We Are Terriers

Here are some of the edited highlights from the press conference — you can find the full audio above or in the We Are Terriers podcast feed.Martin DruryCan we catch up on the injury news first? Ryan Ledson, obviously Bojan Radulovic, Sean Roughan as well. Where are we at with the squad?Ryan’s progressing well. He’s on track. He’s still a few weeks away, but he’s back on the grass, he’s running, and he’s just managing that pain that he’s got from the injury initially.But he’s in a good place. He’s progressing at the speed we’d expect him to, so he’s on track.Sean’s available for the weekend. Sean’s been training really well, looks really good, looks strong. Pleased with his attitude. We’ve almost had to pull him back a little bit and hold the reins on him because he’s itching to get going again.Bojan is fit and available. He had a back spasm, recovered from that, so he’s available.David Kasumu is progressing really well. Probably a couple of weeks away, on the grass running. He’s getting stronger every day and working incredibly hard, so he’s not too far away.Then we’ve got a couple that we’re sort of nursing a little bit. Derens should be OKfor the weekend, but it’s an ongoing little niggle in his knee. He’s had it for about three weeks now, so we’re trying to protect that a little bit. Fingers crossed he’ll be okay for the weekend.Jack Whatmough’s injured again. He’s suffered an injury in his calf, which is frustrating for Jack, frustrating for us. We trained on Saturday morning and he felt his calf in the warm-up for training and dropped out. We’ve not got an exact diagnosis of that yet, but with calf injuries – and Jack’s had some calf injuries in the past – they’re never a quick thing.So it’s really frustrating for Jack. I feel for Jack because I know how hard he’s working and how much he wants to be back a part of it. Unfortunately he’s broken down again, so we’ll have to look after him, and I think he’ll be out for the upcoming games.You mentioned Radinio. Are there any doubts about him going into your side this weekend after a very long trip back, or is he in contention?No, no, fully in contention.Obviously we do know about jet lag, so we’ll assess him as soon as he’s back in the building.We’ll see him tomorrow, we’ll see him Friday.My expectation right now is that he’ll be fit and available for Saturday, which I’m over the moon about because he’s been outstanding.But yeah, as soon as we see him, we’ll have a clearer picture on that.And obviously with Joe Taylor away with Wales, I assume that’s going to be the case come this weekend as well. Have you basically got enough to go into this game?Yeah, we’ve got enough. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.We’ve got enough first-team players, we’ve got enough B-team players, so we’ve absolutely got enough players in the building with talent, players that want to work and players that want to play — so we’ve definitely got enough.But obviously it’s frustrating when you have an international break and you want to try and get people back. Everyone’s progressing on track as they were, but it’s frustrating when you lose one.Samson Tovide, we’ve no injury concerns. We’ve been trying to push to get Samson up to speed and then he suffered with tonsillitis. We didn’t see him for quite a few days, he was at home, so he’s been unwell and the docs have been treating him.Again, you see the international break as a good opportunity to get him up to speed, then you get punched in the gut a little bit because he picks up an illness. We’ve had a couple of other illnesses as well, over different days.So look, nothing to complain about. That’s what happens. You deal with it, and we’ll be fully prepped for the weekend.So how does that leave you up front coming into the game? Because it probably does limit you a little bit, doesn’t it?Well, if you’d have said to me at the back end of last season, “You’ve got Bojan and Fletch available for a game,” I’d have snapped your hand off. So I definitely won’t look at those two and go, “We’re short up front.” Absolutely not.Samson’s pushing to be involved at the weekend, but he’s just not fitness-ready. He will be pushing to be involved, then we’ve got a number of other players that can play at the top end of the pitch.So it’s not something we’re concerned about. It’s the nature of football.It’s amazing for Joe that he’s been selected to go with his country. That’s testament to all the work that he’s been doing, testament to the goals that he’s been scoring. Credit to the staff that have supported him since his comeback, but definitely credit to Joe himself. I think if you’d have told Joe 12 months ago that he’d be in and around the Wales squad, then I think he’d have been over the moon.So that’s a brilliant, brilliant representation of how he’s gone about his business in the summer and how he’s started the season.Of course, that means we miss him in a game, which is frustrating. But look, it’s