Manager Keith Hill has told www.rochdaleafc.co.uk that he's “very pleased” with what has been achieved during week one of pre-season training.
Manager Keith Hill has told www.rochdaleafc.co.uk that’s “very pleased” with what has been achieved during week one of pre-season training.
The players returned for the start of pre-season last Wednesday and Hill says the players have responded well to his demands.
“I’m very pleased,” said Hill.
“We’ve got no fatigue injuries and no contact injuries, so everybody is doing well.
“We’re working hard and we’re working at a high intensity. We’re stressing the players and they’re responding superbly well day in, day out.”
And Hill says the players have returned from their close season break in good shape.
“It was important that the players rested mentally and physically from the stresses of last season, but they’ve kept themselves in very good shape and we are very pleased with the condition they’ve come back in.
“It’s now just a case of addressing the way that we do things with the new players and reminding the players from last season how to do things.”
As well as the physical endurance, Hill says pre-season also brings the opportunity to work on the psychology of the game.
“We’re going to be working on the psychology aspect of working when we’re fatigued and decision making when we’re tired, because like I’ve said to the players, if things start to go wrong in front of 21,000 home fans at Fratton Park on the opening day of the season, I’m no help. The only time I can help the players is at half time or through substitutions. They have to understand what needs to be done during times of fatigue or during times when the opposition is good.
“We should be able to rise above those situations to make sure we don’t lose, because during 90 minutes you could be losing – that’s losing an individual battle or losing in terms of the score-line, but there’s still plenty of time to actually win.”
And Hill says previous is data is used when planning the pre-season training programme.
“We’re very mindful of previous experiences and where we need to be – we keep data from previous seasons so we know what’s worked well for us in the past and what hasn’t worked so well.
“We feel as through the squad is in a much healthier place, both depth wise and experience wise, so we’re in front of ourselves.
“We’re looking forward to the remainder of pre-season and the games starting when we get back from Tenerife.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.