Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has revealed that mobile phones are banned during team get-togethers in an effort to improve communication.
The Saints travel to Everton on Saturday, sitting seventh in the table and looking to strengthen their bid to qualify for the Europa League next season.
After finishing seventh last season, the club’s highest ever Premier League finish, the club yet again lost some star names to more established clubs.
Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne were both allowed to leave, while Toby Alderweireld joined Tottenham instead of making his loan deal from Atletico Madrid permanent and it was predicted the club would struggle to match last season’s exploits, but they have continued to confound the critics.
The 53-year-old has been making his squad do drills to improve their communication as he believes an obsession with headphones and mobile phones is having an effect on his players.
"We do exercises every week. We don't put them in one room but we do different exercises on the pitch," he said.
"It's not natural for young players anymore because they don't talk. Everybody is in their own world and you have to help them with that.
"If I have dinner with my kids and you sit on the table, the first thing we do is put telephones away and we talk. If not they use telephones. That is the new generation.
"We have rules in the team. If we stay together we don't have telephones. If you need to use your telephone, you stay out of the team."
Meanwhile club chairman Ralph Krueger says he is "really, really confident" that Koeman will still be manager next season .
Koeman signed a three-year contract when he took over at St Mary's in June 2014 but he will soon enter the final 12 months of that deal and is yet to commit any further.
The former Barcelona defender has been linked with a return to the Nou Camp as coach but Krueger believes Saints can convince the 53-year-old to stay put.
"Next year? I'm really, really confident he will still be manager," Krueger said.
"Beyond that, those are the conversations we're having now and they're really good. I like where we're at. We're in a whole different place than where we were a few years ago.
"It's a much more mature time for Southampton. For me if I was manager here I would be really excited about being here and the conversations we're having seem really good.
"The way we are is we want everyone to be sure they can grow in their role at the club. That begins with our most important (person) - Ronald and his role - and as long as that matches, it's great. We feel good about that right now."