brilliant for him.Then Radinio Balker is slightly different, in the sense that Radinio came to see me before he went to the international break and said: “Look, we have four games. I don’t want to play all four, and I don’t want to miss a game for us, so I’m going to speak to them and see if I can play two games and come back. I don’t want to miss Burton Albion away.”Would Radinio have said that 12 months ago? I don’t know. But it’s music to my ears when he’s coming knocking on the door saying: “Look, I don’t want to miss a game. I want to come back and play.” So that’s credit to him and tells you where his mentality is.I think his performances have been very, very high, and hopefully he continues in that way and keeps playing really well.Does that reflect well on the culture that you’ve set here as well?I’d like to think so, but it’s more about him.It’s about where he’s at, and I think you can see in his performances, the way he’s playing, the way he’s training, the way he’s carrying himself.We’ve had some challenging conversations, but he’s such an intelligent guy. He loves his football, he wants to win and he wants to compete.The fact that he’s got the chance to go and play in four international games, but he’d prefer to play in two and then come back and play at Burton Albion away on the Saturday, is testament to where his mentality is right now.So full credit to him, and we hope he returns in good condition tomorrow and we’ll have him for the weekend.Where are we at with Cam Ashia at the moment?Cam’s obviously been here for a period of time. Cam’s a player that I really, really rate in terms of his potential.I think he could become a very, very good player. I think he’s got a lot of capabilities that can be worked with.I think he’s got an edge about him as a player that I don’t think you can coach. I like that about him. He’s got an edge, he’s got personality and character.There have been times when I would have liked him to channel that in a better way, and I would have liked him to understand that contributing to a squad and a culture takes, at times, a little bit of selflessness and humility.But Cam’s on a journey. He’s on a journey with that. We’re on a journey with him as staff.We’ve got massive belief in Cam. He’s had a difficult period being out injured and then coming back and not quite being right, so he’s had a tough few months.But Cam understands exactly what is expected of him for him to come into our thinking, to be a first-team player and to be playing games for us. It’s an ongoing thing for us to work with him.I have to say, he’s joined in sessions with the first team and he’s been brilliant. Really, really good. Looks strong.I know he played yesterday with the U21s team. I watched that game last night and he had some good moments, and there are some moments that we need to help him improve if he wants to come and play games and start games for us.So Cam’s very aware of where he’s at, and we’ll continue to work as hard as we can to make sure we maximise his potential.As I said before, we rate him so highly in terms of what he could be, but we have to get to work to create that.Murray WallaceWhere’s the focus been for you? What have you been concentrating on?We’ve just been looking forward to the next game, really.It’s one of those where you look at the international break and some people might think [we’d be like] “brilliant, bit of time off” — but where we’re at, we kind of hoped to keep playing throughout the break and keep the momentum going that we had.Obviously the result previous to the break wasn’t ideal, and you don’t want to have a long break after a bad result. You just want to crack on to the next game.Have you had some time off, though? How did you spend it?Yeah. Obviously after our trip down to London and a bit of a busy schedule, we got a couple of days with family and stuff, which was nice — but now we’ve pretty much just been in as normal, training and, like I said, looking forward to the next game.How would you say you’ve reacted to the defeat at Bromley?Just obviously coming back to that frustration with the result, really.In terms of the chances we created, the chances they had, and for the scoreline to be 2-1, it was disappointing.We felt that we should have scored more and we were disappointed with the goals we conceded.Like I said, you get a bad result, the next thing you want to do is go out and play the next game and get a good result.That’s obviously where we’re at and what we want to do, so we’re looking forward to this game.It was a defeat, but defensively you look at it and you’ve got two clean sheets this season and a good record. I think it’s only Bradford that have conceded fewer so far. Has the focus been more at the other end of the pitch over this last week or so?No, not necessarily.I think the reason we’re creating so many chances and the fact that we’re such a goal threat is because we do a lot of focus on attacking and finishing off attacks, and we’ve got real belief in creating chances.Obviously we

