Carlos Corberán previews Saturday’s trip to Stoke
- Town Head Coach looks ahead to game against Stoke City
- Spaniard on the new substitution regulations
- Watch Carlos’ full press conference below on #HTTV
Huddersfield Town Head Coach Carlos Corberán says the Terriers are ready to attack the upcoming schedule in the Sky Bet Championship ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stoke City.
The visit to the Potters on Saturday 21 November 2020 (3pm kick-off) is the first of nine games for Town in the space of 28 days before Christmas.
Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon, Carlos gave an insight into the Terriers’ preparations for the busy schedule during the recent international break.
“I think one of the keys in this period of time was to prepare the team for the number of games we have now,” he explained.
“We are going to play every two or three days so the time we can train with the players that are playing the games is reduced.
“We were trying to work a lot with all the players that were here with us, we only lost two players, (Naby) Sarr and (Juninho) Bacuna to their national teams, but the other players were here working with us.
“It helped us to continue to develop the ideas, the character and the style of play that will help us to be more successful in this period of time.”
Town’s return to action on Saturday will see them come up against a Potters side who have made a promising start to the campaign under Manager Michael O’Neill.
They occupy eighth place in the table and are just a point outside the play-off places through the first 11 matches. Carlos is expecting a tough test upon the Terriers’ visit to the bet365 Stadium.
“It’s a team with a high number of experienced players in the squad and players that have made an impact in this league before. We need to expect a good performance from this team.
“No doubt (it will be a physical encounter). It’s a team with a lot of possibilities, they have physical centre-backs, they have physical strikers, but at the same time they have quality players in the different parts of the pitch too.
“They don’t just play one style; they have lots of options in each position to use different types of players and it’s a team that can play different types of football depending on the intentions with which they arrive to the game.”
Saturday’s trip to Staffordshire will also be Town’s first match since the EFL Board decided to increase the number of substitutes teams can make during a game.
It means that sides will be able to make five substitutions across the 90 minutes and name nine players on the bench from this weekend’s matches onwards.
Carlos gave his thoughts on the new rules before they become into place on Friday, during his virtual press conference.
“I think it’s a decision that as coaches we need to accept and adapt fast,” he said.
“I perfectly understand the reason for the decision because the number of games we are going to play in a row is something no team in the Championship has ever faced before.
“But the perfect situation for me would be to make the decision before we start the league because then every club can create a squad with their number of players.
“Every decision has some positive things and some negative things, so we are going to adapt very fast to use this rule to get the highest level of advantage from it.”
Watch Carlos’ full press conference below on #HTTV!
