Time for Huddersfield Town to start focusing on tactics, says Wagner

Huddersfield Town head coach David Wagner (Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire).

The Terriers jet out tomorrow for a week-long training camp in Austria that will include friendlies against Stuttgart and Torino.

With the new season kicking off on August 12 with a trip to Crystal Palace, Wagner has revealed the emphasis on the training pitch will switch from fitness to more tactical-based work.

“We are two and a half weeks into pre-season,” said Wagner. “But there is a lot of work to do.

“We can feel the excitement in the town (for the Premier League) and I will never decelerate that excitement. That doesn’t make any sense.

“But we also have to be focused on our work.

“There has been a lot of fitness work in the last two and a half weeks and, hopefully, we can now be more focused on the tactical side.

“Against Udinese (in Wednesday’s friendly defeat), some players took steps in a good direction and some didn’t. The result was not the best, but the good thing about pre-season is it is not about the results. It is about getting further information to work with.

“Udinese was a good opponent because they are the quality we can expect to face in the Premier League so we know we have to develop and take further steps.”

Trialist Dimitri Cavare will travel as Wagner decides whether to offer the right-back a contract.

Tommy Smith, who has missed a big chunk of pre-season with a foot injury, is also set to join his team-mates in Kirchberg after returning to full contact training yesterday.

Hull City have completed a season-long loan deal for Chelsea defender Michael Hector.

The 25-year-old, a £5m signing from Reading two years ago, is expected to move to the East Riding in the next 24 hours after being given permission to leave Stamford Bridge.

Hector’s arrival would follow the signing of Ondrej Mazuch from Sparta Prague earlier this week for an undisclosed fee from Sparta Prague.

The double deal will provide much- needed competition in the centre of defence with Michael Dawson the only other recognised centre-half on the books at Hull.