Calm Carvalhal ready to keep Wednesday in the hunt

The former Huddersfield Town, Barnsley and Rotherham United defender has never worked under a foreign coach until moving to Hillsborough.

But after making his debut in the 2-0 win over last season’s League One champions Bristol City, Hunt is set to return to duty today at Ipswich Town after being rested for the midweek win over Mansfield Town in the League Cup.

And the 24-year-old – on loan from Crystal Palace – is full of praise for the new Owls chief.

“The manager and his backroom staff have been brilliant,” he said. “I have really enjoyed working under him. He’s my first foreign manager. His ideas are very different to the other English managers I have played under.

“His English is very good so you can speak to him about anything. He just wants to get his philosophy across and stick to that so it’s very good for the team.”

Carvalhal exudes a calmness from afar, and Hunt revealed that also filters through to the players.

“He’s very calm compared to a few of the managers who I’ve had in the past,” he said. “His philosophy is to keep the ball and enjoy the ball. Any player loves to hear that coming out of his manager’s mouth.

“He’s very tactical and deserves a lot of credit for the win over Bristol City. No-one sees what he does on the training pitch and the tactics he puts out to sit behind the ball and when we get the ball to use it well. We were perfectly set up for the counter attack even though we were at home.

“The fans might have liked to have seen us win the ball higher up the pitch but it was all down to him and I thought it worked very well.”

Today’s trip to Portman Road will be a true barometer of Wednesday’s promotion ambitions. Hunt explained: “I’m no stranger to this league. I know what Ipswich are all about.

“I think it will be a very tough task for us but it’s a great point to see where we are at going to a team who finished in the play-offs last year and will no doubt be up there this year. It will be a very tough test us.

“It will be a good barometer for us to see where we are up to as a team.”

After seeing his Premier League chances wrecked by a broken ankle, in training soon after swapping Huddersfield for Palace in a £2m deal, Hunt is desperate for another chance in the top flight.