Michael Duff says Huddersfield Town will mix it up this season

Huddersfield Town have changed the way they play this season, but Michael Duff does not want them to be stereotyped as a possession-based team.

Ahead of Tuesday's League One visit from Blackpool, the Terriers were fourth in the division for the amount of ball possession they have had this season (57.3 per cent). In their last two seasons in the Championship, they were in the bottom two in that regard.

Playing out from the back, as coach Duff is trying to do, is not without its problems, as Michal Helik's own goal against Northampton Town proved to some.

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Duff insists it was unrelated, and that anyway he is not a coach who is committed to passing the ball out at all costs.

"Somebody tried to compare it to the Bolton goal (scored by Anthony Evans) the week before but I think it's different," he argued. "It's an overhit backpass. He wasn't particularly trying to play out, he wasn't really getting pressured, I think if he sets it properly, Lee (Nicholls, the goalkeeper) probably boots it down the pitch.

"The Bolton one, the goalkeeper's trying to find a pass when we've got four men in the area.

"It's an occupational hazard – centre-halves score own goals, centre-forwards miss penalties, so I can accept that. They're human beings, as much as supporters don't want them to be sometimes.

"I think as a general rule, Misch has been very good.

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DIFFERENT WAYS: Huddersfield Town coach Michael DuffDIFFERENT WAYS: Huddersfield Town coach Michael Duff
DIFFERENT WAYS: Huddersfield Town coach Michael Duff

"My frustration on Saturday was that it was a bit passive and we turned down the opportunity to play forward too often, we switched the play too slowly.

"I don't want to get known as any type of coach in possession or out of possession, we want to play mixed football. I don't want to play short every goalkick but I don't want to just smash it down the pitch every time either.

"We've been good at all facets of it."

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