Henrik Pedersen on Sheffield Wednesday's target from international break
Henrik Pedersen has come out in opposition to this month's new-style international break for being too long, but hopes his Sheffield Wednesday side will have "grown" when they emerge from it.
In a change to the norm, the international breaks in the first half of the season have been condensed from three to two, to reduce the disruption to the rhythm of the campaign. To do that, the September and October windows have been combined into a three-week pause, rather than the usual two.
The Owls could have partly opted out of it, but having seen Stevenage call off last Saturday's scheduled game when they had three international call-ups, Pedersen has done the same with the visit of Cambridge United seven days later.
His players do at least have two Football League Trophy games to keep them ticking over.
But the main advantage is extra time on the training ground, especially for those non-internationals who joined after pre-season.
The Owls have made a good start to life back in League One, second in the table, but having scored in only two of their six home games in all competitions requires fixing.
"We have to show how we can use this break to optimise and to do things better," said Pedersen, who prides himself on the quality of training-ground work he and his coaching staff do to improve players.
"Let's come strong out of these three weeks with a grown mindset to improve things instead of it being sad that we don't have games."
The extra fixtures have been fitted in in late October (Cambridge) and November (Stevenage).
"We have a strong squad, we can rotate, so we have no excuses," insisted Pedersen.
Meanwhile, former Premier League centre-back Mike Williamson has praised the "elite" mentality teenager Joe Emery has brought to his loan at Conference North South Shields.
“Joe has a first-class mentality, it’s an elite-level mentality," the ex-Newcastle United player, now Mariners manager, told the Shields Gazette.
"In his first game those traits were in him during a really difficult afternoon but he never shied away even though he was cramping.
"There’s just no fuss. He’s very low maintenance and anything you ask him to do, it’s just a quick yes and he gets on with it.
"He’s class and I am really pleased with him.”