Sheffield Wednesday: Pros and cons of the international break - Tom Lees, Glenn Loovens and Adam Reach give their views
Some want to keep playing, others, especially those involved in the Football League where the fixture list is exhausting, are happy with the rest and recuperation.
And all that, in turn, might depend on the team’s form going into the interuption in domestic action.
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Hide AdEven players and management at the same clubs have differing views and Sheffield Wednesday are no exception on that front.
Tom Lees stated before the last one, following the draw at Brentford, that he wished to play on, and his opinion hasn’t changed since.
“It has come at a bad time. We just want to keep playing and try to put things right,” he said.
“We have a few weeks now so we have to work as hard as we can on the training pitch. We have to reflect on the last games and make sure we are ready to go when the league starts up again.”
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Hide AdGlenn Loovens holds a similar viewpoint, though his is swayed by the fact that the Dutchman is still trying to find peak fitness after missing pre-season due to undergoing an operation on an injured ankle.
The Owls skipper, though, recognises that for others, a rest could be needed.
“The break has come at a bad time for me because when you come back, you want to play as many games as you can,” he said.
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Hide Ad“But maybe it is a good time for some of the other players who have played a lot of games to get some rest and recharge the batteries for the next one.”
Winger Adam Reach admits that he falls into that category.
He said: “It works both ways, sometimes if you have a negative result you want to play as quickly as possible to put that right but on the flip side sometimes the break’s nice. I welcome the break, it will give us a week of training and refresh the legs, get a good week’s training in before we play Huddersfield.”
Reach, though, realises that for Wednesday, having only a couple of international call-ups, could be of great benefit to the players and coaching staff in the lead up to a return to action against Championship table-toppers Huddersfield a week on Saturday.
“There’s not that many so we’ll have a big squad for the next ten days we’ll have a good week’s training and work on some tactics that let us down against Brighton and hopefully put that right for Huddersfield,” he added.