Martin: Spain trip vital for Premier League preparation
Russell Martin has been looking forward to Southampton’s trip to Spain, and says the week-long training camp will play a crucial part in the team’s Premier League preparation.
Saints arrived at their base in Girona on Sunday, and will play friendlies against French clubs Bordeaux (Wednesday, 10am BST) and Montpellier (Saturday, 10am BST), with plenty of intense physical work in between.
The trip will also help Saints’ quintet of new faces, already signed this summer, to integrate with the group and bond with their new teammates, on and off the pitch.
“It’s going to be really important,” Martin said, speaking after Friday’s game at Eastleigh. “We’re going to get a lot of work into the players in the heat, two really good games, and we’ll step up the preparation again from last week, as we did in the second week from the first week.
“I’m really excited about it, really looking forward to this trip because we didn’t really do a pre-season last season – we went to Turkey just for a few days – so this will be a really, really important part of us getting prepared for the Premier League.”
Whilst Adam Lallana did not feature at the Silverlake Stadium and Ronnie Edwards was substituted early on as a precaution, there were 45 minutes apiece for Charlie Taylor, Nathan Wood and Yukinari Sugawara, who marked his Saints debut with a goal from distance.
“He’s just a lovely man, a really good person and really talented footballer,” Martin said of Sugawara. “I’ve been really impressed with how quickly and seamlessly he’s adapted to certain things.
“He has a lot of quality. The way he feeds the ball into Sam Amo [-Ameyaw] helps Sam Amo so much in the second half – just that understanding of what the player in front of him needs was really beautiful.
“I’m excited about him. A lot of work to do still – he’s got to adjust and adapt to a different level, and we need to make sure his family are very settled and he’s happy. But he’s a really good signing.
“Charlie is a man, he’s a proper player who adjusts and adapts to anything you throw at him. It’s completely different to the way he’s played for the majority of his career, but I’ve really been impressed by Charlie.
“Woody I know all about. His first pass was a bit heavy tonight, a bit of tension, but once he got rid of that he was great.”
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