Martinez outlines main aims of pre-season work to provide platform for successful season

Roberto Martinez has spoken about how the reaction from his players in the first week of pre-season has been exemplary having responded to the initial sessions with the right attitude.

The gaffer and the squad have been in Sweden over the past week for more high-intensity training and he revealed how the work to be completed over the next four weeks is aimed at, among other things, maintaining the club's pristine injury-free record from last season;

"The first impressions when you start pre-season are always very telling and so it was great to see the players come back to training in good shape and with a good attitude," said Martinez.

"The first sessions are always hard for the players as they get back into rhythm. But they've responded to the work well and we're very excited about the work to be done before the new season.

"We want to give ourselves a strong platform to be able to have a safe season and maintain the excellent injury-free record we had last year.

"We were delighted with the low number of injuries we had last season.

"Football is a contact sport and we all know that at some points you're going to get knocks, but to limit that number to the amount we had is down to the application of the players in training."

The gaffer also explained how, over the years, the close-season and pre-season period has evolved and become an extension to the players' normal routines;

"Pre-seasons over the years have changed a lot. 15-years-ago it wouldn't have been a period of time that you enjoyed, as the focus was on getting the players fit and healthy after a heavy summer break.

"Now it's different; players go away but they look after themselves at the same time and use the time as an extended recovery-period and stay in good shape.

"It means that when they come back they're able to compete for a place in the team straight away and not pick up silly injuries during pre-season.

"Generally now is a time to prepare the players' bodies for the work-load ahead. The first 50 sessions are paramount now, as the players work hard to get themselves into the right condition."

The gaffer finished by talking about how he aims to improve on last season's campaign, maintaining a competitive mentality and picking up where the team left off last year;

"We go in with the same mentality, competition for places is an area we want to improve on in every window.

"So we're always looking to help the current squad and make it an even more competitive environment, with the aim of putting stronger and stronger sides out on the pitch.

"I was very happy with the level of performances we showed in the last 12 games of the season and it's important to start the new season as we finished the last.

"If we do that it will show that natural progression and improvement which is what we're looking for."