No calm in break as Sheffield Wednesday pair hail graft with hope of kickstart

Manager Danny Röhl spoke of a programme akin to a 'mini pre-season' ahead of the fortnight, keen to build the squad's workload in both physical and technical terms.

And speaking ahead of the side's return to action at Birmingham City on Saturday, both he and defender Bambo Diaby described a fortnight of satisfactory graft heading into a manic festive fixture schedule.

There was time off granted for rest, The Star understands, with the seniors having also welcomed members of the under-21 side to Middlewood Road for a practice match at the back end of last week. It's clear the players were worked hard.

"We had a lot of big topics in the last two weeks," Röhl said. "It was important to have some good time on the pitch with the players and we tried to train with intensity, to improve our load in physical and tactical things.

"We spoke about transition in attack and in defence, we spoke about different shapes with and against the ball. It was a good two weeks and it was important to have that time.

"Normally, in international breaks, it is a time to calm down. But we have no time to calm down. It was hard work, the last 14 days, it was really important for me and my staff and also for the players to have this time."

Diaby spoke of the importance of the more gruelling sessions, which his manager had described as a frontloading exercise to guard players against fatigue with the St Andrew's trip kicking off a run of 10 matches in 37 days.

"We need that," Diaby said. "That's not because we're not fit, but we want to be more fit. If you want to change a situation, you have to do something different and we need to grow. Physically we are fine, we have worked with the ball also and how we want to play.

"For me, right now, we have 100 per cent the possibility to win (at Birmingham). We have trained so hard, I see all my teammates in the training, we have listened to the gaffer when he has given instructions.

"We know what we need to do there and what we need to do is putting the winning way in our mindset, to trust each other and not think about what has happened in the past. We need to go and show what we have learned from him and find the three points."

While the work done in the international break was important, Röhl knows all too well the proof will be in the playing, with his side sitting with nine points to make up on those in the safety places.

The German said: "We always try so that everybody knows what we have to do. We have a lot of meetings, the stuff on the pitch, you see also in the first games that they understand more and now it's about transferring the training to the game and getting ready for Saturday."