Grayson previews Saturday’s game
Simon Grayson would like to finish 2012 with a win when Sheffield Wednesday visit Huddersfield for Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off, but he knows his side needs to improve on the performance during their last outing.
Town’s Manager made no secret of his displeasure with the team’s performance during the 1-1 draw at home to Blackpool on Boxing Day and explained that the technical staff has diagnosed the reasons behind the poor showing before refocusing on the Owls.
“You have to analyse what went wrong, but then quickly move on. You can’t dwell on the performance too much, but you must learn from what you did wrong and try to put those wrongs right,” Simon told htafc.com.
“A lot of credit has to go to Blackpool as well; we know they are a good team and they can cut anybody up on their day, as we have seen over the last few years. That’s why they are one of the favourites for the division – they have players that can do that.
“The other side of the game is that we didn’t do well enough and the players certainly have to improve on that if we are going to get the results.”
With Town looking to end a run of eight games without a win, Grayson believes a Yorkshire derby against a resurgent Sheffield Wednesday side is the ideal game.
“I think it’s a great game, isn’t it? You want another game to come along quickly after a poor performance and this is a local derby that will be played in front of a big crowd,” he continued.
“Sheffield Wednesday are on a good run of form and we know this won’t be an easy game. We’ve watched DVDs of them and you can see a little bit of a difference in them compared with the early part of the season; sometimes that comes about through a little bit of luck or a single result brings a little bit more confidence – there are many aspects that will have helped them along the way. They will still feel like there is a lot of work to be done to try and get up the table, but everybody is working hard to get victories – no matter who you are in the division.
“We will have respect for the opposition, who are probably playing with a bit more confidence than they were four or five weeks ago, but it is about what we do as a team and as individuals to affect the game.”
Town’s squad was boosted by yesterday’s news that Anthony Gerrard’s red card at Crystal Palace has been overturned by the FA, meaning the centre back is available for selection at the time when he is arguably producing his best performances to date for the Club.
Simon continued: “We said at the time that we thought it was a shocking decision and thankfully the FA overturned it. It’s just disappointing that something like that happened as during the game we had just equalised to get the impetus and we could have gone on to get the three points. That was frustrating at the time, but it is important that we have him back for three games now rather than losing him.
“He’s had a run in the team now and you can see what Anthony brings – all the reasons we signed him in the first place. We don’t go out and bring players into the football club, spending money on them, if we don’t think they’re good enough and he’s now showing glimpses of why we signed him. He’ll keep improving too.”
The Town boss has plenty of options available to him for Saturday’s game, with the likes of Murray Wallace and Chris Atkinson pushing for a place in the starting line-up after good performances as substitutes on Boxing Day.
“That’s what they have to do. When you are playing games so thick and fast - we’re playing Wednesday, Saturday and Tuesday - there will probably be a bit of rotation around the squad. Whatever team we put out will be put out to win the game, but you have to be aware of overloading players who could break down for the long term by playing too much. We’ll be putting out a team to win the game, but there might be a few changes to freshen things up.”
2012 has been a landmark year for Huddersfield Town and Grayson feels it would be fitting to end the year on a winning note.
“A win would be a nice way to end what has been a positive year for the football club. When you look at what’s happened at the Club and how far we have moved forward in a short space of time – winning the Play-Off Final - it would be nice to finish on a positive note.
“We’re doing quite well in the Championship. We played some nice stuff early on, but given we haven’t won in a while it would be nice to put that to bed with a win. We want to continue moving the Club forward in 2013.”
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