Four at the back, a new shape, attacking intent - key changes in Schofield's Huddersfield Town

Pre-season is a weird thing. Predominantly about fitness more than anything else, every so often your training sessions are punctuated by having to play actual games. We watch those games and whilst we know not to read too much into anything that happens, we still do anyway.

With that in mind here at Yorkshire Live we don’t do Player Ratings or Five Conclusions for these matches because you can’t judge the games the same. Slightly more than ‘just’ friendlies, but a whole lot less than actual competitive football, they are an island of their own design. Sometimes, though, they can be useful.

Such is the case for Huddersfield Town this season (and for us) owing chiefly to the sudden departure of Carlos Corberan. Danny Schofield’s rapid promotion into the top job with very little public history to know what a Schofield team looks like means these games hold a bit more intrigue than normal. Systems, players, set-piece patterns – where are the changes, and what looks different?

We thought we’d give you some things we’d noticed from Town’s two games on Saturday at Harrogate and Doncaster. Both ended in 1-0 defeats for the Terriers, but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. Without further ado then, lets start with a big one, the system:

Town spent a good deal of last season with a three at the back, or a two but with Jonathan Hogg dropping in as and when required. Their defensive solidity was a huge part of the success but it looks like this season will be far more about a four, and a true four at that.

Will Boyle has arrived but he doesn’t fill the gap left by Levi Colwill’s departure – not too many could in truth. He has come to play Naby Sarr’s role – start a handful, come on in a handful, play in some cup games.