What’s changed with Huddersfield Town’s tactics under Carlos Corberán?

Huddersfield Town have only played one friendly under their new manager, Carlos Corberán, so it’s a bit early to draw too many conclusions about the tactics he’s going to use. Having said that, Leigh Bromby has made it clear that we’re moving towards a new “identity” built around a 433 shape which will be attack-minded and involve high tempo pressing.

There were signs in the Bradford friendly that things have changed with the way Town were setting up and players were being asked to do things differently.

Here’s a look at each area of the pitch and how the positions have changed under Carlos’ new system.

Goalkeeper – playing out from the back

The big difference with the goalkeeper position on Wednesday was how much we played the ball out from the back. Whenever the keeper had the ball he’d try to play short passes, usually to a central defender or the deep-lying midfielder.

This isn’t a new tactic and I remember being bored to tears by this approach under Mark Robins many years ago. It means you keep possession more than punting it up field but can make games slow down because the opposition has time to set up their defence when the ball eventually makes it into their half.

It’s no secret that Town are in the market for at least one new keeper as Hamer is our only for first team goalie, as Schofield is out for months with a broken thumb. I suspect we’ll prioritise keepers that have good distribution. Modern keepers are expected to be almost as able with their feet as their hands these days so hopefully we can find the right player.

Fullbacks – more like wingbacks

All four players that played in the fullback positions on Wednesday played very high up the pitch. So much so that 4-3-3 doesn’t seem accurate when the deep midfielder was far further back on average than the fullbacks. It might be more accurate to call this formation 3-4-3 or 3-2-2-3.

It wasn’t just that the fullbacks bombed forwards when Town had the ball, they were also starting from a much higher position on the field.

I noticed a few comments online from people saying the fullbacks were constantly out of position but my impression was that they weren’t meant to be part of a flat back four in the traditional sense and the central defenders are expected to play wider to fill in the gap left by the fullbacks being high up the field.

I think these positions are going to be key to whether this new tactical system works. Liverpool showed last season how many chances can be created from these areas. While Town don’t have players of Robertson or Alexander-Arnold’s ability we can give our fullbacks the same licence to get forward and create chances.

Harry Toffolo and Jaden Brown should both be more than capable of playing this role on the left flank. The right is more of a problem. Following Danny Simpson departure and Florent Hadergjonaj not returning for preseason, it’s clear Town need a new right back.

As Town are looking to bring through more youngsters it would be tempting to bring in an older player to add some experience to the team. However, it’s clear this position will be extremely physically demanding as they will be expected to motor up and down the wings all game. For that reason, I can’t see a player the other side of thirty being able to play this position twice a week for most weeks of the season. Younger blood may make more sense.

Central defenders – more time on the ball

As mentioned above, this tactical approach requires the goalkeeper to play the ball out from the back to retain possession, which puts a lot more pressure on the central defenders in possession.

Being comfortable with the ball at your feet is essential for this role and being able to pick out and execute decent passes is another important skill required.

If we don’t have the right players for this system then I can see a lot more soft goals being conceded. Opposition players soon get wise to the fact the keeper likes to pass it out short and will put pressure on the defenders receiving the ball. This can help draw our opponents but only works if the defenders can cope with the pressure and get the ball up the field.

It was interesting to see how wide the central defenders were when Town had possession against Bradford. David Wagner played a similar system with his defenders, with Hefele and Schindler splitting and Hogg dropping in to defence to form a back three, then Smith and Löwe would attack down the flanks.

Deep midfielder – more like ball playing centre back

Josh Austerfield put in a Man of the Match performance against Bradford in this position. Despite being nominally a central midfielder, he was more often found alongside the central defenders and did a great job of starting off attacks and picking out players further up field.

I suspect if Jonathan Hogg was playing this position we’d see a slightly different way of doing things. More hustle bustle and less elegant passing but fundamentally this role is to sit back and create the opportunity for the fullbacks (and occasionally the centre backs) to attack.

Austerfield did remarkably well against Bradford in this role but it may be expecting too much of him to throw him straight into the first team when the league begins. I think we need to recruit a specialist for this role. It could be a defensive midfielder or ball playing centre back but they must have the right balance of defensive discipline and technical ability.

Attacking midfielders – pressing hard and pushing up

I was a bit surprised about how attacking the two other central midfielders were in both halves against Bradford. Pritchard and Bacuna both played fairly high up the pitch and worked hard to put pressure on Bradford’s midfield when they had the ball.

Jackson and Diarra played in similar positions in the second half, so I don’t think it was the individual players playing their natural game, they had been told to push up and attack whenever possible.

This meant that Town were getting bodies in the box when the ball was in the final third and increased our attacking threat. It suits players like Bacuna and Pritchard, who naturally want to push forward.

My concern about this system is how open is leaves our defence. Simple balls forward by Bradford put their attackers straight in and only poor finishing spared Town’s blushes.

With one midfielder playing deep and the other two pushing up we leave a big hole for opponents to expose. I suspect there will be tweaks to the system to counteract this weakness. It is still early days after all.

Wingers – playing in the half space

The job of providing width is primarily given to the wingbacks in the system Town played and the wide forwards were more likely to drift around and look for space. When they did pop up in wide areas it was to overload the opposition in conjunction with the wingback.

While both “wingers” played narrow and looked to cut inside, the left side was far narrower than the right. Both Grant and Daly played more like second strikers than wingers and both got on the score sheet from this position.

Koroma and Obiero tended to stretch the defence by pulling wide but would also cut inside on occasion. I think this shows there is some flexibility within the system to adapt to suit the skills of the player. Grant wants to cut in and shoot but Koroma prefers to use his pace to get in around the outside.

Chris Willock is rumoured to be coming back to Town on a permanent deal. While he only showed his ability in flashes in his loan spell, I think he could do well in this slightly tweaked role as it will allow him to cut in and shoot more often.

Striker – the least changed role

Of all the positions on the pitch, the striker’s job seemed to be the least changed from the Danny Cowley era. Maybe there’s more expectation on the striker to press the back line and to drop off and link up play but that has always been a part of the striker’s job.

I wouldn’t expect this to be the position on the pitch where most of our goals come from. I get the impression the striker’s job will be to create chances for others by feeding them the ball or using clever movement to free up space.

On the surface, it’s hard to see Steve Mounié thriving in this position. Against Bradford he lacked mobility and this stood out when compared to the frenetic energy the academy lads showed. Ward and Campbell are better equipped for this system and are more likely to start. If Mounié stays he may be deployed as a Plan B from the bench or otherwise he’s going to need to adapt his game to suit this system.

Verdict on the new tactical system

Tactics and formations can help to give one team the edge over another but it’s ultimately the players that are the most important factor. I like this new, attacking, pressing approach but worry we might not have the players to make the most of it.

The Championship is a very competitive league and I can see us getting thumped from time to time if we stick to this philosophy as attacking more will inevitably leave us more open at the back. But we’ll also score more goals and play more attractive football, so it’s possibly worth the trade off.

I think we’ve made a massive gamble by making this change but I’m quite excited to see where it takes us. The cynical part of me worries that Phil Hodgkinson will sack Carlos is results aren’t great to start with. But if we give him time and resources then we can possibly see Town reversing the slump we’ve been in this past few seasons and adapt to a new philosophy.