Head Coach happy with the steps forward being taken so far
- David Wagner gives his thoughts on pre-season- Head Coach happy with performance against Rochdale
- Town's pre-season sponsored by Hirsche Automotive
Head Coach David Wagner believes his side is starting to show its identity after a dominant 2-0 win against Rochdale on Tuesday.
Goals in each half from new signing Elias Kachunga and Nahki Wells earned Town the win against the Sky Bet League 1 side and Wagner was impressed the progress his side has made in pre-season so far.
“We have done a lot of tactical work over the last 10 days, especially in video meetings and on the pitch,” said Wagner.
“But with this you also have to build up the fitness levels so we tried to bring both of them together.
“Against Rochdale it looked from a tactical side like we were starting to show our identity. I think we could see it, not throughout the whole match but that isn’t possible because it’s pre-season. But we saw it over a good period of the game.
“Everyone has a feeling of what our identity is and have the feeling that it worked because Rochdale was a good test for us. Now we have to go on and prepare for our upcoming days and our next friendly.”
Since joining the Club on loan from Ingolstadt 04, Kachunga has impressed in Town’s friendlies.
The striker has shown his goal-scoring ability after two good finishes against Accrington Stanley and Rochdale, but he his work rate has also impressed David Wagner.
“Kachunga has shown exactly what I expected from him. He’s a striker who is able to work and likes to work, that’s important in our identity.
“He is able to score too; he scored against Rochdale like Nahki (Wells) did. At the moment I’m happy with everyone in our squad because everyone’s got the right attitude for what we have done and for what we will do.
“This isn’t the easiest period for the player, but sometimes in pre-season they have to hurt to make it better.”
The summer signings brought in by Wagner have allowed him to have two players for every position, which has been shown by his squad rotation in Town’s first three friendlies.
The German Head Coach believes having good competition for places will bring the best out of his side this season.
“We wanted to have competition for places in each position so you can always react on injuries, suspensions or if someone is out of form so we have to prepare for every situation.
“This is very important when putting a squad together, to have this competition in every place.”
Reflecting on the game David was happy with the way his side defended against Rochdale. His side has now kept two clean sheets in three friendlies.
“We defended well today. We limited the amount of chances they had and we were able to create some moments as well.
“It was a test and this test was good because we played against a good side, so it was another step in our pre-season.”
In friendlies against Guiseley and Accrington Stanley, Wagner has fielded a different 11 for each 45 minutes.
However, his players went up another step as they prepare for next season with some of his side playing for 60 minutes, meaning the starting 11 changed after the hour mark.
“This was another step in minutes that we like to give the players,” said Town’s Head Coach.
“We will probably do this on Saturday against Oldham as well to give players 60 minutes so they can make the next step in pre-season.”
David Wagner’s side will travel to Oldham on Saturday for its fourth pre-season friendly as they prepare for their 2016/17 Sky Bet Championship campaign which kicks off on 6 August.
Watch the Terriers in 2016/17 with a Season Card; still only £179, but with the 15,000 target approaching!
Tweets by @htafcdotcom
