Michael Duff | Spain camp an opportunity to connect with squad
Swansea City head coach Michael Duff is eager to use the upcoming training camp in Spain as an opportunity to get to know his squad and build towards the 2023-24 Championship campaign.
Having been appointed as Swans boss on Thursday, the 45-year-old has faced a rapid turnaround with pre-season commencing on Friday ahead of a week based in Alicante.
The focus will be on getting in valuable fitness work with just 42 days until the opening league fixture against Birmingham City at the Swansea.com Stadium, and Duff is eager to begin to make a connection with the members of his squad.
“From my point of view, heading to Spain will be that opportunity to get eyes on the players and find out everything about them,” he said.
“To see how they cope with physicality, how they cope with pressure, how they cope with stress.
“Then it’s about seeing them around the place and getting to know them as people because that’s the most important thing.
“The work in Spain will be about fitness, it’s not about dropping in tactical information or anything like that because the squad is thinner than it will be come the start of the season.
“It’s about getting fitness levels up and meeting the players as much as anything.”
Duff will have a young squad to work with, indeed the Swans regularly fielded the youngest team in the Championship last term.
He is relishing that task, and finding the balance with the more experienced senior figures among the travelling party.
“I am looking forward to working with the young players here, I think we had the second-youngest squad in the EFL at Barnsley last year, and Swansea were third,” he added.
“I come from a coaching background, in terms of working with the academies and things.
“With young players you get that energy and enthusiasm, because they are hungry to learn, and you can mould them.
“They are not set in their ways, they are not stuck in bad habits and, as long as they are receptive to new information everything I give them will be coming from a good place to try and make them better people, which in turn will make them better players.
“Then the more experienced players will be the heartbeat of the dressing room. People like Kyle Naughton and Joe Allen will be key, because when things go wrong – and over the course of the season there inevitably will be tough moments – they are the players the younger members of the squad will look to.
“They can help them through, so to have their experience and knowledge is valuable."