Chris previews Wednesday’s game vs Deportivo de La Coruna
- Chris Powell previews friendly vs Deportivo de La Coruna
- Powell: "Hopefully we will see a good turnout"
- James Vaughan expected to feature for Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Manager Chris Powell is relishing the prospect of his side taking on La Liga’s Deportivo de La Coruna at the John Smith’s Stadium on Wednesday night; 7.45pm kick-off.
The game against the touring Spanish side is the penultimate test for Powell’s First Team ahead of the 2015/16 Sky Bet Championship season and the Manager believes it is a game that supporters should be eagerly anticipating, as he told htafc.com today:
“The game will be a great evening for us. Hopefully we will see a good turnout for the game to show that our fans want to see the team playing the likes of Deportivo de La Coruna. We’ve played Real Betis and Barcelona B in recent years and I think these are intriguing matches for supporters.
“It’ll be a real test. I believe we’re a week or two ahead of Deportivo in terms of the pre-season training programme, but they will still have quality and we have to respect their technical ability.
“The way they move the ball will make it a different game; it won’t be like what we get in the Championship, as they will really slow the game down. We’ll have to adapt to that and move things up to Championship pace when we can to make it a tough night for them, if we can.
“We’ve got to use the ball well against team likes that; you can’t give it away cheaply, as they like to keep possession. We’ll have to be patient out of possession and when we do have a chance to get in behind them, we have to do it.
“I hope that the fans and all the players enjoy the evening, because it’s not too often that a La Liga side like Deportivo visits West Yorkshire. This is a showpiece game for the football club, which is a good thing to have. I know it is going to be a good game.”
Whilst Powell’s side has shown plenty of attacking intent during pre-season to date, Powell is looking for an improvement defensively from the entire team following Saturday’s 4-3 friendly defeat at Rochdale.
He continued: “The two teams that we’ve lost have not been to my liking defensively and the players know that.
“I have to say that defending is down to the whole team, not just the defence. It’s very easy to say it’s all the defence’s fault. Our defenders have pride in themselves as individuals and as a unit and want to be better, but it doesn’t end with them all the time.
“We’ve been working on the defence, because we can’t defend like we did at Rochdale in the Championship.
“Attack-wise, we’ve looked ok. A number of our attacking players and wide players have real talent and have already expressed themselves.
“I have to strike a balance with the team, starting with Deportivo. It’s up to me, with my team and the staff, to get that balance right and not go too overboard one way or another. We’ve got just over two weeks to prepare us for 8 August.”
Powell finished by confirming striker James Vaughan is expected to feature against the Spanish visitors, but he ruled fellow forward Ishmael Miller out.
“I would expect Vaughany to get some minutes tomorrow, but Ishmael won’t be available until Saturday.
“James has trained a bit more, but he hasn’t played any minutes in pre-season so far. Whether or not we can get half an hour or a half out of him, we will see.
“Jason Davidson is back from Australia, but he hasn’t completed 90 minutes either yet. We’ll look to get at least an hour out of him.”
