The imminent threat of Ismaila Sarr and how Huddersfield should go about combating him

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If at the end of last season you had informed Watford fans that their Senegalese star man would still be playing for the club in January, many would laugh at you due to the clear ability that the winger has.

However, 22-year-old is still yet to leave the club despite rumours surrounding his future away from Vicarage Road in the upcoming transfer window and the possibility of a Premier League return.

His form hasn’t come so far and at a consistent rate with him only playing 18 of the Hornets’ 22 games so far this season, only getting six-goal contributions is somewhat of a lacklustre campaign from the player who was predicted to tear the Championship apart with his blistering pace and skill that attracted the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool in the summer.

Sarr still has Premier League suitors though in the form of West Ham and following the departure of Sebastien Haller the East-London club offers a viable option for the winger to progress his career if he wants to step back up to the top flight.

The winger, however, will need to focus on his upcoming clash with Huddersfield Town who in their previous meeting came out 2-0 to the good after 90 minutes which resulted in the sacking of Vladimir Ivic, the club sat fifth at the time of his sacking and now sit a place below Reading, who have seen a resurgence up the table recently, in sixth with a game in hand.

In the last game against the Terriers, Sarr was unable to create difficulties for the defence and lacked any real threat or concern for Carlos Corberan’s left-hand side.

The face-off could be easier for the Watford side, that haven’t won in their past two games, due to the injury list that Corberan now has with his three main centre-backs out with injury including left-hand-side centre-back and fellow Senegalese international Naby Sarr who has rarely missed a game this season.

The Watford man has a brilliant chance to cause a weakened Huddersfield side problems.

The current injury list could see a possible change in formation to utilise Huddersfield’s fit players, we have seen at times a 3-5-2 being used and this could be potentially how the Terriers manager lines his side up with Jonathan Hogg dropping into the back three or a welcoming to the side for Alex Vallejo.

The Spaniard could get his first league start for the side after his excellent performance in the FA Cup when Huddersfield bowed out to Plymouth Argyle.

Saturday’s match will likely see the return of Romoney Crichlow-Noble, the 21-year-old has started once in the league this season and was named Man of the Match against Nottingham Forest for his stellar performance.

Meaning that the entire defence will likely be made of players that before October of 2019 hadn’t made a single appearance for the side’s senior team and are all first-team players or very close to in the form of Crichlow-Noble.

This just shows the excellent work being done behind the scenes in the academy team and in the transfer team, with Town’s full-backs rumoured to cost approximately one million pounds between them and are arguably the best partnership in the league.

This fixture could also see a debut handed to another one of Huddersfield’s academy products Scott High with the young defensive midfielder named in Corberan’s pre-match press conference with the manager stating that he could be used as a replacement for the recently injured Carel Eiting.

The youngster has spent the first half of the season on loan to Shrewsbury but has since returned to the club and could follow in the footsteps of Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Lewis O’Brien, Josh Koroma and Ryan Schofield who have all developed extremely well-following loan spells away from the club.

If Huddersfield do line up with a 3-5-2 or even a 5-3-2 with a defence consisting of Pipa, Edmonds-Green, Hogg or Vallejo – who have both proven their ability to play the libero role demanded in Corberan’s three at the back formations.

Crichlow-Noble and finally Harry Toffolo at left-back, this solid bank of five could pose very difficult for Watford’s attack to break down and could see a shock victory for Huddersfield if the side can focus on counter-attacking Watford’s defence through the quick attacking football Corberan’s men have started to deliver and Huddersfield fans are beginning to become accustomed to.

Xisco’s Watford sides home form is nothing short of incredible in the 11 home games played the side have won eight and drawn two picking up 26 points showing how good they really are at home.

Huddersfield will be hoping to improve their away form which currently is poor, picking up nine points in 11 games and losing six of these games.

If the West Yorkshire side want to push for the Play-Offs in the upcoming seasons this is an issue which needs addressing relatively soon as form like this isn’t going to help the club challenge for those spots.

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