Martin hopes to build on Benfica performance

Saints faced the Portuguese title-holders and Champions League quarter-finalists Benfica in a friendly at St George's Park on Wednesday, producing a performance with plenty of positives despite a 2-0 loss, and they have since travelled to Izmir, in Turkey, for a meeting with their fellow Sport Republic-owned club.

"The Benfica game was really valuable for us, a really tough game," said Martin. "It's probably the toughest first pre-season game I've ever encountered as a player or a member of staff, but it was really good for us, really beneficial.

"I saw loads of stuff that I liked, we then saw some stuff that we really need to work on, but the application and the guys trying to do what we've asked them to do over the last two-and-a-half weeks was brilliant.

"I was really impressed with the players and really proud of them to be able to put that on the pitch, because it could have looked totally different, it could have been messy, such a difficult game, we could have not seen much of the ball, but we did, and then the next bit will come where we hopefully will make more of that."

Expanding on what he hopes to get from tonight's fixture, the Saints boss added: "Conditioning, obviously. It's the second game of pre-season and it's very, very hot, so the lads will be in a much better place physically afterwards, but I want to see us build on the performance against Benfica.

"I want to see some improvement in areas that we've really focused on with the guys, I want them to maintain the courage they had to keep playing in a certain way on Wednesday, which I was really pleased with, and then to add a little bit more intensity, a bit more sharpness, a bit more thrust and aggression in the final third and try to create a bit more, so all of that and then more connection out of possession, less opportunities to play through us, and more opportunities for us to regain the ball and if we can bring that, which I'm sure we will, we will be really happy."

Martin also spoke of the reception he, his team and staff have received from their Sport Republic counterparts at Göztepe, as well as the clubs' ownership.

"It's been amazing," he said. "We've met some of their players and their coaches, some of the officials there, and obviously Dragan, Henrik and Rasmus were here as well to watch training with Jason [Wilcox] and Phil [Parsons], so everyone's getting to know each other, everyone's building relationships.

"Mark Bitcon's here as well and the performance teams have met and are going to go through stuff and compare. I think it's really important and only strengthens us in what we do.

"I think the way Sport Republic works, I think the clubs need to have a close relationship and I think it will only benefit the players over a period of time in the long-term and I think it's good for us as well as a coaching staff to see other bits and to have open access to other places and likewise them with us.

"I think it strengthens the whole feeling, it's good for the players and everyone else to see how involved the ownership group are and how much they really want us to be successful and really care. I think they feel like it's a fresh start for them as well, so they all seem really excited, as are we, and hopefully we can give a good performance and make everyone a bit more excited."

Remember, you can watch tonight’s friendly against Göztepe, which kicks off at 6.15pm BST, live on southamptonfc.com.