Bristol City v Huddersfield Town: Carlos Corberan seeks balancing act after ‘playing safe’

Huddersfield Town have been showing a costly reluctance to go for the throat recently. Coach Carlos Corberan insists the hesitancy is not coming from him and he wants to change it, starting with today’s Championship game at Bristol City.

The Terriers have taken the lead in six of their last eight matches but have only beaten Millwall and West Bromwich Albion. It has seen them go from outside the play-off spots on goal difference to five points adrift.

Not since beating Hull City 11 games ago have they scored twice in a game and Corberan thinks it has a lot to do with confidence.

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“If we only play safe we won’t do things that try to help us have a shot,” he warned. “It’s about the balance.

Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan.Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan.
Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan.

“You need to find the balance to know this is the moment to be more aggressive, this is the moment to be more solid.

“Our idea is always to have the ball and look for the passes we can play through the lines. In defence we try to be brave, solid and aggressive.”

The same players struggling for confidence now were bubbling with it in a start to the season which outstripped expectations. Thanks to that, even in this stutter, they are still healthily-placed in 10th.

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“The mood of the group of players is easy to manage because I have a group of competitive players who show real spirit,” argued Corberan.

“But it’s always important to achieve a positive performance and you cannot wait to get a good result to recover confidence because without it, it’s very difficult to compete.

“There always key aspects to perform well – the confidence and the demanding. When you don’t have the right balance between them, the performance suffers. So we always talk with the players about the importance of finding that balance.

“Our style is made up of three important things: to be brave in attack and have the personality to attack, to be aggressive when you lose the ball in your offensive half and to be solid in the moments we cannot press or have the ball.

“It is true in some games we are not finding this balance.”

Danel Sinani is back after a bout of Covid-19 to a squad which has picked up no fresh injuries.

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