Derby County boss Frank Lampard is looking forward to building bonds with his players and staff as they arrived in Tenerife for a week-long training camp.
Lampard led training on Friday and Saturday at the Derby County Training Centre, before they travelled to the Canary Islands on Sunday.
The players can expect to work hard this week and Lampard believes that the attitude and discipline of the squad will ensure a successful trip, as he looks to build positive relationships with the squad.
He told RamsTV: “This is a great trip for me and the staff and the players, to get that bond.
“We have been training back home so it’s been great and we have been working very hard.
“We’re all together now as a group, and it’s the perfect surrounding to work hard and focus on what needs to be done.
“There will be some fitness work for the lads as well as some tactical work on the pitch, but as much as that, it’s about the bond and building those relationships with the players.
“So far, so good, everybody seems on top form and ready to work.”
The boss gave an insight into the work that will be going in on the training pitches in Tenerife during the week.
Whilst it is crucial for fitness levels to increase, Lampard is wary of working the players gradually through and he highlighted the key role that his staff will play.
He explained: “It’s early days, so we’ll work very carefully about how we increase the fitness at a good rate, whilst starting to work with the ball.
“It will incorporate fitness work with the ball, which players always love.
“We will gauge it day-by-day to see how they react, because it will be a lot of work for them.
“There will be a bit of downtime to recover in between, and we’ll see where we are at the end of the week.
“The aim is to come through the week without any problems and with the players in a better position in terms of their fitness.
“The staff here are fantastic, not just the team that I have brought with me, but the team that were already here as well.
“We’re all very close and we’re speaking every day and we’ll assess each member of the squad every day.”
Lampard also gave an update on the players that haven’t travelled with the squad.
He said: “Vydra has stayed back, he had a small injury and he hasn’t trained properly at all, so it was much better for him and the medical team to work back at the training ground.
“He has a week to get himself ready and hopefully then, he will be ready to join the rest of the lads.
“It’s similar with Chris Martin. He’s had some issues and he will have his own programme.
“Hopefully, we will go back to two players that are fit and ready.”
