Season › 2013-14 › News Martinez impressed by players' desire Lyndon Lloyd , 29 July, 0comments | Jump to most recent Roberto Martinez says that he is encouraged by the competitive spirit that has characterised his team's pre-season preparations as the players vie for first-team places in the squad. The new Premier League season will be just two-and-a-half weeks away when Everton kick off their participation in the International Champions Cup against Juventus on Wednesday and the new manager will be starting to get an idea of his strongest XI as the inaugural tournament progresses. Martinez has already seen plenty of evidence of the players' desire to impress during the pre-season so far, as he told evertonfc.com: "A lot of time you speak about pre-season as being a period to get fit and talk about possible signings but this pre-season has been about the competitive edge we have already got in this dressing room. "I can tell you that after the first week of work, which is normally just adaptation, everything we do is a real sign of players competing for starting positions and that has given everyone a real good feeling. "The intensity and the work-rate have been magnificent." The Blues meet Juventus in San Francisco on Wednesday evening local time (4:00am Thursday morning in the UK), with the club offering a streaming package at £8.99 for all three USA games. Viewers in North America can see all of the ICC matches live on Fox Soccer Channel. Quotes or other material sourced from evertonfc.com About these ads © ToffeeWeb