EVERY word Saints assistant Matt Gill said ahead of hosting Watford in an FA Cup replay to face Liverpool in the fifth round.

What have you learned from the two 1-1 draws with Watford already this season? 

MG: We learn lots from every game. That's the way we work really. It was an interesting game.

We made a few changes for the second game because we felt it was right to do that. There will more than likely be changes tomorrow night from Saturday's game.

It's important that all the lads are up to speed and ready to contribute. It is a huge month coming up and beyond. I think it's important that we are now at home.

We have not played them at home yet and we've been good at home. We need to start the game probably a little bit cleaner than we did in the away game.

It was to be expected. There were lots of new players on the pitch who were playing together for the first time. It was a little bit messy.

I think we went in at half-time with 70 per cent of the ball or something like that so to say it was messy, it wasn't particularly.

We would like to be cleaner and better in attack. We need to start the game better tomorrow night and go from there.

Does it come into it when you are balancing the unbeaten run and wanting to give players time? 

MG: We want to win the game. We want to win whatever game is next. The run has been brilliant, and we want to continue that.

It's a nice thing that the lads are doing at the moment. They deserve so much credit. They've done brilliantly to go for that amount of time.

We will always look at the big picture and what's best for the squad. We have 25-26 players to manage and not just the 11.

It's important that we have everyone with us going in the right direction and there will be a balance to be had for minutes, especially with the games coming up so that needs to be managed.

Winning the next game is the most important. It continues the run if we can but that's sort of an afterthought rather than the main priority, we want to do it naturally by winning the next game.

The other balance is that there is no doubt you were better after bringing on the four players - do you give some another chance or did they blow their chance? 

MG: The subs coming on and the last half hour of games can be a factor as we put loads of work into the opposition players. 

Whether we had made those subs or not, the last 30 minutes could have looked like that regardless. 

There is an impetus of subs coming on and having an impact, a different group have done that in the league games and had huge amounts of goal involvement.

We see the lads train every day and we want to keep the whole squad happy. The more lads we have in a good place, the better.

That will definitely be a factor when we pick the team tomorrow night. 

You have got two new players in and players coming back to fitness - who is in contention to play?

MG: Kamaldeen and James Bree are not ready for tomorrow but they will be soon. Breezy hasn't been on the grass yet so will be longer than Kamaldeen. 

Sam was in the squad last weekend and it's brilliant to have him back. He gives us real strength with David Brooks coming in too.

Obviously, Brooksy can't play tomorrow. There is real strength in depth and the two new faces and lads coming back is great timing.

The lads that are playing now know they need to continue to play well and freshness of faces in the building is always a good thing in the dressing room. 

Competition is always a good thing too but the lads are really together. It's a high-quality problem to have Russ would call it and I am glad it's his problem and not mine. 

How much of a carrot is going to Anfield in the Premier League? For the players and you as a coaching team? 

MG: It's a huge carrot - we have been getting messages from friends and family who want to go to the game. 

My dad especially, as he is a Liverpool fan. It has the added extra of being Jurgen Klopp's last season as well and that will be spoken about.

We have a huge job to do tomorrow night first and a lot of the lads will have already played at Anfield loads. 

Some lads haven't. I have never been there on a matchday involved in a game. Obviously, I have been there to watch. 

Dean Thornton is an Evertonion so I am sure he would love to go there and beat Liverpool. It's a side issue for now as tomorrow night is most important.

It would add another game to an already busy fixture list but it would be a nice problem to have. I am not too sure who my dad would want to win if we do get through.