United first team coach Nick Daws states the experience of pre-season training in Austria has been a fresh one for him, but one he’s thoroughly enjoyed so far.
While manger Graham Alexander and his assistant Chris Lucketti have visited the country before with previous clubs, Daws says it has been nothing short of fantastic.Talking to The Iron PlayerHD, Daws said: “It’s gone really well. For me personally it’s been a different environment to what I’ve been used to before.
“It’s a fantastic environment, the scenery is amazing. I think the players have enjoyed it, we’ve been out on the bikes and enjoyed some quality time together - which is important in pre-season."
He’s also been very pleased with the attitude of the Iron players, and revealed how they’ve embraced every challenge which has been put to them.
Daws added: “It’s easy to assume that pre-season is just about getting miles in the clock and working hard, but they’ve certainly continued on from last season in embracing the style of play we want to use.
“This does involve a high intensity aspect, and the new players have also been able to integrate into the way we want to play and that’s been important."
Daws explained too how Tuesday’s unfortunate events, that saw the friendly at Union UNIS Gschwandt abandoned with United 1-0 up, led to alterations being made to Wednesday's training programme, but once again he was full of praise for the squad’s application and industry.
“The team which started the game missed out on 30 minutes of football, and taking into account the changes we would have made in the second half, those other players also missed out on 30 minutes,” he said.
“So we quickly made the decision to adjust the programme for yesterday and got an intense morning session in, which was excellent. Everybody was up for it and did very well."
United will get another chance to test themselves when they face FC Liefering on Friday (5.30pm kick-off UK time), and Daws insisted it’s a challenge each and every member of the squad is relishing.
“It’ll be a different challenge. We were quite pleased with Tuesday’s challenge even though it was 30 minutes,” he stated.
“They caused us a problem, they came with a gameplan which was to retreat into their own half and ask us to break them down.
“You’d expect FC Liefering on Friday to be a bit more adventurous, and will definitely be stronger and fitter. It’ll be a different challenge, and one we’re looking forward to."
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