Message sent to Huddersfield Town's out-of-favour Carel Eiting sums up entire season

When Carel Eiting cut his stay in Belgium short by having his contract with Genk terminated so he could return to the John Smith’s Stadium, we doubt this is exactly what he had in mind. The midfielder has rarely featured despite being fit and available for every game except one (the trip to Millwall), playing just 282 minutes without making a single Championship start.

It does not appear to be a matter of Carlos Corberan being unhappy with what he has seen from the Dutchman, per se. The head coach expressed himself to be pleased with what he saw from the play-builder in a couple of his outings, including the 90 minutes he played against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup last month.

For Corberan, the issue is simple. Eiting was unfortunate that Jon Russell emerged into this first team just days after he made his vaunted return on transfer deadline day, impressing sufficiently in the FA Cup against Barnsley to earn his first-ever Championship start against Sheffield United the following week. The youngster has not been out of the first XI since.

As Corberan put it after again leaving Eiting on the bench against Hull City: “Sometimes the possibilities for the players depends too on the performances of players that are playing in the same positions. For me the impact of Russell in this part of the season has been too high, and of course it’s positive news but it increases the challenge of any midfielder to play.“

Town have a similarly classic 'nice problem to have' in defence, where Corberan must pick between Matty Pearson, Tom Lees and Levi Colwill for two centre-back slots in games where he chooses to field a back four. With Jonathan Hogg also set to return next week from the combination of injury and illness that have