Huddersfield Town: Sorba Thomas must find ‘solutions’ after becoming marked man

Sorba Thomas burst onto the scene last August with his performances being such that they earned him the first Championship player-of-the-month award for 2021-22.

A stellar campaign saw him afforded cherished international recognition with Wales, sign a new contract at its end and be at the heartbeat of Town’s rise to the play-off final.

A season on and Thomas has found himself to be more of marked man, with opponents making plans to curtail him, which have largely worked until Saturday, when he impressed in the 2-2 draw with West Brom.

Schofield, whose side are seeking to secure a first away win of 22-23 at Bristol City tonight, said: “I think Sorba did well against West Brom and it was his best performance of the season.

“Obviously, your profile increases when you have had a good season. Opposition players and the manager of the opponent are more aware of the danger players in the team.

“That’s down to us as staff and the player to find a solution to overcome that and see it as a real challenge, but also a positive in they’ve been identified as a key player and then find solutions to get to those levels again.”

On the transfer front, Schofield is hoping that Town top off a busy summer of recruitment with a couple of deals before Thursday night’s transfer deadline.

Town are close to signing young Ipswich striker Tyreece Simpson, while bringing in another defender is also in their thoughts, with Matty Pearson out for an extended spell.

On his hopes of bringing in a couple of additions, Schofield added: “The players we have got in the building are doing really well and I think you always want to strengthen the squad to improve the competition.

“This is really good for the players and it drives players on to compete against each other and I think that this can be really healthy.

“It is not so much relief, but a pivotal moment when you get this transfer window out of the way and you can then concentrate on your squad going forward.

“There’s lots of games coming up and we are always assessing the squad and the physical levels of the players and which players are most suited to playing a particular opponent.”