Huddersfield Town caretaker coach Narcis Pelach demands passion in must-win 'fight game' against Cardiff City

Pelach has taken over from Danny Schofield, sacked on Wednesday after just nine largely unsuccessful games in charge.

When Schofield's replacement is appointed – with the odds on Rotherham United's Paul Warne tumbling but former boss David Wagner still the bookmaker's favourite – Pelach has been told he will return to the assistant's job he did for Carlos Corberan and his successor, and is looking forward to it.

But for now he feels a responsibility to get his players performing with the spirit which was such a big part of their success last season at home to Cardiff City on Saturday.

"We have to try to represent the club and the supporters, to connect with the people, because this is what football is," he said. "We have to make sure when we leave the pitch everyone has given maximum effort.

"This is all I care about now, this is what I am saying to the players.

"It is a fight game. We have to win.

"Every players has to win his individual battle on the pitch. The game in the Championship is full of second balls and this demands tackles, fight and to go in strongly for every duel. We don't know which action is going to win us the game so we have to try to fight for every ball.

"We were doing these things and talking about them with Danny but obviously not at a high enough level."Danny's gone. The head coach is always the man who is going to leave first but we have to understand it's our fault – not Danny's fault, my fault, the fault of the players.

"The team knows the change we need and they've done it in the past. Something has to change quickly.

"We will try to make them understand it's not (been) enough, we have to do more – starting with me. We are going to try and do all the things we can to affect the player's mentality but in the end I think it's going to come from them because they are responsible people who know how important this game is.

"We have to look the fight in the face because we need three points. We have to try to put the team in a better place for the new manager and ourselves."

Huddersfield have home advantage but Pelach has stressed to the players they have to get the crowd going rather than wait for help.

"It's difficult for teams to win at the John Smith’s (Stadium) with all the people helping us," he said. "We cannot ask anything from the supporters now because it's not fair. We have to offer more to them and then they will help us because it has been like that in the past.

"It's 20,000 people against 11 but to get their support it has to come from us fighting for every single ball. We must have good body language all the time.

"We can't ensure we win the game but we can increase the possibilities and body language is one thing we can control."

The Spaniard, who joined in the summer of 2020, wants to return to his old job and has been told he will. With a two-week break for internationals following Saturday’s game, it should be a one-match stint.

"It's a strange situation," he said. "I found out (about the sacking) the day after the Wigan game.

"The situation obviously wasn't good, the club was thinking, and the next day Danny told me he was going to leave. At first I had doubts about my position but the club very quickly told me they wanted me to take the game and it's my responsibility.

"I'm very happy to be here at Huddersfield and this is what I have to do. It's my job, I have to take that game. We have to help the players to compete well.

"I asked the club what was going to happen with my position and the club wants me to stay so we'll see, it's football so you never know.

"But the idea is for me to stay as assistant coach to help the new manager and this is what I want. Hopefully it's going to be soon and we come back to our natural roles but we cannot think too much about the future because we have a really important game.

"But I'm looking forward to getting to know the new manager.”

Pelach’s passion for the club comes across.

"I have been here a long time,” he says. “In the first year you need time to get to know all the people, the culture, the identity. Now I know.

"I arrived here with Carlos and I'm very grateful for him taking me to this amazing club. When he left I decided to stay because I love the country, the club, the people at the club so I decided not to go with him."I know what the Terrier Spirit is and I have been living it. This is what we have to tell the players all the time. We have to try to recover this."When the new manager comes in we will try to support him as much as we can to show this culture.

"My responsibility at Huddersfield has always been set-plays and the defensive stuff, with Carlos and Danny. I'm looking forward to going back to those things because I love them but for three days have to do more and hopefully next week I can go back to my duties.

"This is what I have to because I am a professional."