Dean Smith has been pleased with training this week as his players battle for a place in the starting XI ahead of this Saturday’s curtain raiser at Huddersfield Town. The Bees get their new Sky Bet Championship campaign up and running at the John Smith’s Stadium this weekend and, after last Saturday’s disappointing display in their final pre-season match against Millwall, Dean has been pleased with the reaction from his players.
Speaking to Bees Player ahead of the trip to West Yorkshire, Dean said: “I feel that we are ready. Today’s session was really good and that was really pleasing. They gave me real selection posers. I have an idea of the team in my head already but some of the performances today gave me proper posers. That is better than Saturday because I could have just picked everybody who didn’t play against Millwall. I am pleased with the week’s training after Saturday: the lads have knuckled down and got their heads down. It has been a bit brighter with everybody trying to get that first shirt.”
It has been a real summer of overhaul at Huddersfield Town as The Terriers prepare for their first full season under manager David Wagner. A dozen players have come in and just as many have departed as Wagner moulds his squad for the new campaign. The Bees romped to a 5-1 victory when the two sides met on the final day of last season but Dean feels Town will be an entirely different proposition this time around.
“It is going to be tough,” said Dean. “I have watched them over pre-season and David Wagner has had his first pre-season with them to get some good work into them. They look a fit group and have invested well to bring new players in. They will be a different team from the one we played at the end of last season and I think we will be too with the work that we have done over pre-season. Pre-season, when there is less importance on the result, means that you can let them go into some games fatigued and let them spend more time on their feet. You can get a lot more of the tactical work into them.”
Callum Elder became The Bees fourth signing of the summer when he joined from Leicester City on a season-long loan deal last week. The Australian full-back joined midfielder Romaine Sawyers, central defender John Egan, and goalkeeper Daniel Bentley as the new faces at Griffin Park. Dean has been open in recent weeks about his search for further additions but he admitted that The Bees were being made to work hard in a competitive market.
“We are still looking, especially in wide areas as we have spoken before,” said Dean. “That is where we feel we need to strengthen most as we have not got natural players who play out there, rather we have players who can play out there because they are clever players. It has not been for the want of trying. We have been knocked back on a few but we will keep plugging away and there will be players to come in for sure. It is a very competitive market out there with the funds that are available to some of the Premier League clubs through TV money. We would like to buy somebody but we are also looking at loans as well. With the Euros this year a lot of the Premier League clubs will still have those players on holiday and currently be using the younger players who might not feature during the season. They are the sort of players that we, along with a lot of other clubs, will be looking at.”