In a rare week during a hectic season, The Reds have had no midweek fixture as they prepare to host The Royals at The City Ground and Hughton said it has been good to work with his side on the areas that need improvement.
He said: “We had a good week’s training so far, it was certainly good to have a free week and we had a lot of players training which is good.
“It is good to have the break because of the training we can get in and also for the break from a physical point of view, particularly for the players who have been playing a lot of minutes as it gives them that down time. Also, for us as staff to be able to reflect a little bit and have a good week’s planning going into a game as opposed to one or two days.
“It is probably the best part of the job, the time you spend on the training pitch and particularly in the good days when the weather is decent. It is valuable time to get your points over as otherwise some of those points will have to be gone over in meetings and with COVID you are conscious of how many meetings you have and how many people you can have in one meeting room. The game becomes a different type of management and more about game management than week-to-week coaching of the players.”
Forest face another side fighting for those top six positions in the shape of Reading and Hughton hopes to use it as another test for his side to see how far they have come from the previous meeting at the Madejski Stadium back in December.
He said: “It is important for us and a marker for where we are. We have spoken numerous times about the games we have had against the top six teams and the better teams and we generally feel that we are closer to them.
“Even more importantly, it is about getting points as we want to finish the season as well as we can and with that being the case, it is trying to accumulate as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.
“Yes, they are a very good team and are a team in a very good position but it is important that we play well enough to get the three points.”
After a free week this past week, The Reds go into next week with three fixtures and Hughton said that his side have to remain focused and not dwell on past results because of the relentless nature of the division.
He said: “We keep focused on what we have got and a way of playing, the fact that we are in a better place than we were a couple of months ago, the games are tighter so that has to be the focus and it always has to be in this division as the games come around so thick and fast.
“We look forward to going into a game on Saturday then the next thing you know you are preparing for a game on Wednesday then an even shorter turnaround for the next game. It has to be that way, if you are dwelling too much on the past it doesn’t allow you to concentrate on the next one and do the things you need to to win the next game.”