Town’s Head Coach discusses Tuesday evening’s Carabao Cup tie
- David Wagner previews Huddersfield Town’s Carabao Cup opener
- Head Coach wants to see his side progress against Stoke City
- DW hopeful that Ramadan Sobhi could be fit to feature
David Wagner says that the focus will be on his side’s performance when the Terriers travel to Stoke City in Round Two of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Town goes into the game on the back of the first point of the season against Cardiff City at the weekend and Wagner says his side will take the cup just as seriously as the Premier League.
“It’s a competitive football match and we’d like to win it to come into the next round. The only difference is the competition. We will play in, and focus on, another competition where we’d like to be successful on Tuesday night.
“For sure, we have one of the most difficult draws we could face in the Northern section. Apart from the other Premier League clubs, Stoke is one of the toughest opponents.
“However, this doesn’t change that we will try everything to come into the next round. This is a competition where we’d like to be at our best too.”
Barring Ben Hamer, who picked up a knock that forced him off against the Bluebirds, Wagner is hopeful he will have every other First Team player available for selection at the bet365 Stadium.
“We are in a wonderful position injury-wise. On Friday, all the players were healthy and trained, then unfortunately Ramadan got a knock and was not available for the game against Cardiff. Hopefully he can be in competition for Tuesday.
“We will see who looks fresh after Saturday’s game, where we played half-an-hour with an underload. We will see how everyone does on Monday and then make our final decision on Tuesday.
“For me, it’s very important to see all our players in a competitive match and to give them the opportunity to show how good they are. That’s what we’ve always done when we’ve had three games in a week; we’ve used rotation if necessary and possible. Maybe we will do this in the next two games as well.
“We have an exciting group together. It’s young but very talented; hungry and greedy to grow and progress, with good characters. We saw in the Cardiff game that they will work and fight together.”
Stoke City, relegated from the Premier League last season, represents a very tough opponent but David wants the focus to be on Town’s performance.
“(Stoke’s performance) is nothing I am focused on. What they do, they will do. I am focused on bringing our squad to Stoke and putting a competitive starting XI on the pitch that will bring us to the next round.”
For ticket information on the Stoke City game on Tuesday night, click HERE
