Huddersfield Town are hosting Peterborough United on Saturday afternoon. With the away side in horrendous form, it looks like a good opportunity for Town to bounce back from their defeat to Barnsley last weekend. Past history tells us that we always struggle against teams we expect to beat, so don’t count your chickens just yet!
We’re still working out what kind of a team this new-look Town actually are this season, so maybe we’re not that team that gives other clubs a chance to recover from bad runs. Maybe that’s the old Town and we’re now ruthlessly efficient at dispatching poor teams in bad form. It’s possible.
Here are my pre-Peterborough (Preterborough?) talking points.
Could this be an easy win?
The bookies aren’t giving Peterborough much of a chance of winning this, with Town being strong favourites in their eyes. Posh have won no games, drawn one and lost seven in all competitions (five in the league) so far this season. So it’s understandable they come into this game as underdogs.
As tends to happen if you’ve not won any of your first seven games, Darren Ferguson goes into this game under pressure and rumours are circulating he could be sacked soon. Though he probably won’t be too concerned, as this is Ferguson’s fourth spell as Peterborough manager, so he’s left them three times before. He probably sees getting sacked a nice chance for a break before they inevitably come crawling back after Grant McCann has had his next turn in the job (currently at Doncaster but might be tempted by the prospect of a fourth time in charge at Peterborough).
Of course, Town never seem to catch teams at their lowest ebb, so this team that Ferguson described as “bereft of confidence and belief” for after their defeat to te-man Leyton Orient in midweek will most likely turn into world beaters for this game.
Of course, we’ve already played another team in rotten form this season, when previously winless Blackpool beat us despite having a red card in the first half of the game. That experience will be fresh in Town’s minds and will hopefully act as protection against complacency in this game.
Will our new loanees feature?
Lee Grant gave a rare straight answer when asked if Zepiqueno Redmond would feature in this game, making it clear he’s not had a thorough enough preseason to be in contention straight away. Will Alves didn’t get mentioned but given he’s already played for us, against Newcastle U21s, Grant clearly thinks he’s fit enough.
With a midweek game and a recovery day afterwards, there won’t have been many full blooded training sessions this week, so Alves may not be drilled on Grant’s system enough to start. It would be nice to see more of him if possible, as he made an impact off the bench on Tuesday.
Will Lee Nicholls take his chance?
The transfer window slammed shut (it never gently closes) on Monday, Lee Nicholls is with us until the new year at least. With Owen Goodman’s ban starting for this game, Lee Nicholls will get his first League One minutes of the season. He’s played in every cup game so far, so isn’t coming in cold and actually has two penalty shootout victories under his belt to boost his confidence.
The job for Lee Nicholls over these next three games will be to establish himself into the team to the point where Goodman can’t take the gloves off him when he becomes available because Nicholls is playing too well. We saw the reverse happen last season when Chapman took Nicholls spot due to injury and Nicholls had to wait to come back in because the young Australian had been decent. (Chapman is currently injured for anyone curious about why he’s not been talked about.)
There were signs on Tuesday night that Nicholls was willing to take on a few more risks with his passing out from the back, like we see from Goodman. He looked good doing it too, often slipping through balls to defenders to help them squeeze past the press. Grant clearly likes his keeper to gamble in these situations, to draw out the opposition and make it easier to find space up the field when we attack. Which sounds clever, until you realise it’s League One players that you’re trusting to play a style that I’ve only seen work consistently for top end Premier League clubs.
Why are Huddersfield Town and Peterborough rivals?
I’ve spoken this season about Doncaster not feeling like a real rivalry and Barnsley being a friendly kind of derby but with Peterborough and Huddersfield Town there is real bad blood. It might seem strange, given we’ve no geographical proximity to Peterborough but the animosity between these sets of fans has been built up over a number of tense encounters.
Going way back, Peterborough knocked us out of the playoffs in the Division 3 playoff semis finals in 1992. My personal dislike for Peterborough came after the Old Trafford playoff final in 2011, where we lost 3-0 and missed out on promotion. My enduring memory of that game was the sight of Town fans launching their free t-shirts at the pitch in disgust after we’d lost the game with a whimper. And getting stuck for hours in The Lowry Centre’s car park.
The dislike is mutual, as Peterborough took it personally when Town and Barnsley conspired to draw on the final day of the 2012/13 to secure our own survival at Peterborough’s expense. I remember Peterborough fans being up in arms about the way Town and Barnsley stopped competing to secure their survival at the end of the game but I honestly think they should have been more worried about their own team’s poor performance that out them in that position.
I have a feeling that there have been other notable encounters that have stirred up resentment further between these two clubs but I’m struggling to recall them. Let me know in the comments if you have any more memories of this rivalry.
That 2011 final was indeed awful. I was living in Kent then; it was a long and depressing journey home from Old Trafford.
I totally agree with you about Nicholls. He really needs 3 clean sheets. Whilst I acknowledge he didn’t have much of a chance with either goal in midweek, he still let in 2 goals and I don’t recall him having to make a meaningful save. The first goal was a big deflection but Nicholls did have a rather unedifying scramble along his line – would a more agile Goodman have pulled off a wonder save? – and he was wrongfooted for the second goal so ended up not making any attempt to save it.
After the Barnsley debacle, those seeds of doubt are starting to take root in my head. I thought it might be a joyfully relaxed season as we dominate the division; it’s certainly not going to be that! But anything less than a dominant win tomorrow to uproot those seeds, well ‘disappointed’ will be an understatement.
I hope Grant doesn’t just opt for the usual starting XI. Roosken & Wiles to the bench for me. Alves & Castledine to start.
Apparently Peterborough signed a few players on deadline day – so will magically blend into a rejuvenated cohesive unit and get their first win of the season.