Hogg wants 'higher fitness levels' as Cobblers make trip to elite training facility

The trip to St George’s Park, described as a ‘world-class’ performance facility which is dedicated to coaching, sport science, and medical excellence, will allow Hogg to ramp up his preparations for the new season.

"The attitude of the players since we’ve come in has been top and they have all come back physically strong but we have to push to a higher level of fitness, there’s no doubt about that,” admitted Hogg. “I want a fit, physical team and a team that’s athletically capable and that plays a part in our pre-season work and obviously recruitment as well.

"We have made some changes around the place, not as much as I’d have liked, but I have a newly-formed office now, which will give me a place to speak to players. That sounds really simple but I’m big on communication and getting a feel for people and now I have a nice private place where we can shut the door and have some very honest conversations.

"We’ve also tweaked a few things with the food and then next week we are heading to St George’s Park for a change of scenery. I’m looking forward to that because we’ll have access to some top facilities and we’ll have all the stuff you could ever want.

“The social side of things is really important for the group as well and we will make the most of the time we have together as a group. The work will continue on the pitch and we will ramp that up again next week as we will every week throughout pre-season. I’m looking forward to seeing the boys in a different environment next week as well as the staff.”

On the opening two weeks of pre-season, Hogg added: "The main thing so far has been for them to get a feel for me and for me to get a feel for them. Every coach and every manager is different and they need to know how we’re going to work and they’ve adjusted really well.

"There’s obviously a lot of hard work in terms of what they can and can’t do physically but there’s also tactical and technical elements, which is really important. We started building the tactical work from day one and we will periodise that as we go through the course of pre-season so that we have built a complete game model in time for the first game of the season. We’re all excited for that.”