Huddersfield Town head to Nottingham in desperate need of points to help keep them in the Championship. After a limp non-performance against Wigan, there’s also pressure on the team to play better football.
Drama off the pitch this week has also led to Town now being without Danny Simpson at right back, after he failed to agree a contract extension with the club.
Here’s a preview of some of the talking points leading into the game.
Who will replace Danny Simpson at rightback?
Simpson has struggled for form for a while now and looked poor when pressed aggressively by Wigan last weekend. So a change is probably due anyway.
Demeaco Duhaney is the most obvious choice to fill the gap, as he did a reasonable job when he came on as sub last week. He’s a bit of an unknown quantity but has plenty of motivation to perform as a good run now could cement him in place as out first choice for next season.
Bacuna is another option which Danny Cowley could go with. He’s a mixed bag at right back, he can pull off some impressive feat one minute and then lose concentration and his marker the next.
I feel like I should mention Herbert Bockhorn because nobody else has in a long time. Is he still at the club? He may have left and I missed it. If not then he’s technically our only senior rightback at the club. In reality, it’s a stretch to call him a Huddersfield Town player given he’s barely played for us. Town have made more expensive mistakes in the transfer market than Bockhorn but few have failed so miserably.
Will Campbell or Mounié be fit in time?
Danny Cowley stressed in his post match comments after the Wigan game that losing these two strikers to injury was a major blow to his plan. He also said he hoped at least one would be fit to play Forest but that could have been either managerial mind games or wishful thinking.
Playing Karlan Grant as a lone striker did not work against Wigan so Cowley will be desperate for one of Mounié or Campbell to be fit enough to play. They are both better suited to playing as the focal point for our attacks than Grant even though they have differing styles of play. Mounié can play as a target man and will win most headers lumped up to him. Campbell’s strength is his aggressive running and linkup play.
If neither is fit enough then I suspect we will see Kachunga or even Quaner as the central striker and Grant will revert back to playing off the left wing.
Will Town play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3?
Danny Cowley started with a 4-3-3 system in the Wigan game but switched to 4-2-3-1 at times. Town’s manager has maintained from the start of his time at the club that he wants to play 4-2-3-1 but has tended to play 4-3-3 more often than any other formation.
Forest are a good team and are pushing for the playoffs so it would be logical to pack midfield and make ourselves difficult to beat, so there’s an argument for 4-3-3. On the other hand, we need a win and playing an attacking lineup is more likely to lead to goals for Town, so 4-2-3-1 would allow an attacking player to sit behind the main striker and link up play.
Given Town currently sit in the relegation zone, I think it’s time to throw caution to the wind and play the most positive formation they can.
Can Town’s players adjust to playing behind closed doors?
Wigan did a significantly better job of applying themselves last weekend compared to Town. They were more aggressive and looked more up for the game than our players. It’s absolutely vital that we start to show a fighting spirit that was almost entirely absent last weekend.
It’s possible that playing away from home will be to Town’s advantage as the unsettling feeling playing to empty stands may have less of an affect in another team’s stadium. It seems strange that professional footballers would struggle to get themselves up for a game when there’s so much at stake but it looked like the lacklustre performance against Wigan was at least in part due to the lack of support from the terraces.
The messages coming from the Town camp were very positive in the build up to last weekend’s defeat so it came as a shock to see such a tepid performance. This has to change against Forest, regardless of the results we need to see a battling and energetic display to prove these players are up for the fight to survive.
This is not a “must win” game
Yesterday’s Championship results could not have gone a lot worse for Town. It was freakishly unlikely that so many teams at the bottom end of the table would pick up points but they did. Because the teams around us won or drawn, we’ve now been plunged into the relegation zone and are desperate to start winning games.
Despite our dire league position, we’re still not at the “must win” stage yet. We have eight games left this season and only need to win three to be reasonably sure we will be safe. Two wins and some draws would also have potential to get us over the line. Forest away is one of the trickiest fixtures of our run in, so it’s not going to be time to panic if we lose or draw.
There’s a tendency with a section of Town fans to overreact to defeat and lose their heads, that’s certain to happen if we don’t win today. It will hurt if we lose to Forest but it doesn’t finish Town off. There will be seven more games to play and those are likely to be easier games to win.
The performance MUST improve
Whatever the results, it’s vital that Town’s players come out of their shell and show what they are capable of. We have a squad that has underperformed most of the season but at times have shown glimmers of what they are capable of doing. The fans need to see a reaction from the players against Forest or things could turn ugly.
Wigan looked like a team determined to stay in the Championship last weekend. Town did not. There has to be more fight on display and some bravery when we are in possession. Nobody was impressed when they saw Town had 70% of the ball when they did so little with it.
Danny Cowley has succeeded at every club he has managed until now. When I hear him speak it makes me think he knows what he’s doing and can turn around Town’s fortunes. I fully believe we will see a much improved performance later on today.
Just a thought, as the stadium is quiet is it possible Cowley’s continual coaching from the sidelines is putting some players off their game? They are pros for goodness sake , just let them get on with it with perhaps less shouting.
It’s a fair point Keith. I’ve noticed on match days before the break that both brothers would be stood next to each other bellowing instructions that players couldn’t understand because they were shouting over each other.