Sheffield United: Why Slavisa Jokanovic believes the international break can turbo-charge his team's season

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with Stoke City, manager Slavisa Jokanovic told The Star he had watched all of the matches involving members of his own squad during the latest pause in the domestic fixture schedule - either live or on repeat.

Rather than simply being an interested observer, the Serb confirmed he studied the action to search for ways of coaxing greater levels of performance out of the likes of Sweden’s Robin Olsen, Republic of Ireland duo John Egan and Conor Hourihane and England under-21 striker Rhian Brewster. The information gathering exercise also revealed, Jokanovic indicated last night, some ideas he will consider implementing at Bramall Lane as United attempt to close the six point gap between themselves and the Championship’s top six.

“Yes, I follow all of the games and I enjoy it,” Jokanovic said. “I need to search from one channel to another but I have all the information and equipment that I need to do that.

“I saw Ireland and Sweden. To be honest, I didn’t see Rhian’s game as it happened but I checked the video afterwards and saw it then. You are always learning. Always.”

Having taken charge of United during the close season after leaving Al-Gharafa, Jokanovic added: “I was interested to see Ireland play Qatar because I was in that country before and I am always interested in something.”