Terrier Spirit

Feb172021 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

A good start, the capitulation, young guns & a death spiral – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost again last night to extend their 2021 winless run to nine games. Despite taking an early lead Town capitulated and Middlesbrough deserved to win despite a late fightback from Town, led by substitutes Rowe and Phillips. A good start Town flew out of the blocks and completely dominated Middlesbrough in the opening exchanges. We repeatedly carved them open with intense and fluent passing and moving in the final third. Pritchard, Holmes and Bacuna interchanged and popped up all over the places making it hard for them to track the threat. O'Brien bombed down the sides and found space to exploit. The end of this period of dominance came when Mbenza scored a lovely free kick. It seemed like going ahead destroyed our confidence and energy which gav...

Feb162021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

The improvements each Huddersfield Town player needs to make against Middlesbrough tonight

Matches

Despite Town turning in arguably their worst performance of the season against Wycombe on Saturday, I don't think there will be many major changes to the lineup against Middlesbrough tonight. In fact, a completely unchanged team seems quite likely. So instead of predicting the team I'm going to look at what each player needs to improve in their game tonight to avoid another debacle like the Wycombe game. Ryan Schofield All goalkeepers are good shotstoppers, that's why they're goalkeepers but Schofield's ability with reaction saves is far better than the average keeper at this level. He's not so good at the aspects of the game which come with experience, like commanding his area, decision-making with passing and knowing when to leave his line or not. His distribut...

Feb152021 by Terrier Spirit26 Comments

My opinion on Phil Hodgkinson’s statement about Huddersfield Town’s finances, transfers and the running of the club

Opinion, Transfers

Last Friday, Huddersfield Town released an article on their website that was written by Phil Hodgkinson, providing details about how the club is currently being run. Here are a few of my thoughts on the things contained within the statement. Click here to read the statement if you haven't seen it yet. Monthly updates Committing to monthly updates is a good idea as it will help with the communication between the club and the fans. Clearly it would have been better to have done this a long time ago but better late than never. I think live Q&As with fans or interviews with the press would be better than releasing prepared statements every month but otherwise it’s a step in the right direction. Talking with fans or the press allows more opportunity for uncomfo...

Feb132021 by Terrier Spirit16 Comments

A relegation battle beckons – Immediate thoughts after Town’s 3-2 defeat to Wycombe

Matches

What an awful result and performance from Town. It's a tough one to take and this game, for me, represents the point where it's almost impossible to ignore the fact we're now in a relegation battle. Town showed the same weaknesses they've been showing all season and allowed a 2-0 lead against the most toothless attacks in the division to slip away and end in defeat. Here are a few of my immediate thoughts on the game. Feel free to leave yours in the comment section below. A great opening half an hour It feels like a distant memory now but Town started this game playing beautiful, free-flowing football that saw us carving out chances with excellent movement and crisp passing in the final third. It was almost unthinkable that things would crumble from this stage and another 6-0...

Feb122021 by Terrier Spirit20 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Wycombe – Injury forces an unlikely choice on the wings

Matches

Huddersfield Town go into the game against Wycombe with an injury ravaged squad that leaves them with around 13 senior players to pick for the eleven starting spots. We found out in the prematch press conference that Rolando Aarons has picked up an inevitable hamstring injury and faces a spell on the sidelines. Thank goodness we upgraded our treatment room as part of the Canalside renovations, we’re certainly getting our money’s worth out of it. Wycombe are tricky opponents in many ways for Town, as beating them would mean very little, given their poor form and lowly league position, but a victory is far from certain given we struggle creatively against defensive teams and tend to be too generous at the back when facing teams that play route-one football. Here’s who I think we’ll s...

Feb72021 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

“He’s doing something daft every week” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with Luton

Matches

Huddersfield Town scraped a point from yesterday’s game against Luton but were far from convincing in a match that featured all the usual flaws we’ve got used to seeing in Town since Christmas. The game finished with Town on top and playing better but there were long spells in this game where Town looked very poor against a disciplined and hard-working Luton team that probably deserved to win more than we deserved a point. It’s hard to feel positive about Town at the moment and judging by the state of Town fans on Twitter at the moment, there is a rising sense of anger among many. This anger seems to be mainly targeted at the board and the chairman rather than the players or the coaches but if this winless run continues that could soon change. Anyway, let’s look at each individual pl...

Feb62021 by Terrier Spirit21 Comments

The return of selection headaches – Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Luton

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Luton later today in a key game for the Terrier's season. A win could steady the ship after our recent poor run, a defeat could spark even more fan outrage after a transfer deadline day which left many fans feeling like the sky was falling in. The good news for this game is that Carlos has some genuine selection headaches after weeks of the team more or less picking itself due to there being so few available senior players. January acquisitions Keogh, Aarons and Holmes are all potential starters and Hogg is due to return from injury too. Here's who I would pick for today's game… Goalkeeper: Schofield Despite Town signing Jayson Somebodyorother on deadline day, we're almost certain to keep Schofield in nets for now. The signing o...

Feb52021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

5 questions that will be answered when Huddersfield Town take on Luton tomorrow

Matches

Huddersfield Town will play Luton tomorrow, hoping to register their first win on the calendar year and break the five game winless run we're on. There's even more pressure on this game as a wide section of the fanbase are feeling dejected after the transfer deadline passed without a new striker being added to the ranks. The official line may be that we're happy with our options up front but the undignified scramble on deadline day to sign any striker with a pulse suggests the club realised, too late, that we do definitely need more backup for Fraizer Campbell. Town's recent poor run has meant we've gone from comfortably midtable to skirting perilously close to the relegation battle (or potentially right in the scrap if games in hand go against us). Here are some of the questions w...

Feb22021 by Terrier Spirit17 Comments

“Dithering could prove costly” – A review of Huddersfield Town’s January Transfer Window

Transfers

The transfer window slammed shut last night and ultimately ended in disappointment for many Town fans who hoped an additional striker would have been added to the ranks. Despite extensive links to a wide variety of forwards none of the rumours materialised into actual signings. From the outside it came across as an unseemly scramble to try and court multiple players that ultimately led to us getting nobody through the door. While this transfer window will be remembered because of our inability to bring in someone to provide competition and support for Fraizer Campbell in the striker role, I thought it would be worth looking at the business we actually managed to conduct. Arrivals - 6 new players coming through the door The disappointment of deadline day makes it easy to forget th...

Feb12021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Transfer rumour roundup – Who might be coming to Huddersfield Town today?

Transfers

The transfer window slams shut tonight at 11pm and many Town fans will be hoping to see some new faces between now and then. But who are Town looking to bring in? Here's a roundup of all the latest rumours involving Huddersfield Town. Lee Gregory from Stoke The 32-year-old striker has struggled at Stoke and has suffered a persistent groin injury, so it's not a huge surprise that this rumour hasn't set pulses racing. However, he's got experience of the Championship and has previously been highly rated. Given that Fraizer Campbell is knocking on in years and Danny Ward is currently plagued by niggling injuries, it makes sense to get in another striker but Gregory doesn't represent the statement of intent many fans are hoping for. On the other hand, our recruitme...