Huddersfield Town v West Bromwich Albion – Lewis O’Brien expected to rise to challenge of leading man status

His injury bulletin was a long one but one item leapt out – Jonathan Hogg is expected to miss the next six weeks with a knee injury.

The Terriers will be without their midfield inspiration for an important run of matches starting with today’s at home to West Bromwich Albion. Or rather one of them.

The loss of the talismanic Hogg means Lewis O’Brien will have to raise his game again. It is just the way the 23-year-old likes it.

The 23-year-old will not fill Hogg’s boots directly – his box-to-box style is too valuable to handcuff him to the holding midfield role the club’s longest-serving player performs so admirably. Scott High or Jon Russell will do that.

O’Brien will have to provide some of Hogg’s leadership, but again in a different way.

“Some players are more talking leaders because they have experience and try to communicate and support the squad more with their words,” says Corberan. “Others have less to say but are leaders who send a message to everyone that they are key players. I consider O’Brien to be this type of player.

“He is a young player but this is his third season in the Championship. We are not halfway into this season but you can see he’s very important for the club, for the squad, for the game, and he’s a player I think has a brilliant future.”

When those comments are relayed to O’Brien, he says: “That’s a massive compliment.

“I’ve always tried to lead by example on the pitch and carry the lads through.

“Carlos is right, Hoggy does shout at you and give you the kick you need sometimes. As soon as I make a bad pass it’s hand up, look the other way.

“You know where Hoggy is and make sure you say sorry as quickly as you can.

“Hoggy’s helped me massively throughout the years I’ve been playing for Huddersfield and it massively boosts everyone’s confidence when Hoggy’s beside you or on the pitch in general, but he’ll definitely be at the games supporting us from the sidelines. The whole team will have to step up.”

That, though, is music to O’Brien’s ears.

“I was listening to a podcast the other day and someone said if you don’t enjoy pressure as a professional athlete, you’re not in the right profession,” he says.

“When there is the pressure of the bigger game and the bigger occasion, I feel like I rise to that occasion better. I enjoy the pressure and it’s what makes me play well.”

The younger leader is an example to High – another, Corberan says, better suited playing in front of where Hogg usually plugs gaps – and to Russell, yet to make his senior debut. He is uncomfortable, though, at the idea of being a role model just yet.

“They’re both fantastic players – Jon Russell I hadn’t seen much of until recently when he’s been training with us every day,” says O’Brien, whose senior career was kick-started by a loan spell at Bradford City. “Scotty’s been away with Scotland Under-21s but he’s been in and around the squad for a while now and played a few games.

“I don’t think anyone can fill Hoggy’s boots but they’re both fantastic players who can do a brilliant job. Different players bring different things to the table and it possibly is a time to try new things in the midfield partnership.

“It’s kind of a weird one when I see a lad two years younger than me and I’m telling him what to do – but I do see a bit of myself in them.

“I don’t see myself as the person Scott High and other people should look up to. Maybe in and around the club, yeah, but I’ve not gone on to do anything apart from that. Scotty’s played for Scotland Under-21s which is massive for him personally and he’s now finding his feet in the professional game for Huddersfield.

“Seeing players in and around you go on to great things like playing for their country (as his former Terriers team-mate Emile Smith Rowe did for the first time in the international break) or playing well for their club is a massive thing but personally I’m looking to do that myself.

“Hopefully I can and others can look up to me in the future.”

The “brilliant future” Corberan speaks of caught the attention of the Spaniard’s former employers Leeds United in the summer, just not to the extent where they were prepared to pay the sort of transfer fee to make the Terriers part with a player important to them as both a footballer and a symbol of what they are trying to achieve in bringing players from their academy to their first team.

Leeds’s interest got quite public in August, when O’Brien needed to be getting his team off to a good start to the season. Players can be derailed by that – ask the England captain – but it seemed to inspire him.

“You think it’s easy to block out but it’s always there in the back of your head every day,” admits O’Brien. “You’ll see something or one of your friends or family members will message you.

“I tried to block it out and concentrate as much as I could on my football, which is what I do no matter what is happening in my life. I just try and focus on my personal game.”

It would be amazing – wrong, even – if O’Brien did not have ambitions to play Premier League football, whether with Leeds, Huddersfield or anyone else, but he says he was pleased when the window shut, and shortly afterwards he signed a contract extension until 2025.

“It was a massive weight off my shoulders,” he says. “My new contract was a massive step in my career and allowed me to play freely again for Huddersfield.”

Leeds wanted O’Brien but the Terriers needed him. With Hogg on the sidelines, they need him even more now. Expect that to make his performances better, not worse.