Huddersfield Town are 'nowhere near' where Michael Duff wants them to be

Huddersfield Town boss Michael Duff has acknowledged that the culture at the club is “nowhere near” where he wants it to be as the head coach strives for greater consistency from his side.

The Terriers head into the international break off the back of registering a 4-1 win over Manchester United Under-21s in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, a result that was Town’s fifth victory from their last eight matches in all competitions.

However, Town suffered a shock FA Cup exit at non-league Tamworth during that time, while they also went on a run of seven defeats in eight games in all competitions earlier in the season.

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Despite seeing improvement in his side’s form over the past six weeks, the head coach continues to demand higher standards from his players on a daily basis.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s clash, Duff said: “We’re nowhere near where we want it to be culturally. The word culture, it’s habits and it’s ingrained. Habits don’t happen overnight, you’ve got to be doing it day in day out for it to become a habit.

“That’s a long way from where we want it to be, because you don’t want to have to prep [in that regard], in terms of ‘well it’s this game’, it’s just ‘cross the white line and do what we do’, and we haven’t quite found that bit yet.”

Expanding on his point to BBC Radio Leeds after the game, Duff added: “I was lucky, at the end of my career I played at a club (Burnley) where the culture was unbelievable, and you try and replicate that at other clubs, and I managed to do that at two of them definitely (Cheltenham Town and Barnsley).

“It’s just letting them know what’s acceptable and what isn’t. I’ve said it before, we don’t have any [bad] eggs, we’ve got no-one walking and talking around poisoning the place, I don’t feel that anywhere, I don’t think that, but it’s just a bit easy-osey sometimes.

“It’s like ‘oh it’s alright, he gave the ball away, never mind’ – no, it’s not acceptable. It’s having that detail every day. Don’t worry about results, don’t worry about points, that’s not their job, their job is to perform every day and push each other, and make each other better. We’ve revisited this a few times since I’ve been here.

“We’ve got a few, but there aren’t loads that know what elite looks like, well luckily I do. Now it’s transmitting that that’s not acceptable – don’t just walk in the gym, grab someone and say ‘come on, we’re going in the gym’. That’s the bit that takes the time.”

Town’s performance on Tuesday demonstrated a lack of consistency, with the Terriers belowppar in the first half before improving after the break.

Duff expressed his frustration with his side’s approach to the EFL Trophy clash prior to the interval, and said: “First half wasn’t good enough. It’s probably the most angry I’ve got since I’ve been here. We can’t keep throwing in 45-minute performances like that.

“We changed absolutely nothing second half tactically, they just did their jobs, and you end up enjoying it. I ended up enjoying it as well, and we scored loads of goals and created loads of chances, but we can’t pick and choose when we want to run around and win a tackle, and do their jobs properly. I’ve got a meeting with them tomorrow about certain things, we’ve been here a while now and certain things keep popping up.

“There are positives, but we need to start eradicating those 45 minutes. I can handle people not playing well, but picking and choosing when you make decisions [I can’t]. If that’s a league game, Mickel (Miller) fouls the lad on the touchline, he didn’t foul him today. Why? It shouldn’t matter, it’s a game of football, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing.

“I said to them after the Tamworth game, it didn’t matter whether it was Crawley, (Manchester) City, Cambridge, it doesn’t matter, do the right thing. If there’s a foul to be made, make it. If there’s a tackle to be had, have it. Don’t [not do it] because there’s no-one here, against a team that have motivated kids that are at Man United, they’re not bad if you give them a chance.

“It’s almost more frustrating from my point of view, because it’s like ‘well do it all the time’, but that’s a day-to-day thing. When we go back to mentality and culture and all things like that, that’s what I’m talking about, but it comes out on a Saturday.”