What does Carlos Corberán need to succeed at Huddersfield Town?

Huddersfield Town finally announced their new head coach, Carlos Corberán, on Thursday evening. The ex-Leeds coach has been given the job of creating a distinctive identity at the club, based around bringing through young academy players.

This change in approach could lead to exciting things at the John Smith’s stadium next season but he will need help to achieve his goal. This article looks at what needs to happen for him to succeed.

The right players coming in (and going out)

The new coach will also operate under a new approach to transfers. Or, more accurately, our old way before Danny Cowley took increased control over comings and goings.

The transfer committee, however it operates, will have a busy window coming up. Once the returning loan players and out of contract players have been released then there is only a skeleton squad remaining.

If Town are going to have a high-tempo, attacking team then we’ll need the kind of players than can play this system. I doubt we’ll be seeing many household names signing for us but I would like to see some ambition in our transfers this summer. Particularly if Karlan Grant goes for big money, as we’ll need to replace the goals he scored this year.

Getting rid of players is just as important as bringing them in and I hope we see the back of some of our transfer mistakes from the past. I’m all for giving players plenty of chances but Diakhaby has failed under four managers now (including his loan at Forest) and surely needs to be moved on, even if it means taking a financial hit.

Time from the chairman

Time will tell if sacking Danny Cowley was the right move and we may look back and see it as brave that Phil Hodgkinson saw the need for change and made it when few fans were calling for it.

While sacking managers can be brave, it takes a different kind of bravery to give them time. I hope that Phil Hodgkinson understands that the task he has set Corberán is huge and will take time to implement. Wagner and Bielsa both needed a while to fully cement their ideas in place before achieving promotion.

Arguably, Corberán is taking on a club in a worse starting position than Wanger or Bielsa. Therfore it’s inevitable that we won’t see an overnight change in our fortunes. I hope that Phil understands that and is willing to tolerate a bad run of results.

Backing from the fans

I’m still on a state of shock about Danny Cowley’s sacking and am disappointed we won’t get to see what they had planned for Town next season. However, now the dust has settled, I’m going to give the new coach my full support and I am (cautiously) excited to see the how things develop.

Getting the fanbase behind Carlos Corberán shouldn’t be too tricky. Town fans are easily pleased and the promised change in style is exactly what the majority of fans like to see. Hard working players that are willing to have a go at the opposition are always well-liked at Town.

If results don’t come straight away then there will always be a minority of fans that grumble but I hope most will be patient. I would not be surprised to see some heavy defeats and silly mistakes next season but that is often part of the process of making a big change. Doubly so if that change involves trusting younger, inexperienced players.

If Town really intend to move from safety first football to aggressive, high octane, attacking football then we’ll leave ourself open to being exploited by teams with less progressive approaches. But it’s worth risking this to try to make a genuine change.

I think most fans would agree with the sentiment of giving the new boss time to bed in his philosophy but will we all be feeling so charitable if we lose our first five matches? Would we be willing to endure relegation so we could come back stronger in future years? A lot will depend on whether the vision described in interviews is translated onto the pitch.

Players buying into the new approach

If the strategy Carlos Corberán described in his opening interview was easy then every team in the league would do it. Leeds’ achievement this season was built upon a foundation of unbelievably hard work by the players. For Corberán to be successful he’ll need the players to quickly buy into his vision and put in the hard work required.

When David Wagner arrived at Town he proposed a series of changes that might have been resisted by the squad he inherited. Luckily for him, Mark Hudson and Dean Whitehead bought in to the plan early and were influential in getting the rest of the squad on side (barring James Vaughan, who left because he realised his body wouldn’t hold up to the intensive training required).

Leeds were the widely regarded as the fittest team in the Championship this season and that allowed them to follow their philosophy of high-tempo, attacking football. Town were horrendously unfit this season and could not possibly have played the same way. Corberán will need to get the fitness levels of the players up to be able to achieve his vision, this can only happen if he has all the players on side and willing to put in the effort required.

Exciting times ahead for Town

I can’t say I agreed with the decision to remove the Cowley brothers but that is history now and we need to start looking forward. Now Carlos Corberán is here and his team will be put together shortly and I intend to get fully behind them.

The transition to becoming a youth-focussed, fearless, attacking team is going to be exciting to watch even if it might be a bumpy journey at times. There is potential for Town to follow in Leeds’ footsteps and hit upon a model that allows a team to become greater than the sum of its parts. It could also blow up spectacularly.

Having watched Town for a long time now and seen plenty of turgid football, I’m glad that we’re at least going to see a team going out and trying to attack the opposition, regardless of the outcome.