Dubai benefitted players - Cowley
through our system, we were patient with him, he then progressed into a first-team player and now he’s playing at Premier League level.
“We should all be proud of that, Town fans included.
“It’s been rare, you have to say, for someone to come through the Town academy and go on to do that.
“We’re not perfect and we’ve got work to do and that’ll continue because I know everyone here works incredibly hard to make this happen for the team.
“But with my fan hat on there’s nothing better than to see someone like Lewis in the team, Jaden in the team as well, Ryan Schofield, Kian Harratt on the bench ... I love that and I know a lot of fans love that as well.”
DANNY Cowley has explained the benefits of warm-weather training in Dubai and believes his Huddersfield Town players will find it ‘easier’ when they return to PPG Canalside next week.
The manager took a squad of 24 to the United Arab Emirates for a week of work free from the cold and rain of Yorkshire in early preparation for the home Championship clash with Birmingham City on November 23.
He believes it’s been a valuable use of the international break for the bulk of his squad.
“The weather is conducive to being able to coach, being able to do tactical work, to be able to do sessions you wouldn’t be able to do in the winter months in England; that’s been beneficial,” Cowley told the clubs official website and
#HTTV.
“When the skies are blue and the sun is shining then the mentality of everyone is better.
“We’ve been able to crank the intensity of the work and the heat makes them even more challenging for the players.
“Certainly, when they come back to Huddersfield next week, then they should find the work much easier because the temperatures have dropped.”
Cowley says the quality and intensity of Town’s work has been good, with the players showing the attitude and application he was after following a run of just one defeat in eight Championship matches lifting the club to 19th in the table, three points above the drop zone.
“For us, we are a work in progress,” he explained.
“All the time we have with the players on the grass is absolutely vital to keep trying to send the message and rehearse the game plan and the way we want to play.
“The more we rehearse and practice the better the relationships become and the more autonomous the decision making becomes, then the players are able to focus on the finer details because the larger details are engraved in them.”
Town’s squad in Dubai - Joel Coleman, Ryan Schofield, Giosue Bellagambi, Jacob Chapman, Terence Kongolo, Jonathan Hogg, Elias Kachunga, Adama Diakhaby, Herbert Bockhorn, Karlan Grant, Danny Simpson, Isaac Mbenza, Josh Koroma, Reece Brown, Alex Pritchard, Fraizer Campbell, Christopher Schindler, Jon Gorenc Stankovic, Kian Harratt, Lewis O’Brien, Matty Daly, Aaron Rowe, Mustapha Olagunju, Josh Austerfield.