Huddersfield Town

Grayson allowed his charges time off during the break to take stock and rest ahead of a week of preparation for Saturday’s match against Derby County. 

“We have had a good break and the players have taken time off to recharge their batteries and recover from little niggles that they may have been suffering with,” Simon told htafc.com.

“I’m glad that the international boys have come back in one piece and we have been able to get a good week’s build up in ahead of the Derby game with the other lads. The break has allowed us to take stock of the whole situation and we are now ready for a tough game at the weekend."

He added: “The Championship is a very tough division mentally and physically so it is good that the international break allowed the players a chance to rest. We have got a lot of games coming up over the next month followed by another break where we will again take stock of the situation.”

Last time out Town earned a draw at Ipswich and Simon told htafc.com that the players have been working hard in training to eradicate errors from the match. 

“We have been working on the training ground following the Ipswich game to rectify a couple of things that we weren’t so pleased with. We always looking to improve - even if we had won the game, there are always things to work on. On Saturday we are up against a very good team who have got goals in them and have a way of playing which can be difficult to handle. They are an experienced Championship team who possess some very good players, but it is about what we can do. I don’t want to sound disrespectful but we will focus on what we can do and how we can win every game that we play in." 

Simon continued: “Fans can’t wait for games to come around at the moment – there is a fantastic buzz in the town. They are enjoying being back in the Championship and visiting some of the biggest teams in the country. At the weekend there will be something like 16-17,000 people in the Stadium creating a fantastic atmosphere.”

Oliver Norwood and Paul Dixon were on international duty during the break with the latter impressing on debut - enough to earn him the man of the match award in the Serbia game.

“I was delighted for Paul,” said Simon. “When we signed him there were probably quite a few Huddersfield Town fans who didn’t know too much about him, but he proved at the weekend what a capable player he is. To settle into such a big game on his debut and get 'Man of the Match' will have done his confidence a world of good. It was great for Paul and the football club.”

Speaking about potential signings, Simon told htafc.com that only players better than his current crop will be considered.

“We have said all along that if we go and sign a player then they will have to be better than what we already have. The players that we were looking at are not available so we will move on and see how situations develop over the next couple of weekends. I could go and sign a couple of players tomorrow but they aren’t better than what we already have, so there is no point.” 

To finish, Simon updated us on the fitness of defender Joel Lynch and winger Sean Scannell.

“Joel and Sean did some work with us on the training pitch on Thursday and we will assess them on Friday morning to see if they can play on Saturday. 'Scanz' has been out longer than Joel and hasn’t trained much at all so we will see where they are. We have good competition for places in the squad with the likes of Anthony Gerrard who is desperate to get an opportunity in defence and if Sean isn’t fit we have the likes of Danny Ward and Adam Hammill. Oscar Gobern is still struggling with his ankle; he has been for the last month and we are trying to get to the bottom of that issue.”