Town’s bench has been sub-standard and needs sorting

CARLOS Corberan saw it coming straight away. The EFL’s move from three substitutes per game to a maximum of five in mid-November was the right move but was, the Huddersfield Town boss maintained, belatedly implemented.

The Terriers had intentionally let their squad run a bit thin in the transfer window thinking they were only ever going to need their best 14 at any one time in any case.

But the announcement during the November international break raised that to 16, and suddenly the maths had changed. Suddenly Town needed 14 per cent more players than they thought they would.

The same applied to every other club too, of course, but they had not taken that same gamble with the make-up of their squads, continuing instead to spend more money on player wages than they were actually making.

The Terriers boss made no attempt to hide his displeasure at the timing of the announcement, saying: “These kinds of situations can affect the idea that you have when you’re creating a squad.

“For me the option to have five subs can help the teams that have more numbers of experienced options in the squad, for me there’s no doubt about this.

“The moment you make a decision about the number of players you have in the team you have to know what the regulations are going to be.”

Corberan was keen not to make an excuse out of it, though, saying he and the rest of the coaches in the division would need to adapt as best they could - and in fairness to the Terriers boss, he has never reached for it

Town must ensure they have much better squad depth in every position next season