‘It Has Been A Really Good Week’

Gary Rowett says he is satisfied with the work that Derby County have got through in Tenerife this week.

The Rams are due to fly back to the UK today following a week of intense training in the Canary Islands.

The training camp provided Rowett and his backroom team with the opportunity to get plenty of work into the players in the heat, as part of their preparations for the upcoming 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign.

Double sessions took place every day and the 43-year-old was also keen to see the team spirit and togetherness in his group come to the fore.

Reviewing the week, Rowett is pleased with what the Rams were able to achieve during their time abroad.

He told RamsTV: “It’s been a really good week and the facilities have been excellent for us.

“The players have worked incredibly hard and we’re pleased with that and also the togetherness within the group.

“I think, sometimes, hard work tends to bond that relationship a little bit. We’ve seen it after some of the physical sessions with the lads, they’ve been high fiving each other and basically saying ‘well done’.

“When you have that bit of discomfort, that’s when you start to see the group forging together somewhat.

“I’m pleased with the state of their fitness and where they are, and where we expected them to be, at this stage of pre-season. They’ve come through it all really well.”

The footballs have been on show from the outset in pre-season, after all of the squad stuck to their off-season fitness plans.

Rowett has explained that the early stages of preparations for the new campaign are about gradually instilling key values into the players.

He said: “Every day has been a football day and there so many things principle wise that we want to instil into the players.

“That is stuff such as building up from the back, how we play through the thirds, how we create chances and defend what areas.

“All of those things are part of the programme and the early introduction into some of those ideas.

“At this stage I don’t think you can go too heavily into some of those but we have been able to provide the players with a flavour and feel for it, so when the friendly games begin they know what we are looking for.”

Rowett took the majority of his squad out to Tenerife, with only Jason Shackell and Max Lowe remaining back at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby to continue their rehabilitation after picking up injuries during the second half of last season.

George Thorne, after 14 months out injured with a broken leg, made the trip but didn’t take part in the sessions towards the end of the week.

He instead worked with the medical staff after feeling some tightness in his hamstring.

Rowett says patience will be key with the 24-year-old midfielder - and feels it would be unfair to expect him to do too much too soon after so long out of action.

He said: “George pulled out a couple of days ago with a tight hamstring.

“It’s a difficult one with him because he is coming back from a long-term injury.

“Maybe we have to be a tiny bit more patient and not expect, because he’s such a good player, that he’s just going to be out there for the first game of the season and saunter through without any problems.

“We’ve been doing double sessions and they are very intense. He’s jumped into those sessions, which he certainly wanted to try and do and the medical staff certainly wanted to see if he could do them.

“Maybe now we just have to build things up a bit more slowly and not expect quite so much of him. It’s a grade one hamstring, so he’ll be back in seven to 10 days I think.”