Summer can’t come soon enough, Town

WE have come to rely on opponents generously underperforming for Huddersfield Town to get anything much out of their games recently, so it’s hardly surprising that when a team turned up as strongly as Barnsley did at the John Smith’s Stadium, the Terriers were so easily brushed aside.

For once after such a letdown of a performance, we are not inclined to heavily criticise Carlos Corberan’s selection decisions.

It was a difficult enough line-up to pick – do you stick with the weekend’s winning formula, or adapt to try and match the approach that Coventry took to beat Barnsley on Sunday?

In the end, the absence of Pipa and Harry Toffolo forced Corberan’s hand, with Aaron Rowe and Duane Holmes used at wing-back and returning duo Josh Koroma and Yaya Sanogo deployed up front.

For the first half hour it worked well enough, with Sanogo’s presence towards the right flank opening up plenty of space for Aaron Rowe that the talented youngster was able to get into.

As would become a pattern throughout the game, though, Town struggled to find the final ball. There were promising chances for Town on the counter-attack, but they weren’t able to execute the final pass they needed to get through on goal and actually get a shot away.

In fact, Town didn’t manage a single shot on goal between the 24th and 73rd minutes, and Corberan ideally should not have waited until after Daryl Dike scored for Barnsley in the 65th minute to change things up.

On came Danny Ward and Sorba Thomas to give Town a bit of fresh impetus, with Carel Eiting and Rolando Aarons following in the 77th minute.

The Dutchman made a particular impression in his very welcome – but brief – cameo, picking out more clever and incisive passes in 13 minutes than his team-mates had in the preceding 77.

Fitness presumably played a massive part in the timing of those substitutions. Corberan, understandably, will have wanted to keep Koroma on the pitch as long as possible, and Eiting was returning from three-and-a-half months out after knee surgery.

If he had been able to play more than 15 minutes, he would surely have done so.

It’s also worth saying Barnsley were in excellent form as they offered a determined response to their surprise Sunday loss to struggling Coventry.

Those in the media who have followed Valerien Ismael’s side the length and breadth of the country this season commented after the game that that was their best performance for several weeks.

Much like Town in 2016/17, their entire gameplan does tend to leave defeated opponents feeling irritated that they made a limited side look good.

When that happens as consistently as it has for Barnsley this season, it’s not a coincidence – they are just a good team, and deserve their play-off place. Whatever excuses you offer, though, Town were clearly off their game, couldn’t find any fluency in a congested midfield, and only got worse in defence for a spell after Dike’s avoidable goal.

Juninho Bacuna and Naby Sarr couldn’t decide who was going to go to the ball, while Duane Holmes

The focus this summer should be on adding depth to a shallow squad, particularly

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