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Author: Terrier Spirit

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to play MK Dons and pre-match talking points

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to play MK Dons and pre-match talking points

Matches, Predicted lineups, Talking points
Huddersfield Town head to Milton Keynes on Saturday afternoon for their first away trip of the season. The fixture computer has thrown up a strange one-two combination for our opening games, with last weekend featuring AFC Wimbledon and this weekend seeing Town take on the town that bought the old Wimbledon club and moved them up to Milton Keynes. The sort of franchise move is relatively common in the US but it feels wrong in England, even if it did take place decades ago. After a marvelous opening day victory against Wimbledon last weekend, Town will be looking to build upon that with their first away points of the season. MK Dons are likely to be a tricky opponent though and should provide a stern test for Martin Drury's Town team. Rather than only doing a predicted lineup, I've wr...
Wow! – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Wimbledon

Wow! – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Wimbledon

Matches, Notes
Huddersfield Town won their opening League One game of the season 3-0 despite playing over an hour with ten men. Wimbledon were dreadful but Town deserve credit for exploiting their opponent's weaknesses so relentlessly and giving them a torrid afternoon.  Prior to the game there were as many reasons to be skeptical as there were to be positive about Huddersfield Town but we were excellent throughout the whole game and set aside many of the doubts in fans’ minds. It's perhaps a bit early to be getting too carried away after just one game but this match has laid a marker down for the season and given the players a standard that they now have to keep striving for.  Here are some of my thoughts on the game… Three great goals Every 3-0 win is going to feel good but th...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on AFC Wimbledon

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on AFC Wimbledon

Predicted lineups
Huddersfield Town open up their League One campaign on Saturday afternoon, when they take on AFC Wimbledon at the Accu Stadium. After blowing a 1-0 lead in injury time against Preston North End last week, Town will be hoping to put their Carabao Cup exit behind them with a positive result against AFC Wimbledon. In all honesty, few people would have been that bothered about losing in the league cup apart from the fact it was another game where we conceded a late goal from a winning position. Wimbledon aren't a hugely fancied team in League One but they are a physical side that will fight hard, so Town will have to win their battles in order to earn the right to play football. Martin Drury's job will be to select a team that's able to deliver that combination of work ethic and razzle dazz...
“Mentality issues” – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s Carabao Cup exit to Preston North End

“Mentality issues” – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s Carabao Cup exit to Preston North End

Matches, Notes
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so as a Huddersfield Town fan I had just about put aside the disappointments of last season over the summer and was ready for a fresh start. So it felt like a sucker punch to see Town start their season doing the thing they did so much towards the end of last season: throwing away winning positions in injury time.  A penalty defeat to Preston North End in the Carabao Cup is not the end of the world but the manner of the defeat has brought all of last season's frustrations back to the boil. There were positives to draw from the game but mostly from the first half after Preston went down to ten men. The period of the first half when Preston had eleven men and the whole of the second half were poor from a Town perspective and the late equaliser fel...
“He let everyone down” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

“He let everyone down” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

Matches, Player ratings
After a bright start, Huddersfield Town left Wycombe with their tail between their legs on Saturday, following a 3-0 defeat. It was caused by a combination of Alfie May's daft red card and the remaining players' inept response to going a man down.  In a game where Lee Grant really needed to see a response from his players, they continued to look second best and too many players lost individual battles, which is bad news with a full complement on the pitch but a disaster when we're a man down.  Here's what I made of each individual player who contributed to this disappointing outcome.  Lee Nicholls - 8 out of 10 We saw both sides of Nicholls' distribution, with some creative and risky short stuff before the red card followed by some pretty desperate and fruitless clearances...
Deleted tweets, Birmingham poor, comfortable cushions, going up the right way and rotation rewards – Notes on Birmingham away

Deleted tweets, Birmingham poor, comfortable cushions, going up the right way and rotation rewards – Notes on Birmingham away

Matches
Town continued their miraculous unbeaten run by beating Birmingham at the weekend, also giving them their third win in eight days. Beating a relatively poor Birmingham side may not be as attention grabbing as our recent exploits, but it was a professional and disciplined job from the Terriers and further boosted our playoff credentials. Here are a few of my thoughts on the game. A 2-goal cushion makes life more comfortable One of my favourite things about this game was how Town managed to win without being particularly exceptional. They got their noses in front, then got a second goal and after that we looked to be mostly in control. Pot shots from range by Hernandez and Bacuna went close to going in but Nicholls and the woodwork meant we kept our clean sheet. Beyond those two mom...
“He keeps playing well despite being shunted all over the pitch” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s win over Birmingham

“He keeps playing well despite being shunted all over the pitch” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s win over Birmingham

Matches
Huddersfield Town achieved something incredibly rare yesterday: a straightforward victory. After putting in a defensive masterclass against Fulham and then coming from behind in the final moments of the Cardiff game, this game was far less dramatic with Town getting comfortably ahead in the game and then doing enough to keep their hosts at bay. It’s very rare for Town to win by more than a single goal so I feel like this result represents another step forward for this team. It was also another clean sheet to add to the tally, which the defence deserves credit for after withstanding a lot of Birmingham pressure in the second half. Here are my player ratings. Lee Nicholls - 8 out of 10   There’s a concept called the “hedonic treadmill” which states that whenever you hav...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Birmingham 

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Birmingham 

Matches
We've barely had time to fully savour the win against Cardiff on Wednesday but such is the relentlessness of the Championship that there’s another game to look forward to today. This time it's Juninho Bacuna's Birmingham City away and another opportunity to extend our unbeaten run.  Huddersfield Town’s starting eleven has become increasingly hard to predict recently as Carlos has started to rotate his squad more and is tweaking his tactics to suit the opposition. As my predictions tend to be a bit wayward at the best of times, expect today’s efforts to be less accurate than even the usual low standard! Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls One selection we can be fairly confident of is our keeper, who pulled off some decent saves against Cardiff on Wednesday in the first half. Paul Clemen...
Low blocks, soggy towels, pointy elbows, Fiver Fans, a wardrobe on legs and promotion dreams – Notes on Town’s late win against Cardiff

Low blocks, soggy towels, pointy elbows, Fiver Fans, a wardrobe on legs and promotion dreams – Notes on Town’s late win against Cardiff

Matches
Huddersfield Town beat Cardiff last night in a game that had a boring start and middle but a thrilling end. Cardiff were the better team for long periods, soaking up pressure with little problem and being a threat on the break, but Town managed to find a way through them late in the game and two goals in quick succession meant Cardiff left the John Smiths’ Stadium empty handed. Here a few of my thoughts on the game.  Low block problems eventually overcome I wrote before the game about how Town struggle against teams like Cardiff, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Town Gissing the ball with 70% possession in the first half but failing to create a meaningful chance. While Cardiff sat back, soaked up whatever we threw at them and then picked us off on the break. Nicholls came ...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Cardiff – how does Colwill fit in?

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Cardiff – how does Colwill fit in?

Matches
Huddersfield Town host Cardiff at the John Smith's Stadium tonight and will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run to 16 games. The win against Fulham at the weekend means Town will come into the game with their confidence sky high and maybe even a bit of a swagger. Cardiff are tough opponents though and will put up stiff opposition.  Carlos Corberán will have to decide whether to keep faith with the players that did so well at the weekend or to shuffle the pack and tailor his starting lineup to the particular challenges Cardiff present.  Here's how I think Town will line up: Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls  There's not a lot to say about Nicholls that hasn't already been said. He is superb and is a huge part of Town's success this season. So consistent, so calm, so goo...