Michael Duff on Huddersfield Town's home discomforts after 'consistent inconsistency'

Michael Duff says he has to get to the bottom of the mental problems behind two bad Huddersfield Town defeats in a matter of days.

Duff called for a reaction after Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Northampton Town, but it was not the one he wanted, as he team were completely outplayed by Blackpool in a 2-0 loss.

Duff was very late coming to do his media duties as a result of a long dressing room "conversation" as he tries to get to the bottom of the problems his inconsistent team are hitting.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Town are fifth in the early League One table after seven games, but were booed off twice in four days.

"Not good enough, ultimately," was Duff's verdict. "We're beaten by a miles better team who did every part of the game better than us and I think the most worrying thing for us is it's probably exposed itself properly for the first time today that whenever we come under any sort of adversity or pressure people start making strange decisions.

"We've gone from winning four to a bad week, to a really good performance 10 days ago to a really poor week.

"I don’t think it's an accident that our best two performances have been away from home so far. There's a soft underbelly we have to get to the bottom of.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"When something goes against us we have some that want to go forward, some that want to go back and people going in ones and twos.

PERPLEXED: Huddersfield Town coach Michael DuffPERPLEXED: Huddersfield Town coach Michael Duff
PERPLEXED: Huddersfield Town coach Michael Duff

"We'll look at the staff in terms of did we play the right team, the right shape. We played three shapes today and didn't look good in any of them.

"We've got three central midfielders and their two absolutely dominated. It should be the other way around.

"We didn't deserve to win the game but this is bigger than the game today.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It's bigger than the three points. The frustration is we haven't seen it in the week (in training).

"Mainly at home we've almost capitulated and it's a mentality, it has to be a mentality. You don't go from a good player to a bad player in 10 days.

"We need to earn the supporters' trust.

"The supporters have watched two or three years of really poor performances and it was a hard watch, there's no getting away from that."

The goals Huddersfield conceded in both games were terrible.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The only thing's that been consistent has been our inconsistency and we've given away five of the worst goals you'll see in a week," said Duff.

"The first goal (for Blackpool) is our throw-in and they've got 10 men.

"The second goal's the 50th minute (of the first half) so get it down the pitch.

"You can't always been winning at half-time but don't make the mountain higher."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Former Huddersfield manager Steve Bruce has revitalised Blackpool since replacing Neil Critchley as manager, winning their last three league games, and he expects his old club to be in the promotion picture.

But they were able to capitalise on low Terriers confidence.

"We knew it could go both ways because I expected a backlash from Huddersfield after what happened on Saturday – nobody predicted that result," said Bruce.

"But confidence is a huge thing if you can bottle it and keep it. You get momentum when you're winning and If you get bad defeat it's all about handling it and responding the right way.

"They caused us more problems in the second half, which I thought they would but in the first half we were good."

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice