Why the World Cup break will be a blessing for Rotherham United manager Matt Taylor

It’s the considered opinion of the new Rotherham United manager that viewing a team in his own image won’t be possible until after the hiatus for Championship clubs, with the break lasting from mid-November to December 10.

In the here and now, it’s about preparation and recovery amid an intense schedule with nine games taking place until then, starting with Saturday’s home derby with Huddersfield Town.

On building a side in the Taylor-style, he said: "I think we will have to be realistic. It will take a little bit of time.

"We can only drip-feed certain aspects of our principles of play into this group.

"We don't want to take anything away from what they have done so far - we just want to keep on adding layers to their game.

"It is so difficult in among so many games. More than likely we will have to wait to get to the international break in November to have a block of three or four weeks where we can work on a daily basis with this group of players.

"It will almost be like a mini pre-season where you fine-tune your team.

"Usually you do it going into a season, let alone the middle of a season. I am certainly looking forward to that break as we are not going to change too much too soon while there are so many games going on.

"One thing we are going to have to be aware of is the physical profiles of the group."

United have a couple of issues with players due to ‘injury and fatigue’ ahead of Saturday. They are being assessed.

Meanwhile, Taylor says the club are 'close' to confirming some additions to his backroom staff and the Millers chief is hoping for positive news next week.