Take it easy on yourself, Cowley advises Mbenza
we are off the back of a really good week.”
Cowley - who has Steve Mounie, Juninho Bacuna, Kamil Grabara, Trevoh Chalobah and Flo Hadergjonaj of his senior squad away on international duty - is pleased to reflect on the last three performances in particular, but eager to point out it’s only the start of what has to be a continued survival fight in the second tier.
“If you wound the clock back to 2.55pm on the Saturday of the Millwall game, I think you would have taken what we have achieved since then for sure,” said the boss.
“But I have said it was only one week. The good thing for me was that, for 20 or 25 minutes of the Hull City match we looked a really good team - but we want to do that for 90 minutes.
“So we are certainly drawing on the confidence, but we are not going to get carried away with ourselves.” HUDDERSFIELD Town are out of the Championship relegation zone after taking seven points from the last nine.
But they are still second favourites for relegation despite their odds lengthening.
A home draw against Millwall was followed by a much-needed 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Stoke City.
Then, to top off the upturn in fortunes, Hull City were put to the sword 3-0 in front of a jubilant John Smith’s Stadium.
The results under new manager Danny Cowley and his assistant, brother Nicky, have got supporters in positive mood again following a long spell in the doldrums and relegation from the Premier League.
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Bet are still quoting the Terriers as second favourites to take the drop to League One.
Barnsley - who have just sacked boss Daniel
Stendel and are in the relegation zone, second from bottom - are 1/2 favourites to be relegated at the end of the season.
Town are second favourites, but no longer odds-on, and are priced at 6/4. Wigan are next in the betting at 2/1.
Slightly strangely, bottom club Stoke are as long as 3/1 to be relegated and the other club currently in the bottom three, Reading, are almost as long at 11/4.
Punters fancy Luton to drop ahead of either Reading or Stoke. DON’T misread the negative body language of Huddersfield Town wingman Isaac Mbenza.
That’s the message from manager Danny Cowley, who believes the Belgian Under-21s international can be a match-winner for Town in the Championship.
The 23-year-old wingman has started just one league match this season after returning late to pre-season training - he played in the European Under-21s Championships in the summer - but he has featured from the bench under Cowley.
“I think Isaac has probably not achieved what he would like to have achieved here as yet,” said the boss.
“He scored a fantastic goal against Manchester United last season and there was hope he would really be able to kick on from that.
“People maybe misunderstand Isaac. He is actually quite hard on himself.
“Sometimes people might perceive the negative body language he might display as him being frustrated and angry.
“But he is actually really selfcritical. He has very high standards for himself and if he doesn’t quite meet them he shows that externally.
“But this shows me that he cares. And when they care, there is a good chance you will be able to affect them.”
So what does Cowley expect from Mbenza as the season unfolds into a second quarter?
“We want him to try and think more positively and maybe not be as hard on himself,” explained the manager.
“You always want them to have high standards, but sometimes you want them to be a little bit easier on themselves.
“When they are so self critical they end up getting in their own way, and not ever giving themselves a chance to be successful and to achieve.
“The standards are so high they can never realistically get to them, so we are doing a little bit of work with Isaac on that.”
Cowley outlined what Mbenza can bring to the Town game plan.
“He likes to come inside, we understand that, and if he is playing the No.10 role he can come inside, link and combine,” said the boss.
“We like our wide players to play wider and then come in, and that’s the work we’ve been doing with him.
“He can play both right and left. On the right, he is really dynamic and can go on the outside and cross. On the left, he can start wide and roll in.
“There is no doubt he has quality. “He has had to be patient, but he has trained well and his attitude and application has been good - which for me is always very important.”