Saints will definitely improve - Steven Davis

Davis, along with a host of other internationals, got 45 minutes of action for the first time in pre-season as Saints suffered defeats against Salzburg and Valencia.The Northern Ireland captain was pleased to get minutes under his belt at the end of an important week in Austria as Saints step up their preparations for the 2015/16 campaign.

“After taking part in the second game we’re just disappointed we didn’t get to the levels we expect but at the same time this is the first week back, so we have to take that into account,” Davis told youtube.com/southamptonfc.

“We got a little bit of a break at the end of the season and this is the first week back into it. Each and every session we’re stepping it up but it was disappointing overall.

“It’s been a good week though. Training has been good and we finished it off with two tough but good games.

“It’s good to test yourself against good opposition and different styles too. They were two good workouts.

“It’s nice to win games and get confidence from there but the most important thing is everyone coming through unscathed.”

On the defeat to Salzburg in the third-versus-fourth play-off, Davis felt Saints had a couple of chances that they could maybe have done more with.

“I think we found it hard to get pressure on the ball, although we created a few decent opportunities that we maybe could have got a couple of goals from,” Davis added.

“We’re disappointed overall but it’s important we step it up over the course of pre-season.”

Source: saintsfc.co.uk