Huddersfield Town manager Carlos Corberan was scathing in his assessment of his side's defending in their 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough. 

The Terriers were especially poor in the first half and were deservedly two goals down at half time after Duncan Watmore scored twice in eight minutes to seal the points for Boro.

A slightly better second half still failed to get fans off their seats as Huddersfield only managed to grab a consolation goal in the final minute of injury time to make the score 2-1, with that scoreline perhaps flattering Corberan's side.

Huddersfield were second best throughout the game and this is something Corberan acknowledged, telling The Examiner: “In the first half we didn’t perform well.

"For me, the attack of the team and the defensive movement of the team was really poor, and then the second half was different but of course they were winning 0-2 so it was another type of game.

“There is a mix for me in the first half in both things: the attack didn’t work well, all the defence didn’t work well."

Despite the defeat, Corbertan did recognise the improvement in the second half from his players, as he went on to add: “In the second half we changed the structure and for me we changed the mentality too and the team was more aggressive and trying to attack more.

“We didn’t create many chances to change the result of the game but even if we didn’t achieve the result, I saw the reaction I wanted to see from the players.”

The defeat now means Huddersfield have dropped to 8th, four points from QPR in 6th. The Terriers are next in action when they travel to Oakwell to face struggling Barnsley on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

It was a poor performance from Carlos Corberan's side. One of the key issues that has started to materialise over the past few games is the struggle to create chances.

That has coincided with a dip in form from individuals but nonetheless, that is holding Huddersfield back.

If they can get the likes of Josh Koroma, Danny Ward and Duane Holmes playing to their best, Huddersfield become a different side going forward, but they cannot rely on their defence to keep teams out for long.

As was seen yesterday, when the defence has an off-day, the whole Huddersfield team struggles.