Huddersfield Town boss Mark Robins today told Joel Lynch: “You can be one of the top centre-backs in the Championship.”
Just 48 hours before the Welsh international faces his former club Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, Robins underlined the towering 25-year-old has all the attributes to help Huddersfield Town prosper this season.
Lynch played only 22 times last season – including just four matches from the turn of the year and two under Robins – as Town preserved their Championship status with a point on the last day of the campaign.
One of those appearances was in Robins’ first match at the helm, the horrible 6-1 reversal against Forest in Nottingham, and the manager has told the 6ft-plus No33 how he can become a regular this term.
“Joel has had a good pre-season and done really well because he is a good player, no two ways about it,” said Robins, who takes a Development XI to AFC Emley tonight (7.15).
“As long as he believes in himself he can be one of the top players in this division – that’s what we are looking for and that’s what we are hoping for."
The Huddersfield Town manager added: "“It’s achievable for him as long as he has that belief, because whatever style of football the opposition throw at us he can cope in the air, he can cope on the deck, he has a good touch, a decent pass and he’s a threat at set pieces.”
Robins and his staff have been doing a lot of work with the back four ahead of the clash with Billy Davies’ new-look Forest.
“What we’ve learned in pre-season – and from the number of goals we conceded last season – is that we have to be better from defensive set plays,” said the boss. “It has also highlighted that we need to be better at getting the ball back quickly, without losing our shape.”
