Having secured his team's fourth straight win after taking charge of the first-team as interim manager, Tonda Eckert is beginning to get questions from the regional press about transfer speculation and player recruitment.
The young German manager has led the squad to four wins on the bounce, including a hugely impressive trouncing of Charlton Athletic at the Valley and an equally convincing home win on Tuesday night against Leicester, another of last season's relegated teams.
Eckert has received credit from the players about the level of detailed preparation that he is giving them and this appears to be where the young coach is at his best. The results so far have proven that detailed opposition analysis and small adjustments to tactics can make a big difference.
Where player recruitment is in Eckert's priorities may surprise some
Player recruitment is way down on Tonda's list of priorities right now, he told the Daily Echo. That job is being left to Johannes Spors (Group Technical Director) and Tim Lederer (Chief Scout), who are working together with Elliott Stapley (Assistant Technical Director) to identify players who can improve the squad.
The Southampton interim boss has faith in the recruitment team to take care of business while he continues to focus on the business of preparing his team for the next game.
“For me, it's just important that we have a good week going into games. That's all. I think that we constantly need to improve, constantly.“
His attention to detail has contributed to improvements in each match of Southampton's impressive run of victories. First, he changed the approach to playing out from the back at QPR. Then, he dropped the central midfield deeper to enable the wide players to get further forward against Sheffield Wednesday.
The details continued. On Saturday, Adam Armstrong became a key player in attacking transitions and on Tuesday night Joshua Quarshie was brought in to nullify Leicester's pace in attack. None of this is rocket science but it is effective.
What Eckert has done to ensure continuous improvement is simple
"We try to find the right balance of giving an input and a structure to hold on to, and we tried to add a little bit more detail over the last few weeks."
Eckert's approach to matches is purely developmental. Improvement from game to game is key for him; he dismisses the binary focus on winning and losing.
"No matter if we win games or not, I think there are always things that we need to work on. In some weeks, we have only three days on the grass.“
But, with games coming thick and fast in the Championship, Eckert is conscious about the impact of overloading his players both physically and cognitively.
"Sometimes a little bit difficult to find the right balance on how much input you give in training sessions and how much you hold back for later.“
As fans turn their attention to Saturday's trip to Millwall, Eckert will no doubt be working on adding another small detail. It's hard to bet against him making it five out of five at The Den!