Wycombe Wanderers v Huddersfield Town – No gain without pain for Terriers, says Carlos Corberan

The Terriers travel to Wycombe Wanderers tonight for the second of nine games in 28 days.

The Championship is notorious for its physical demands but this season will be more strenuous still with the campaign not starting until September 12 because of the knock-on effect of the first coronavirus lockdown, but just as many games to squeeze in. There was one concession last week when it was decided teams will be allowed five substitutions until the policy is reviewed in February.

Striker Josh Koroma is a doubt for Huddersfield tonight having taken a kick to the ribs during Saturday’s 4-3 defeat at Stoke City. Having trained well yesterday, he will play unless a scan suggests there is a risk of long-term injury.

“We’ll wait to see what happens,” said Corberan. “Sometimes you need to know how to manage the pain and try to play football.”

Corberan believes the team is feeling the benefit of the conditioning work put in during a shorter-than-usual pre-season and the early weeks of the campaign, when Huddersfield’s first-round League Cup exit allowed some free midweeks. But he warned his players they are going to have to play with fatigue – a worrying statement given many experts put this down as a major cause of football injuries, particularly muscle strains.

“The ability to play so many games in a row comes because of the preparation we did beforehand,” explained the Spaniard.

“Since we’ve come to the club we’ve always played a game in the middle of the week just to get players in the habit of playing every two or three days. Of course it’s not the same playing a game on the training ground as playing against a Championship side with three points available in the stadium.

“Fatigue is going to be one of the challenges we have this season, 100 per cent.

“From the moment we arrived, we were telling the players fatigue was going to be there because when you have a week between games you have enough time to recover from it and prepare for the next game but when you are playing this number of games you do not have that time so you need to get into the habit of thinking that fatigue is normal. It’s going to be with us every game.

“When you have the option of rotation you can reduce the level of fatigue but we need to adapt to the demands of the Championship and if it demands that we play with fatigue, we need to do it.

“Sometimes the limitations are more in the mind and how we manage the players in the time between games is going to be key.”

If the players are being tested as never before, so are the coaches. Corberan’s only previous management experience has come abroad and as coach of Leeds United’s under-23s. In both cases, matches are more spread out.

“Having the experience of two years at Leeds United (as an assistant coach) before I worked at Huddersfield was positive and in the first season we reached the play-offs too, so there were even more games but it’s never the same being the assistant coach as the head coach,” he acknowledged.

“It’s one of the most demanding leagues in the world, especially this year. It needs special preparation and it’s important everyone adapts fast to these demands.

“Playing seven games in a row before (November’s international break) helped us to know what we are going to need to do.”
Another new challenge is the loss of players to Covid-19 – even when they do not have it.

First-choice goalkeeper Ben Hamer misses tonight’s game because he has to isolate after coming into contact with a sufferer. Manchester United loanee Joel Pereira made his debut in Hamer’s place on Saturday and conceded four goals, including one through his legs and another when caught playing in his penalty area. Corberan stopped short of saying he would definitely play at Adams Park.

“When you play your first game and you concede four goals as a keeper, the first one that is not happy is the keeper – not because he’s responsible but because no goalkeeper likes to concede goals,” said Corberan. “Joel is a very demanding goalkeeper and he has the skills to play better than he did the other day. This is what he expect from him.

“If we played the game against Stoke again, I would (still) pick Joel Pereira because he had all the qualities to solve the problems we might face but games don’t always work in a perfect way.

“I’m watching how the players react in training and we’re preparing for the game with different options.”

Last six games: Wycombe Wanderers DLWWD:; Huddersfield Town LDLWLL

Referee: S Martin (Staffordshire)

Last time: Wycombe Wanderers 0 Huddersfield Town 6, January 6, 2012, League One.