SIMON GRAYSON says Huddersfield Town are ready for the big kick-off after showing plenty of versatility over the last couple of days.
The John Smith’s Stadium boss was pleased with much of the performance in the 2-0 home defeat by Barcelona B – the Spanish club’s second string – after a totally different XI had impressed in drubbing Chesterfield 3-0 the previous evening.
Both exercises showed the strength and adaptability in Grayson’s squad and the manager – keen to stress star striker Jordan Rhodes is going nowhere unless potential suitors want to break the bank with record figures – reckons the players can’t wait to get cracking next week against Preston in the Capital One Cup (Monday, 7.45) and Cardiff in the Championship (Friday, 7.45).
“First and foremost, you don’t get to play against Barcelona at any level very often and I thought we were good,” he said. “There were a lot of aspects we had to work on – we knew we weren’t going to have a great deal of possession, so we had to be disciplined and organised with our shape of the team. “We limited them to very few opportunities in the first half, which was pleasing, and when we got the ball we passed it like we can do and had some exciting moments in their final third.
“It took a penalty to break us down, but it probably was a penalty. I was pleased with how disciplined we were. “They have some good players. The way they have been brought up to pass and move was always going to make it a difficult for us but I thought we acquitted ourselves well.”
A crowd of 7,951 enjoyed some enterprising play from both sides before Gerard Deulofeu (penalty, 63) and Araujo (68) gave Barca the victory – they go on to play Bolton tomorrow – and Grayson believes Town showed they are learning valuable lessons for the campaign ahead. “We’ve worked on our shape over the last few days and we’re not going to only do that in friendlies – we’re going to have to do it in the Championship too,” he explained.
“There will be good players and good clubs in our division and we can’t be too open – we have to be hard to break down, because we have players that can hurt people when we counter-attack. “We’re not going to play like that all season; we’ll play 4-4-2 and other systems at times because we have that flexibility.
“However, the Barca game was a great exercise in what we have to do when we don’t have the ball and I thought the players stuck to what they had to do. “The players will have learned a lot, and also from what they did when they had possession of the ball.
“The Spanish generally make things look so simple at times, and we have to learn to do the simple things, because that can help you. “I thought it was great to get our younger players some time on the pitch against these lads as well, because some of them will be the future generation at Barcelona and real stars, and it will be good to look back and remember we saw them playing against Huddersfield Town.
Click below to see action from last night's game.
”Sean Scannell caught the eye with some tremendous play, setting up colleagues with sensible use of the ball and going close to a goal himself in the closing stages as Town pressed forward. “Hopefully Sean will continue to do that because that’s why we brought him to the club,” added the manager. “He has great strength, great speed and awareness and also a few tricks in his locker.
“He also got stronger as the game went on and maintained a disciplined role as well. “Sean is one of those who likes to do things in the final third but he stuck to his task on the left hand side and helped Paul Dixon out. “That is what we have to do; when we get the opportunities, the players need to go and express and enjoy themselves.” Summing up, Grayson added: “Looking at the two games (Chesterfield and Barcelona), I’m really pleased how well the group of players did at Chesterfield and I’m pleased with how we did playing in a different way at home.
“The pieces are coming together now as we get towards the end of pre-season, but the true test will come on Monday when we start the Cup campaign and then over the next nine months in the League. “There will be some tired bodies at the training ground now, but the players will have a day off on Friday to recover before a couple of days preparation work for the Preston game.
“Everybody has come through the two games and only Scott Arfield and Jamie McCombe (who both played at Chesterfield), missed lots of pre-season. We’ve got a good level of competition here, which is healthy.”