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comWith no game this weekend, we have a Q&A special for you in this week’s episode of the podcast…and we’ve even stuck it out a day early for you.Thank you as ever to everyone who sent in questions - and if yours didn’t get answered, don’t worry, we’ll be mopping up the rest in a written section of the Q&A in the next day or two.If you’re already subscribe…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comThe We Are Terriers podcast pulls apart just how a side that were unbeaten going into Saturday afternoon’s kick-off ended up losing to newly-promoted Bromley.How much of it lies at Martin Drury’s feet? Where do the players instead need to take responsibility? And is this an irritating blip or the continuation of a growing trend in Huddersfield Town’s s…

Here are some of the edited highlights from the press conference — you can find the full audio above or in the We Are Terriers podcast feed.Martin DruryFirst, expectations from Bromley. Everybody will be thinking, “Come on, three points, Town, smash them. They’ve had seven put past them, they’ve had five put past them.” How do you manage that expectation?I’ve not really thought about the expectation of the game, to be honest. I’ve just looked at what we did well last week, what things we didn’t do so well, what we can get better at, continue building the game model that we have, continue building the culture that we have, and embrace the next challenge.Bromley is the next challenge on the list. So every challenge we’ve had so far, I just spoke to the players this morning, I feel like every time either I’ve challenged them or we’ve had a challenge, they’ve stepped up to it and raised their game to it.So we’re in a really good place, and we’re very much looking forward to the game on Saturday.With Bromley obviously struggling, new to the league and what have you, do you have to speak to the players a little bit about being wary? I’m not saying being complacent, but being wary that there could be a surprise there. Bromley are finding their feet, etc.No, I don’t feel that I need to mention complacency because we’re not focused solely on the opponent. We’re focused on what we’re doing and what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to build.Of course, we have to be mindful of Bromley because they do have some threats and they still have plenty of things that can hurt us if we’re not absolutely on the money on Saturday.So definitely wouldn’t disrespect them in any way and feel like the game is any easier than any other game.I watched the game last week that they played against Blackpool. They were very good. Blackpool found it very tough, and they’re in fine form, Blackpool, so it was a good result away at Blackpool. They showed that they’re really competitive.You look at the way that they score goals and have scored goals last season and this season, and they’re very consistent in terms of set plays, transitions, crosses into the box – all things that in League One you’re going to have to look good at.So Bromley do that really, really well, and we’re under no illusions. It’ll still be a challenge away from home, but of course we go into the game with confidence and we’d like to think that we can go and impose ourselves on them and create a tough afternoon for them as well.What about the squad situation, Martin?No, we lose Ryan now for probably about four to six weeks. So he has an issue with the ligaments in his elbow.Positive that he doesn’t need surgery. That was a real positive. He has a tear in his tricep as well, so he’s got a couple of issues from quite a heavy fall in the game, which is disappointing for both him and us as a group because he’s been a real leader for us and his performances have been really good.So disappointed to lose Ryan. He’ll be frustrated. He is frustrated.But look, it presents an opportunity for other people to step up. We’ll look after Ryan and make sure he comes back physically and mentally in a good place, and we look forward to his return.But until then, people have got an opportunity now to step up and play games that they’ve been planning to do, so I look forward to that.Where are you at with Kasumu and Whatmough at the moment?So Jack Whatmough’s trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week, so he’ll be available for selection to an extent.Sean Roughan’s the same, trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week. Again, available for selection to an extent this weekend.Samson Tovide, the same. Trained Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week, available this weekend.Kasumu is not quite there yet, so we’re still nursing that injury with him. He won’t be available this week, but the other three are in contention for some minutes.Let’s ask about Joe Taylor. Obviously, he’s had a really good start to the season, but as we understand it, there