Coventry City boss Andy Thorn is delighted with the progress his depleted squad is making during their Portuguese training session.
Although Thorn has lost two of his higher profile players, King and Westwood during the summer and is likely to lose midfielder Aron Gunnarsson later this week, but he believes his squad are closer and have a better team spirit as a result.
Thorn is having trouble recruiting replacements into his squad, mostly because of the financial restraints imposed upon him by the cash strapped club, but he is relatively unconcerned and has faith in the players he has working for him.
Thorn said to the CT:“There is a really good feel about the squad. There is a real tightness in the squad which is what we were looking for and I am really pleased with the way things are going."
“The boys have got their heads down and are working really hard and because they have come back in such good shape we can progress things a lot quicker than sometimes."
“The facilities out here in Portugal are fantastic and they have been making the most of it. We have had two sessions a day and it’s ideal, so we are coming along nicely."
"It’s good of the chairman’s gardener to keep the lawn in such good condition for us. He can look out of his bathroom window of a morning and see us working hard and then he can come out with a pina colada."
“We start early and then the boys go back and put their feet up before the late afternoon session. They have been very professional. All the hard work is done in the morning and then the evening session is a bit more about getting back on the ball and doing a bit of technical stuff, working on pattern and movement and then they do a bit of body work with press ups and things.
“It is a good mixture and no one day has been the same, which is good and they have responded well.”
Thorn is working on perfecting the diamond midfield that served so well in the closing stages of last season and getting the squad used to working together without the services of those players who have left the club.
He revealed: “We are polishing the diamond, dusting it up a bit and blowing the cobwebs off. So we are getting a bit of movement back, which is great and we have already talked about a Plan B, but we want to perfect what we already do first because if we get that right then hopefully we won’t need to use a Plan B.”