Dean Smith will be working his Brentford squad hard over the international break in order to gear up for the second wave of fixtures.

The Championship season can seemingly be broken down into five different phases; you have the sprints in August, September and October before a long slog begins in November with the final sprint taking place in April.

While the squad will be able to have a weekend away from each other, Smith is not keen for his squad to have too many days off.

Brentford boss Smith said: “They'll probably have the weekend off but I'm arranging a game on the Friday for those who haven't played many minutes but for those who have played five or six games will be given an extra day off.

“I don't give players three-four days off at a time. We're in a results business and the players have bought into that.”

The international break also coincides with the closure of the transfer window and after August 31, no players can be signed until 2017.

Smith added: “It's weird that the window closes during an international break with players going here, there and everywhere. You know that the squad we'll have on September 1 will be the same on December 31.”