The manager’s ability to make substitutions in the middle of a game and convert losing positions into points suited him well at Hillsborough, and he’s already helped the Terriers come from behind to win one.
It took his squad a time to get going, but the important takeaway from Darren Moore’s first game as Terriers manager was that he was not only able to assess where his team was suffering in the first half against Coventry, but he actively responded in a way that remedied those concerns.
Sorba Thomas, Kieran Harratt, and Kyle Hudlin were all introduced one after the other as Huddersfield Town gained a foothold in the game to try to make up for their one-goal deficit, with Moore also making an appearance.
making ordering a change of shape and then another to make sure his side stayed on the front foot. All three substitutes were involved in the build-up with Michal Helik’s injury time equaliser. Matty Pearson went up to flick on a long Lee Nicholls ball down for Hudlin, who moved it on to Jack Rudoni. He released Thomas to cross for Harratt, and though his flick was blocked, the loose ball dropped nicely for the centre-back to place a cushioned volley into the top corner with his unfavoured left foot. That move was a far cry from the rather stilted and laboured first-half performance, with the players understandably uncertain about how best to go about their duties on the ball. It will come as some reassurance to supporters that Moore was able to put plan B into motion to such good effect.
As Moore himself explained to BBC Radio Leeds: “At half time we made one or two adjustments, but we spoke more about off the ball, about connecting a couple of passes to be able to move into areas where we could threaten and hurt them, and I thought we did that.
“Through doing that over a 20-25 minute spell, we fashioned two or three half-chances that just put them on the back foot, and from that we just kept carrying on building, kept knocking on the door – but in the end I felt we just needed to throw caution to the wind and we made a couple of changes of system.
“Obviously as a manager you’re pleased when you make one or two changes and it pays off. The goal came really really late, but I’m really pleased for the group and their commitment and endeavour, and we’ve come away from the game with something.”
Town’s fans and players know exactly what a difference it can make to have a manager capable of making those kinds of adjustments successfully. Last season’s Neil Warnock-inspired escape hinged around the fact that they took 11 points from losing positions while dropping just two. The charge to the play-off final under Carlos Corberan came about thanks to a 17-game unbeaten run; four of Town’s nine victories in that spell came from losing positions.
As a manager, this isn’t something you either have or don’t have: Corberan had a bad record in his first season and a half in command, but he learnt on the job (aided, of course, by having a much deeper squad in his second season).
But it’s a positive that Moore and his assistants appear to be on the right track: his Sheffield Wednesday side lost fewer than half of the games in which they fell behind during their two seasons in League One, and his Doncaster also had a better record than their league standing in 2019/20.
As a manager, this isn’t something you either have or don’t have: Corberan had a bad record in his first season and a half in command, but he learnt on the job (aided, of course, by having a much deeper squad in his second season).
But it’s a positive that Moore and his assistants appear to be on the right track: his Sheffield Wednesday side lost fewer than half of the games in which they fell behind during their two seasons in League One, and his Doncaster also had a better record than their league standing in 2019/20.
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