were a few signs of him getting frustrated with himself last time out. How do you manage that, Martin, with him? Does he need an arm around him? What do you do to try and get the best out of him? Because you clearly have for a large part of the season already.Do you know, with Joe, I think even when Joe’s scoring and firing, he still gets frustrated at things because that’s his character and that’s who he is.For me to try and take that out of him, it’s going to take a long period of time, and I’d rather not focus on trying to take that out of him. I’d rather focus on him scoring goals and making sure that he’s still doing all the brilliant things that he’s doing.I have no issue with players being frustrated in certain moments as long as they’re doing the work, as long as they’re still running.So if they’re looking on but they’re sprinting after the ball when they lose it, or if they miss a chance but they’re making the next movement in behind and they’re going to try and score again, no problem.Some of the best players in the world do that. But of course, you have to be mindful of it, that if you’re doing it that much it can impact the performance.Joe’s aware of that. Joe knows my feelings on that. But yeah, we work together on that.He’s still doing all the good things that we want him to be doing, and he’s still a constant threat and a nuisance for any team that we’re playing. So as long as he’s doing that, then we can bypass a couple of details.Yeah, you are getting the best out of him. What was the conversation like bringing him back in after last season? What did you say to him over the summer?There weren’t big conversations. There weren’t big conversations.We create the culture, we set the values, we set the standards, we set the expectations of what it looks like every day in training, and players that want to do that will be part of it, and players that don’t, won’t.Joe’s shown that he does. He’s running through a brick wall every single week in training, every single week in games, and we know that he’s got an eye for goal and we know that he’s very, very difficult for teams to play against.I’ve had people tell me in the past he can be a bit difficult because, as you say, he gets frustrated at certain things. I just don’t see that. I don’t see that.He’s very black and white. Wants to enjoy football. Wants to have a laugh. Wants to enjoy what he’s doing, and he does.When he’s doing that, he looks a real talent and a real threat. So yeah, we have to manage that.But I’d like to think that Joe understands the standards and the culture that we’re building and that we’ve built so far, and he’s very much living within that. I think he’s thriving within that.So while ever we’re enjoying Joe and he’s enjoying us, I’m sure the performances will be there.Derensili Sanches FernandesYou have to tell us about this mask thing. What’s this all about? Because we’ve not had the official version from you.Yeah, I just had a golden boot, and then one guy, Noah Naujoks, because I kept scoring with that boot, he said, “Oh, Golden Boy, Golden Boy.”Then we had a promotion game, then I got a golden mask, and that’s how it started.That’s how it started. So every time you score now, are we going to see this?No, because the EFL is going to charge me!There’s no fun anymore, is there? Can I also ask, on an international level as well, obviously Cape Verde became really well known this summer because of the World Cup. What’s your situation there? Is that who you would like to be involved with internationally going forward?Yeah, of course. I think the first time they called me up was last year. It was a miscommunication between me and them.And yeah, I hope this year it’s going to come again someday.And can you describe how that whole World Cup experience has affected them, and Cape Verde as well?Yeah, I do think the World Cup put them in the light where they belong.They have good footballers, good players, but most of all good people and a good team. That’s what got them far in the tournament.We’ve seen that relationship you have with Ilias on the right wing has been very productive. And Radinio as well as a Dutchman. Is it helpful to have players who you can communicate with and you have that relationship with playing down your side?Yeah, of course. Ilias and I don’t even really need to speak, we just do the same things like we did in the Eredivisie.And yeah, now my English is getting better. At the beginning it was worse, so you have to get the feeling, you know, to play with each other. But it’s getting better. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comIn this week’s We Are Terriers podcast, we discuss Huddersfield Town’s midweek EFL Trophy victory away at Doncaster Rovers and analyse Saturday’s goalless draw with a Mansfield Town team who played a half with 10 players.If you’re already subscribed, you can give a gift subscription to a friend, family member, enemy, pet with an email address…whatever y…