Every word Southampton interim Rusk said ahead of Leicester

What's the main takeaway from last week's late defeat to Fulham?

SR: I think lots to build on, lots of really good things to build on. In the first half I thought there was loads to be delighted about.

We've done really well to get ourselves in front at half-time and into the later stages of the game. Of course, difficult in the end to take.

As I really spoke about the last few weeks, it's about making sure that we're finding the balance of looking at the positives, of being a hard team to beat.

We also want to be having a footprint in the game where we can create chances and score some goals and it's really nice to get a set-piece goal as well. 

I think it was about us clinging on to what we really liked about it and, once again, trying to influence the things that we think we can do better.

Was there pride to be taken from Marco Silva's post-match comments?

SR: Yeah, I have no issue with anyone's opinion on the game. And as a bit of a backhanded compliment, I think, in the end, really.

We were a frustrating team to play against on the day and that's what we want to be. We want to be a team that finds a way to cause our opponents problems.

What are your thoughts on Saturday's opponents Leicester? 

SR: I think they're a team that has got some versatility in the way they play. We know that they'll be drumming home that there's pride at stake here. 

Their personality on the pitch is going to be important for both teams so we know that there's an element of that we're going to have to face.

We are away from home and there are no easy Premier League games out there. Every game presents different challenges at this level.

And although they might have had some difficult home form, they've also picked up some half-decent results away from home, particularly the Brighton game.

We're going to have to do our best to get something out of the game. It's a team that got promoted with us last year and has also had a difficult season overall.

Does this feel like a particularly winnable game for Saints?

SR: Yeah, I guess I've got to find a balance with that. It's the next game. I've said every week that you focus on the merits of the next game.

The opportunities that are within it from our perspective but they're still a team that we have to respect the fact that they are ahead of us in the table.

We have to be very respectful about our opponents. I'm certainly not going to be thinking anything other than this is going to be a tough game.

We're going to have to do all of the things that we've done well in the last three games in the same way and hopefully a little bit more.

If we want to get something out of the game, we're not going to be taking our eye off the ball based on someone else's form.

Do you have to be extra wary of Jamie Vardy on his farewell tour?

SR: Yeah, these are all stories, aren't they? For me, it's a game that we break down and how do we win it? But yeah, obviously, it's more about his qualities.

Rather than the story behind a celebration in any way of his farewell tour, it's about making sure that we're dealing with his strengths.

It's also about what Leicester's strengths are and bringing our strengths, trying to find the cracks within them and Jamie Vardy will be part of that.

What is the team news, are there any injuries?

SR: We're in good health. We're in good health. Paul Onuachu has been training the last couple of days, so he's back in the mix, that's good news.

Across the board, we've had good training numbers this week, big training numbers, we've got pretty much a clean bill of health as we stand here today.

Is there any possibility of Adam Lallana being named on the bench?

SR: That decision is solely with him but building up to this game, Adam's on the coaching staff and that'll be a similar format this weekend.

What is the current state of the playbook and style across the academy?

SR: I think that's a good question actually, probably one I wasn't expecting. My background is helping players make that last step into first-team football.

I've seen it done in lots of different ways. I've seen clubs fall into line. Pretty much everyone look the same and go after the exactly same way of playing.

I've worked at Brighton where the principles are similar, but there's a bit of flexibility for people to grow and learn, what is my personal belief?

If you want adaptable thinkers and players that can think on their feet, then you need coaches at younger age groups that can be adaptable as well.

I think as long as your principles are aligned, there's room to let players be curious and coaches be curious, slow it down and learn.

Sometimes through mistakes, sometimes through it not going so well. I personally would rather not view things as black and white from under-9s up.

I think that takes away a bit of the freedom and expression of what football is. I think younger players need to have that freedom of expression.

Younger coaches as well. That's where you do your best learning. At first-team level, I think the outcome can still be a really, really good one.

But I don't think there's any right or wrong way in football. There's no right or wrong way to play the game. If you play a short-passing game, it's your game.

If you play a more direct style, that's your game. I think younger should experience lots of different ways of football and not have a snobbery about it.

But there's lots of different ways of doing it, there's lots of different ways of winning games of football and lots of different ways to develop football players.

