MATTY BIDS TO SHOCK CARLOS

Old boss returns with the Baggies

- Chris Dunlavy

HUDDERSFIELD’S Matty Pearson is relishing the chance to pit his wits against the manager who gave him a whole new “vision” of football.

Carlos Corberan joined the Terriers in 2020 after several years working under legendary Argentine Marcelo Bielsa and transformed the Championship strugglers into an obdurate pressing unit that came within 90 minutes of a place in the Premier League.

Defeat to Nottingham Forest in the 2022 play-off final ultimately spelled the end of his time in West Yorkshire and, after a brief stint at Olympiacos, the 40-year-old Spaniard returned to England with West Brom later the same year.

Today marks Corberan’s first return to the John Smith’s Stadium as an opposition manager and he brings a Baggies side that, much like Huddersfield, has defied the odds to launch an unexpected tilt at promotion.

“It’ll be great to see Carlos,” said right-back Pearson. “When I first met him, I’d been in a Luton team where we played a certain way, and that’s what I’d got used to doing.