Season Preview: Make Or Break Season at John Smith’s Stadium for Carlos Corberán’s Terriers

Since Huddersfield Town’s return to the second flight of English Football, they certainly haven’t reached the heights they managed in the 2016/2017 seasons.

From injury struggles to dire away form, it’s certainly been a rocky start to Carlos Corberán’s life as head of the Terriers.

Last season was filled with optimism with the rise of the new style of football brought by Corberán – a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa and his intense methodology surrounding the fitness element of the game – however, the season failed to live up to the heights thought possible in December.

Sitting mid-table at Christmas so close to the play-off spots, a stark contrast came in the second half of the season. A 20th place finish followed after injuries to key players Christopher Schindler, Josh Koroma and Carel Eiting.

Whilst fans may see this as not sufficient compared to original expectations for last season, and with the progress that had been made in December, these injuries played a prominent part in the overall underwhelming finish to the season.

Transfers

There have been little to no starting players signed this window for the West Yorkshire outlet, with Corberán’s recruitment eyes being mainly focused upon the quality of his back up players. Something the side lacked last season was the lack of quality depth.

Whilst the likes of Jaden Brown, Demeaco Duhaney and Richard Keogh are valid options, too often their performances were inconsistent for the Yorkshire side. Their replacements are Josh Ruffles, Ollie Turton and Matty Pearson, with the latter two have already made their competitive debuts for the Terriers against Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup.

Lee Nicholls, Danel Sinani, Levi Colwill and Jordan Rhodes have also joined the club. All made their debuts for the side in the cup too.

Levi Colwill looks to be a superb addition to the squad. Huddersfield Town have an illustrious history with Cobham graduates, Trevoh Chalobah, Kasey Palmer and Izzy Brown all have shone for the Terriers in the past.

Manager

As mentioned earlier, Carlos Corberán is a ‘marmite figure’ in the eyes of Huddersfield Town fans and it is quite clear to see why the Spaniard has a clear method and style of football that he wants his side to play but the execution of this is heavily reliant on a very fit team.

Fans of the West Yorkshire outlet will have only seen glimpses of what is to come in the future with the massive impact of injuries last season but now with 12 months under his belt as a head coach and with the players knowing what Corberán’s demands are, the Terriers can hope to see a change in their position this season.

Targets

The main target for the side this season should be to have an improvement on the last two. The past 36 months for Huddersfield have not been pleasant with back to back to back relegation scraps, albeit one in the Premier League, which has meant that a once uplifted fanbase has often felt pessimistic about the club’s chances of survival in yet another season.

However, there is a very clear base and very clear demands now from the fans. The bottom half of the Championship looks stronger than it has been for years. With all three newly promoted squads looking very strong meaning that the Terriers’ chances of survival will already have taken a hit.

Key Player

The key player for the side this season is the same as last season, Josh Koroma. The side relied heavily on the winger for goals last season and he fits the mould of Karlan Grant’s performances and expectations almost exactly. With a full season, Koroma arguably could have reached the same level of contributions as the now West Brom man.

With 10 contributions in 20 games, Koroma will only be better this season and following a potential successful second season, Carlos Corberán may struggle to keep his talisman next summer.

Youth Prospect

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Huddersfield this season have a lot of young talent within their ranks, the likes of Colwill, Sorba Thomas and Aaron Rowe all headlining, however it could be Scott High who excites the most this season.

An academy graduate and one of the longest-serving players at the club, High already looks comfortable in the side as a box-to-box midfielder. At just 20, the youngster looks composed on the ball and against a strong Sheffield Wednesday side controlled the tempo of the game from midfield.

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