I sit somewhere in the middle. Principles can be aligned, but I think there has to be curiosity about how people learn and can try different things.

Do you think coaches should be former players with real experience?

SR: It's a broad topic but what I think, particularly around the development of younger players, is that a little bit of everything is quite a nice mix.

Maybe you have that player who's recently retired, but it's not the finished article as a coach on his coaching journey, but he's got the referential experience.

Sometimes the idea of what professional football actually is to what it might be perceived to be for a younger player can be a slightly different thing.

But then when I was making my first coaching steps, I worked with some older coaches that had not just good football experience but good life wisdom.

They understood young children and handled with care in terms of their thoughts and their feelings, and had that balance of different life perspectives.

Some people who have come from a teaching background blended with a recently retired player who's quite abrupt in terms of communication.

So there's lots of different ways. I think it's quite an interesting topic for me. I'm quite passionate about that, actually.

There's no handbook you pull out and tell someone what their journey to be a professional footballer is going to look like. It's going to be unexpected.

It will be full of adversity and full of great times, which can be every bit as threatening. When you're a young player, some things go really well.

You've got to make sure your foot stays on the gas and you don't listen to the noises out there and all of a sudden you're driving a nice new car.

My thing is no matter what age player I've worked with, whether it's 32 or 16, there's always room for reflection and development as an individual.

Is there a feeling that this match against Leicester is a really big game?

SR: I have to say that the approach is very similar to what it has been the last three games and I'm sorry to not add the fire to your flames there.

But look, the lads have been focused in every game. We want to win every game. We want to give a good account of ourselves and what we have.

We have to have belief and we were very close to a really positive result last week for us. We know the evidence is there in the last couple of games.

If we can be solid and we can look to improve and build on what we've done, we can be confident of causing the other problems.

But the overall energy has been excellent every week in terms of the focus going into these games, it's just been more of the same this week.

Can you be more front-footed against a struggling team like Leicester?

SR: I can understand the question. But I also think we have to be realistic about the situation on Heritage with seven games to go.

We have had some very difficult results this season. We are bottom of the league. There's no dressing that up.

And what we haven't been able to do and was never going to be able to do was be able to become solid and be in games at all stages.

And at half-time of all of these games, we're either drawing or in front. To be solid, to shut that, to be dominant with the ball and to create loads of chances.

I mean, I think if we've done those things, looking at where the seven games are at, I'd probably be able to bring world peace as well.

I've had to pick a way for this team to be based on the evidence of the season and I think if I'd done anything other than that, I'd be completely reckless.

So we've had to find a way of being for these seven games and I think people that turn up would understand that.

I've not inherited a team mid-table where we can flow into games and we're going to create chances and we're going to get clean sheets.

The evidence isn't there for that. So for me to build a game plan without that evidence would be frankly stupid.

Would Saints have more points on the board if they had done this all season?

SR: It's not for me to criticise what's gone before because it's a hard job. But all I've done is inherit the situation, support the players as best I can.

I have to try and come up with something which I think gives them a chance to achieve success in these games, try and give something to really get behind.

It's a hard job. It's one that I love and I'm very proud and honoured to do but it wasn't an easy situation to inherit, a team relegated with seven games to go.

And I think my aim was to have the players show pride, show fight, show spirit, make sure that we're putting the team first.

My job as best as I could in the situation was to come up with a formula that I think gives them a chance to get points on the board or be in games.

We're in the game against West Ham. It's not taken away from us and we get a point. We're 1-0 up on 70 minutes against a team chasing Europe.

Do we have to try and find another way to give us that little bit more if we find ourselves sinking in where the players are naturally protecting the lead?

Yeah, we do, but we also have to find the balance with that. So, yeah, look, we're excited about Saturday. We believe it's a game we can get something out of.

How has Ross Stewart reacted physically to his first start for you?

SR: Do you know what? I thought he'd done great, I thought for how long he's been out in terms of starting the game, and in an intense game.

That was a really important game for Fulham as it was us so I thought he had given a really good account of himself.

For him to get through it and be training again this week and be trying to get back in the starting team again for this Saturday, what a great thing.

A real positive from the day. The most important thing was how he recovered so, you know, we were all delighted for him.