Five observations from Huddersfield Town's pre-season so far

We're not going to call them conclusions just yet, and the usual 'they're only friendlies' disclaimers apply...but some things are starting to look a bit clearer

1. Michael Duff needs to decide what he wants from his defence

We apologise to those of you who don’t care about defenders for making this our starting point and longest section. But for a notorious centre-back fetishist such as myself, it’s deeply interesting stuff. So shut up and indulge me.

The two centre-back trios that played against Harrogate offered very different attributes. The first half back three of Ollie Turton, Matty Pearson and Loick Ayina was, on paper, a steady away, defensive-minded selection.

Their replacements at the break — Neo Eccleston, Radinio Balker and Josh Ruffels — were two converted full-backs and the best ball-playing centre-back at the club. Ironically, it was the latter that kept a clean sheet while the former conceded twice.

We don’t imagine that the rather wee but spritely Eccleston is pegged for a centre-back spot once the League One season gets under way. Even so, his inclusion in the hybrid role — which transitions into an out-and-out full-back when in possession — was likely a strategy to get him alongside the other wing-backs Michael Duff wanted to evaluate.

Balker’s late and potentially serious ankle injury is a worry, and if it’s as bad is it could be would be a real heartbreaker for the defender, who missed so much of last season after arriving in January. He played some magnificent raking balls out to the flanks that honestly had us excited again.

Even if we take him and Eccleston out, Town have a lot of options — and we didn’t even see any of Michal Helik (a minor dead leg), Tom Lees (in the latter stages of rehabbing his MCL injury) or Brodie Spencer (knock) on this occasion, all of whom would be hoping to have starting spots once the new campaign gets under way.