyed watching Janny grow over the last four or five games in terms of the way he has trained and played and the amount of courage he has shown with the ball.

There’s been a huge difference from the start of the season. He has been really brilliant and I’ve pleased with both of them. Now it’s up to Mason (Holgate) and Jack, when he gets back fit, to start putting pressure on them because we are going to need everyone. Hopefully, there will be a point where, if we need someone else in there, then they can take that opportunity as well. 

Have you had a word with Shea Charles about his sending off?

I haven’t seen him yet, he hasn’t been back in yet. I kind of try to leave them to it (when they are away on international duty) because I speak to them enough when they are here.

I will have a chat with him this morning. I saw it, but I don’t think it’s something that you can take out of his game. Shea wants to win.

He is aggressive and he breaks up play. He’s a really important player for Northern Ireland and he will be a really important player for us. 

I know Flynn (Downes) has played in front of him recently, but when he has come on from the bench he has had a really good impact on the games.

We have really good competition in the midfield, really brilliant. We have people who can play a couple of different positions in there as well.

Trying to find the right balance for different games is our job. It’s going to be nice to have everyone back in today and get some work done on the training pitch ahead of a big week.

How much of a lottery is it for managers when you are picking a team having only had the players back in for one day?

You have a team in your mind when you analyse Hull that you think will be the best one. Then you have to go off how the players are feeling energy-wise.

You look at them and their body language when they come back and how their experience going away was. All of that has to come into it.

Hopefully, you don’t end up too far away from the team that you have envisioned for the last couple of weeks. We will have to wait and see.

All three teams you face this week are about you in the table - it’s a tough week, isn’t it?

Yeah, definitely. I said that September in terms of the fixtures we had and the size of the clubs - all of them are expected to be up there - was really difficult.

Then you look at this block and they are all difficult again, but that’s the Championship. That’s something people have to look at and understand.

The competitiveness in this league, how many clubs think they can get promoted or at least be in the mix - it was about 12 teams on the last day last season that felt they could get into the playoffs.

It will be the same this year because. I think teams like Luton, Coventry and Huddersfield have shown that there’s always a chance for someone to get into the playoffs.

We are playing against a team tomorrow that plays a style that is good to me - obviously not everyone. I think Liam (Rosenior) has done a brilliant job.

We played against them last year and we saw what he was building. They’ve improved because they have recruited really well. They are playing a really similar style to us, it will be a good game of football.

I’ve really enjoyed watching them. He is doing a good job there, they have good players and they express themselves. It will be an interesting game.

Every game this week is going to be different. We are playing against teams that really differ in style and how they do things.

But it is about us and preparing the players for what we need and how we can go there and win. It will be a physically demanding week, and for the supporters with the travel that they’ve got to put in, we will be incredibly grateful for that. Hopefully, we can turn it into another good week.