Carlos Corberan calls for Huddersfield Town to rediscover their aggressive spirit

Providing the antidote to pain of a different variety is in the mind of Carlos Corberan and his players this afternoon and not events of Boxing Day 2020.

Losing is part of Championship life. Losing and playing badly is what really upsets head coaches and managers.

Corberan fell into that bracket last weekend and he and a travelling contingent of around 4,000 supporters want to see firm evidence of a response today at the start of what has the makings of a key month in Town’s campaign.

Corberan said: “It is true that the (Barnsley) defeat was one of the more difficult defeats I had last year.

“Maybe it was similar to the feeling I had after at Cardiff (this season) because in both games, we had the opportunity to get something else than we achieved at the end.

“But we should go back to the stadium (Oakwell) not wanting to give an answer from that last (Barnsley) game. We need to give an answer from ourselves as we arrived from one defeat last week against Middlesbrough where we didn’t show our right performance.

“We want to show the team that we are and show our spirit and that we are an aggressive team in attack and defence. This is the higher motivation than the last (Barnsley) game.”

Today, Town face a Barnsley side whose home goals tally – seven – is the joint lowest in the Championship.

The only EFL side to score fewer league goals in front of their own fans in 2021-22 are Carlisle United.

Huddersfield’s total of nine goals on their travels suggests this derby is unlikely to be a goal-fest and will be decided, like many second-tier games, on the ‘small details’ as Corberan puts it.

Clubs will face five matches in December, a month when results and not necessarily form is king and those details truly matter.

Especially in a table in which just five points separate Town in eighth and Bristol City, who are seventh from bottom.

Corberan, whose side are without an away victory since mid-September, continued: “It is true that in the Championship, the gap between the teams is not high and only five points can be the difference between teams close to the play-offs and those in the low part of the table.

“It means there are no high differences between the teams. It increases the level of importance and mentality of game by game. You need to know that small details can have a lot of influence in the table and results.

“The fact that the level of the competition is tight must increase the level of focus in this game and our attention and concentration. The table is saying that this is going to be a high challenge and we have to prepare our minds with a high level of determination, ambition, precaution and focus.

“As soon as you don’t give the best and suffer in one dynamic, you suffer in results and this is what we want to avoid.

“Something I also feel we need to improve is our attacking perspective and it is true that we can attack better than we are doing.”