Manager Keith Hill reflects on Dale’s pre-season, after his side finished the games schedule with a win over Morecambe…
He told iFollow: “I’ll only know [how pre-season has gone] when the season is in full swing, probably ten or 12 games in.
“It’s not a one game season, but we are playing Portsmouth next week and we’re physically prepared. We’ve done a lot of work on the structure and we’ve changed things around today [at Morecambe]. We’re working on some of the processes that will take us into next week against Portsmouth.
“As a manager, you’ve got to do everything that you possibly can that feels right in preparation, and disregard results. Results aren’t really important in pre-season.
“You just want that winning mentality and you want to be able to see it in your players. The way they train and the way they play the game, and hopefully take it into the final week of pre-season, Portsmouth and beyond.
“The games will come thick and fast but the lads should be prepared over the period of time that we’ve had.”
Dale kick-off the 2017/18 campaign away at Portsmouth on Saturday (August 5th) and Hill explains what the week ahead will entail.
“We train and we look at Portsmouth, and go into the game and the week with as much knowledge as we possibly have on them, barring any late signings. We try to come up with a plan to go there and get as many points as we possibly can, and that’s where we’ve got to start focusing in on Portsmouth, Mansfield and then Scunthorpe.”
With five new signings already added to the squad this summer, will there be any more before the season starts?
“I’ve no idea. We’ve got one or two irons in the fire but nothing concrete,” said Hill.
Watch the full interview on iFollow.