Southampton interim boss Simon Rusk has been speaking to the media before Saturday’s Premier League game against Manchester City (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
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Rusk hopes to have everyone available for the game and said his squad has a “fairly clean bill of health”.
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On Mateus Fernandes’ availability after he was substituted against Leicester City: “He’s recovered from last week [against Leicester] and he’s trained well this week and hopefully he can put a good performance in for us on Saturday.”
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Asked about the defeat at King Power, Rusk said “it was a sore one” but that he wanted his side to “lick their wounds and get ready for the next one”.
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On whether there will be changes to his team: “When you get a bad result like that, there’s a lot of work that feels undone and so we have to do the work again. We can’t be victims and feel sorry for ourselves. My message to the players was that all we can do is take care of our actions. There are lots of reasons as to why you arrive at a starting XI but what I did say to the players was: ‘Be at it’.”
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Rusk said that he wants to “finish the season on a high and build momentum”: “[It’s a chance] to end the season with as much dignity as possible.”
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On Manchester City: “What we are facing is the greatest team and greatest manager for nine or 10 years now. By their standards, they’ll be disappointed that they haven’t been in and around the title but when you look at their capabilities, you know we are going to be tested.
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Rusk added that: “It’s important we don’t move in to fear territory in these games and instead we put our best foot forward.”
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