Huddersfield Town face mentality test as Michael Duff sets consistency challenge

Huddersfield Town head coach Michael Duff insists his side’s mentality is going to be “really important” in the coming weeks as they embark upon a busy run of fixtures.

The Terriers return from the international break with a clash against Charlton Athletic at the John Smith’s Stadium this afternoon, as Town’s League One campaign starts to gather pace.

Duff’s side have registered 23 points from their opening 14 matches of the season, but today’s contest is the first of eight league games for the Terriers between now and the end of the year.

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Discussing the task ahead for his side, the head coach said at a press conference on Thursday: “We’re just trying to add a little bit more consistency. I don’t think we’re far away from where we need to be. I think we’ve shown good bits and bad bits, but it’s doing it all the time.

“We all know what the end goal is, but talking about it isn’t going to make it happen. Everyone can talk, but what are you doing in the week? Are you doing enough? Are you cutting corners or not cutting corners? It’s just trying to embed that into them, because that mentality in the next six weeks is going to be really important.

“Mentality will get you through the next six weeks, because it’s game [after] game. You haven’t got time to coach and debrief and analyse. We’ll do as much of it as we can, but ultimately you’ve got to be mentally really strong, where you’re like ‘right, just crack on’.

“Don’t worry about anything else, don’t worry about the noise, don’t worry about negativity, just be positive and keep moving forward, and don’t make excuses. If we get beat, hopefully it’s because we’ve been beaten by a better team or a poor refereeing decision, not us shooting ourselves in the foot or not doing what we could do.”

Today’s visitors sit 13th in the division, five places behind the Terriers, on 19 points from 14 matches played. The Addicks are in their fifth season at League One level, following their relegation from the Championship in 2020.

“They’ve had a lot of change, you look in the last three or four years, loads and loads of managers,” Duff said on this afternoon’s opponents. “You just go to the stadium and look at the size, I know the budget, you look at the amount of supporters they’ve got, and they’ve got an ex-Premier League manager in charge (Nathan Jones) – they’re a big club. He wouldn’t go there if they weren’t a big club.

“I’d imagine Nathan’s dealing with a lot of similar problems with inconsistency, they’ve got some good players, but as anyone who knows Nathan Jones, you’re going to have to fight and scrap.

“It’s going to be – as it always is – a tough game, but they’ve been at this level for quite a long time now, which goes to show it’s not just as easy as throwing money at it, or just changing the manager. You need to build something, and I’d imagine Nathan is hoping he gets that opportunity to do that.”

Discussing Charlton’s main threats, the Terriers’ boss added: “They’ve got different types. They’ve got pace in the team, they’ve got real physicality in people like (Miles) Leaburn, they’ve got an experienced goalscorer in (Matt) Godden. They’ve got some really good footballers as well, in people like Terry Taylor and Conor Coventry, so they can hurt you in different ways.

“From set plays they’re good, so we’re going to need to be at it, but we’ve proved that when we are at it – particularly at home – we can be more than a match for anyone.”