THE HEAT IS ON Terriers boss on pressure of today’s ‘do or die’ fixture
HUDDERSFIELD Town head coach Andre Breitenreiter is looking for his side to show the correct mentality in their ‘do or die game’ against Birmingham City this afternoon.
The Terriers host the third-frombottom Blues at the John Smith’s Stadium today, with the knowledge that they will be relegated to League One if they lose to their fellow strugglers.
Town currently sit second from bottom in the Championship table, on 44 points from 44 matches played and are three points inside the drop zone with just two games remaining.
The Terriers have won just once in their last ten matches, but despite acknowledging his side may need to win both of their remaining games to stay up, Breitenreiter retains belief that Town can beat the drop if they play to their capability.
“It’s a do or die game on Saturday for sure, for both teams,” the head coach said at yesterday’s press conference.
“To be honest, football is crazy. It’s possible, because when we play like the game before and the line-up against Swansea was the same like in Bristol, we couldn’t expect a performance like this, but they showed in Bristol a very good performance and the willingness to work defensively and not only to shine in offensive situations.
“When you do not have maybe the highest quality, then you need mentality in every game. Not in every second game, in every game.
“We have to concentrate on two games. We need perhaps six points, but first we need the next step to win against Birmingham, maybe a team in the same situation like our team, so we prepared the whole week and the behaviour and the concentration was high, but last week I said the same.
“I cannot teach passion, heart and behaviour, we have to cross the fingers that we show the same performance like many games. We had some good games and then it is possible to win this game.”
The Terriers’ survival chances suffered a damaging blow last weekend, as they were convincingly beaten 4-0 at home by mid-table Swansea City.
Breitenreiter criticised his side’s defensive efforts against the Swans, asserting that some of his players did not give everything they had to prevent the goals from being conceded.
“Our performance against Swansea was not what we wanted,” the Terriers’ boss said.
“Having had many chances to go ahead to win this game, but we’ve said it so many times. We didn’t score again and what then happened with the first goal we conceded was totally unacceptable.
“How we conceded all the goals, it wasn’t team tactics, but individual behaviour. No willingness to work for the team, to run backwards and to work defensively as a team.
“Not everybody, but it seemed that some players gave not their best and so I could understand all the fans on the stands that they were angry, because we were also very angry, because of the performance. This is not what I stand for as a coach, so we analysed the game and also I was absolutely clear in my voice to speak to the team. “I speak so clearly, because we can always expect the willingness to defend together as a team. When you have a watch on the whole season, total conceded goals 74, in the first half of the season 38, so it’s not a new problem.
“We showed the last few weeks when we stay together and this what I always taught, because my approach to coaching is actually positive and optimistic and when you’re in a relegation battle, it needs calmness and to stay positive.
“Sometimes, you think some players don’t deserve optimistic and positive things and maybe some more pressure. This is what we can also expect on Saturday, how some players work under pressure – because now there is a lot of pressure.”
I cannot teach heart, passion – fingers crossed we show that Town boss Andre Breitenreiter