Sky Bet Championship: Huddersfield boss Chris Powell has unique preparations for Sheffield Wednesday
Saturday 22 November 2014 11:52, UK
Huddersfield boss Chris Powell introduced his players to yoga and grappling this week in preparation for Saturday's derby clash with Sheffield Wednesday.
Powell deliberately shook up his squad's training routine after successive defeats and hopes his players adopt yoga and pilates on a permanent basis.
"Mark Hudson already does it and we know there's a lot of players who take up yoga - I think the earlier the better," Powell told a press conference.
"It can prolong their careers, but I just felt training can be monotonous, you just turn up, you go out, football's moved on now.
"There's more science, more thought to it and like modern-day managers we want to do something different, to improve ourselves and enjoy it.
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"Ryan Giggs is a champion of yoga and pilates and why not? If it was good enough for him and my players really enjoyed it.
"The grappling was quite an eye-opener. We had a professional here with his coach, very strong guys, but very clever in what they taught the guys and it was hard work."
Huddersfield slipped to back-to-back defeats when losing at Fulham before the international break, but prior to that they had embarked on a seven-game unbeaten run which culminated in the 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest.
"Everyone realises the way we performed in our last home game has raised the bar," Powell added.
"If we get anywhere near that on Saturday then we'll be in for a good performance.
"It will be noisy and vociferous. We want to show people how we've progressed and a good way to do that is on television in the early kick-off."
Sheffield Wednesday boss Stuart Gray has been boosted by the arrival of new loan signng Lewis McGugan and is expected to hand the Watford midfielder his debut.
"We thought we'd got it over the line two weeks ago but Watford wanted to keep him there," Gray told a press conference at the Owls' Middlewood Road training ground.
"We've been very solid but just lacked that goalscoring midfield player, somebody who's going to create something.
"He's trained with us (on Thursday) and has shown his class with some of the goals he's got, so hopefully he can carry that on."
Gray revealed he had also hoped to sign a new striker in time for Saturday.
"We thought we'd got one over the line. We'd agreed a fee as in wages, we'd agreed with the manager, the only thing is the player has let us down.
"He doesn't want to come, he wants to fight for his place. So that's what it is, we'll keep chipping away."
Wednesday, chasing their first league win in 10 matches having drawn six of their last nine, won 2-0 in last season's corresponding fixture and Gray expects another helter-skelter derby clash.
"I think it's Chris Powell's first derby, certainly his first game against Sheffield Wednesday. They're not doing too bad at home and we're not doing too bad away from home."
Watch Huddersfield v Sheffield Wednesday live from 12pm on Sky Sports 1 HD on Saturday.
