David looks ahead to Saturday’s game
Club News
WAGNER: DERBY IS A GREAT CHALLENGE!
3 March 2016
- David Wagner previews Derby County game
- Head Coach relishes challenge against the Rams
- Wagner updates on injuries
Huddersfield Town Head Coach David Wagner says his players should relish the challenge of facing Derby County at the iPro Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the result against Ipswich Town last weekend, the Terriers played well; particularly in the first half. The Head Coach is happy with the direction of travel the squad is taking under him.
“We are still in a situation and period where we know each other better day-to-day. We have not been together for two and half years, when I can close my eyes and know exactly how a player will react or how the group will react.
“We must keep trusting and believing in ourselves and try to play our style. With this identity, we are always able to create chances and sometimes to dominate opponents.”
The next opponent for the Terriers is Derby County at the iPro Stadium this Saturday; a challenge Wagner is relishing!
“It will be a tough game on Saturday, as Derby is one of the best teams in the Championship. However, we are sportsmen and as a sportsman you like to have a challenge against the best in the competition! It’s a great situation for us to play against a good team away.
“Derby is a football-playing team; it isn’t a typical British style. They try to play on the pitch, so we have to make sure that we don’t offer them the spaces on the pitch; that we keep it tight. We have to be real Terriers in defence.
“I think we are always able to create something of our own in the offensive areas. It will be important that we make sure they don’t enjoy playing against us.
“We want to be very uncomfortable for them. Derby has big ambitions in this season and that brings a lot of pressure. We have to make sure that it’s very uncomfortable for them against us. We will stick to our philosophy and trust in ourselves.”
Jonathan Hogg may have joined fellow central midfielders Emyr Huws (injury) and Philip Billing (suspension) on the sidelines, but Wagner is happy with his options in this area going into Saturday’s game.
“One option is Kyle Dempsey; other options are Jamie Paterson and Duane Holmes. I think all three of them have played in this position in the last month.
“We will see how it works today (Thursday) and tomorrow and we will find the right decision for the weekend against Derby. We have a few options and it will be nice and exciting to see how it works.
Another player Wagner will be without on Saturday is centre back Joel Lynch, who had to be substituted against Ipswich last weekend with a hamstring problem.
David admitted: “he will miss the game on Saturday. He is in rehabilitation for a week, so hopefully he will be back for the Tuesday game. He played and trained a lot and now his body needs a break; this is what the medical staff told me. We don’t want to risk a bigger injury, so this is what we’ll do.
“We’ve taken him out of training and he’s working individually, gym-based, in the upcoming days as well. We will see how this works and if he’s available on Tuesday.”
However, the news on long term injury victims Sean Scannell and Emyr Huws is better:
“’Scanz’ has been back with us since Tuesday. He had double sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be with us today, without any problems. This is very positive.
“Ems will start to work with us as part of our training on Sunday. This is the plan.”
David believes those returning players will help him to keep his players fresh as the Club approached another three games in eight days.
“Today, tomorrow; the only focus is Derby. We will not make decisions because of the upcoming games in the next week, but we know we have three games in seven days.
“For this, it’s good that ‘Scanz’ is back. Hopefully, fingers crossed, he will be back on the pitch next week without any problems!
“Phil Billing will be back for the Burnley game too, so this helps us make sure that we are able to rotate like we did in the past. We saw last Saturday that the players coming in fresh in this hard week with three games in seven days did a good job; Jason Davidson did a good job, Lynchy did a good job, Kyle Dempsey did a good job.
“It’s important we have enough players in good form. We have to make sure everyone is fit and in form. It’s important we can have a big group so we can big good decisions and everybody is fresh.”
Town fans can pay on the day on Saturday; click HERE for info
Advertisement block