Corberan calls for reinforcements after Town’s cup defeat
CORBERAN PLANNING TO DIP INTO TRANSFER MARKET AFTER TOWN ARE DUMPED OUT OF CARABAO CUP
HUDDERSFIELD Town head coach Carlos Corberan hopes to have two of his best young prospects back for the start of the Championship season - as well as reinforcements from the transfer market.
Several players returned to the squad for the Terriers’ Carabao Cup defeat to Rochdale after struggling with knocks in pre-season, including captain Christopher Schindler, midfielder Jonathan Hogg and wingers Adama Diakhaby and Isaac Mbenza.
But there were also notable absentees to add to last year’s player of the season Lewis
O’Brien.
Matty Daly began breaking into the first team under Jan Siewert in the Premier League and pushed for a squad place under Danny Cowley throughout the last Championship campaign, most memorably scoring a crucial last-minute winner at Charlton.
Also appearing in that game last December was defender Rarmani Edmonds-Green, who subsequently spent the second half of the season impressing on loan to Swindon Town.
Corberan is hoping to have both available to face Norwich City on Saturday.
He also indicated he is looking to the transfer market to bolster his squad ahead of the Championship kick-off.
The Town boss said: “I think now from the injury point of view we are going to recover Matty Daly because what a player, but he couldn’t play with the team [against Rochdale].
“We are also going to recover Rarmani Edmonds-Green, but while Matty Daly didn’t lose a lot of pre-season EdmondsGreen for example did not play much.
“These are the two players were are going to add. O’Brien is going to need a bit more time.
“So we are going to recover those injured players.
“We are also analysing the possibilities we have in the market and the opportunities we have to add to the team, and we will continue analysing.”
IF Carlos Corberan was in any doubt about the size of the job he faces at Huddersfield Town, he has just been served up an unignorable indication.
A Carabao Cup first round game at home to a team in the division below who have not played a competitive game for six months should always be a winnable match, regardless that several key players were rested or injured with academy prospects taking their place.
That fact brings only minor mitigation. Fielding the kids can be no excuse when the two Town players at fault for Eoghan O’Connell’s match-winning goal were aged 32 and 30.
All the issues we have come to know and loathe from Town over the last year or two were on display here – a weakness defending setpieces, a sluggishness on the ball, an over-reliance playing the ball up the wings despite the fact not a man jack of this side looked at all capable of competently crossing it, and a pitiful lack of killer instinct in the final third.
Drawing a comparison between this result and Jan Siewert’s ruinous 1-0 defeat in the same ground and the same competition last year is tempting but facile.
Where Siewert had seven months in charge before crashing out to Lincoln, Corberan has had only four weeks and two friendlies in which to work with his new players.
The stagnation of the transfer market also means Town may need players to leave before they can add to the two they have already brought through the door.
Steve Mounie and Karlan Grant were two notable absentees - as promised in advance by Corberan - and both could well be gone from the club by the time Norwich City come to Kirklees for the Championship opener on Saturday.
Given their departures seem close to inevitable at this point, it would be for the best if their moves away could be done as quickly as possible if that is required to pave the way for new arrivals to come in.
Adding those new faces is absolutely imperative. This squad looks worryingly thin even once several injured players are able to return to action, and especially when you take into account that Town’s most experienced defenders all look ill-at-ease with Corberan’s style of play.
This is a system that requires mobile, ball-playing centre-backs who are comfortable stepping into midfield to play an active role in moving the ball up the pitch. At one point Town’s back three consisted of winger Aaron Rowe, full-back Harry Toffolo and debutant
Romoney Crichlow. But there are bigger problems still in attack, where the Terriers never looked like creating anything of note for poor Danny Ward throughout his 79 minutes on the pitch - despite at one point having Juninho Bacuna, Alex Pritchard, Josh Koroma, Adama Diakhaby and Isaac Mbenza playing behind or alongside him.
That leaves Corberan with a side that needs new recruits at the back and a magnificent coaching effort
up top to break the bad habits this club’s front line have picked up over the last few years.
Town fans will not, therefore, approach an extremely unkind opening run of Championship fixtures with any degree of confidence.
Another period of gritting their teeth and hoping for better days ahead currently seems their most likely prospect over the coming weeks – for many, that will be understandably unacceptable.
To paraphrase Corberan’s comments after the game, at this stage you don’t expect it to be perfect, and this will, hopefully, prove to be his Town side setting a low bar from which he must inspire them to improve. His credentials and his intriguing style of play suggest he really could be the next big thing the club hope he is.
But even if points are hard to come by in those opening fixtures, Town at least need to put in a level of performance and, crucially, a sense of real improvement to give supporters some reason to believe they are not in for another year just like the last two.