Terrier Spirit

Oct62020 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

A Hudersfield Town fan’s perspective on Chris Willock signing for QPR

Transfers

Last night QPR signed Chris Willock from Benfica for a fee believed to be in the region of 750,000. Huddersfield Town had been linked with the winger earlier in the transfer window but the deal was alleged to have broken down after failing to agree personal terms with the player. Chris Willock spent the second half of last season on loan at Huddersfield Town and scored one of the crucial goals in our season-salvaging victory over West Brom in our penultimate game. Here are a few of my thoughts on Town losing out on Willock to a Championship rival. How did Willock do during his loan spell at Huddersfield Town? Chris Willock arrived at Huddersfield Town lacking match fitness after his loan at West Brom was prematurely ended because he wasn’t getting any game time. He looked rusty and was ...

Oct42020 by Terrier Spirit17 Comments

Giants, a weak bench, Naby’s magic wand, fluffed lines, moaners and happy clappers – Rotherham reactions

Matches, Opinion

Town earned a draw in the dying moments of yesterday’s game against a resolute Rotherham side. It was a game that Town could, and perhaps should, have won but there were still plenty of positives to take from the game. Problems in front of goal persist but Carlos Corberán’s tactics are producing some eye-catching football at times. Here are a few of my thoughts from this game, in no particular order or logical structure... Land of the giants! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a tall and strong team before. At set pieces it looked like David and Golliath when Hoggy was battling in the air with a towering Rotherham player. My initial thought was to bemoan how our taller players hadn’t picked up the big guy, then I looked at the other players in the box and every Rotherham player seemed to...

Oct42020 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

“Weak and ineffective” – Player ratings from Huddersfield Town’s draw with Rotherham

Matches

Huddersfield Town drew with Rotherham yesterday thanks to a last gasp equaliser that was deflected into the goal from a shot that was going harmlessly wide. It was a piece of good fortune that was earned by a second half of sustained pressure on Rotherham’s back line despite the final cutting edge still proving elusive for Huddersfield Town. This was a decent point and an even better performance from Town against a Rotherham side that were limited but effective. Here are my ratings for each Town player yesterday. Ben Hamer - 7 out of 10 It’s hard to rate him any better than a seven when he had so little work to do. Rotherham’s goal came from a good strike from distance which very few keepers would have been able to keep out. The only other threat was a regulation save at a comfortable h...

Oct32020 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Rotherham

Matches

Carlos Corberán will be hoping to build on last weekend's first win of his tenure with another good performance at Rotherham later today. The Yorkshire derby will be Town's final game before the international break so we'll have a fortnight to wait after this game before we see Town on action again. There are a few selection headaches facing Corberán as more of his squad become available to him. Here's how I think Town will line up. Goalkeeper: Hamer After a brilliant performance last weekend there is no doubt that Hamer deserves to keep his place in goals. The two saves he made in the first half against Forest gave Town the platform to push on and win the game. Hamer was refreshingly honest after the game and admitted that his previous form at Town hadn't been good enough. Last week h...

Oct22020 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Ex-Town boss does Alan Partridge style corporate gig

News

Danny Cowley was Huddersfield Town manager until he was unceremoniously sacked a couple of days after guiding Town to Championship safety last July. Now he's doing corporate gigs for ScrewFix Direct. Cowley answered some heavily curated questions taken from fans on Twitter and then played a couple of slightly cringe-inducing games involving the ScrewFix catalogue, some ping pong balls and mugs. Did Danny Cowley reveal anything in the Q&A section about his time at Town? In short, no. Despite there being plenty of probing questions on Twitter from Town fans about Cowley's Huddersfield Town career, they didn't make the cut and the questions didn't get any harder than "who were the best fans at the clubs you've managed" (he gave a diplomatic non-answer where he complimented all the fans...

Oct22020 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

How do the double transfer deadline days this season affect Huddersfield Town’s transfer dealings?

Transfers

This transfer window is a bit different this season due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Rather than having a single deadline there are actually two, one that affects dealings with clubs abroad and one for domestic deals. It’s not all that complicated but it’s definitely different to the usual deadline situation. Here’s a quick summary of what the rules are for the upcoming deadlines and how it could affect Huddersfield Town and their ongoing transfer business. Next Monday’s deadline - Monday 5 October 2020 Monday’s deadline is the last day for Premier League clubs to do deals with other Premier League clubs and those abroad. So it will mean top-flight teams in England will only be able to buy, sell and loan players with clubs from the leagues below them in England. EFL teams ...

Oct12020 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

What is Carlosball?

Tactics

This quick answer is that Carlosball is the brand of football that Carlos Corberán is seeking to implement at Huddersfield Town. It's very similar to Bielsaball at Leeds but with a few embellishments to fit with Corberán's style. We're still in the very early stages of Carlos Corberán's Huddersfield Town reign but there are already clear signs of how he wants football to be played by his team. It’s possible that more will become clear about how he wants to play as we get further into the season, but here is what I’ve observed about the new approach from his first few games in charge. Man marking The concept of man marking isn't exactly new but the lengths this is taken to by this new-look Town is genuinely surprising. Players pop up all over the pitch to track their man, which looks wei...

Sep292020 by Terrier Spirit18 Comments

The Karlan Grant to West Brom saga – A Huddersfield Town fan’s perspective

Transfers

Karlan Grant has been linked with a move away from Huddersfield Town since almost the moment he arrived at the club. He was signed in the January transfer window of the season we were relegated and it was immediately clear that he was one of the very few players in our squad at the time that deserved to be playing at that level. The low-level rumours of him wanting to move back to the top-flight have been there since summer 2019 but this desire was confirmed by the club early this summer, making it almost certain he would be on his way out of the door if an acceptable offer came in. For the last month or so there have been persistent rumours that a deal has been close between Hudderfield Town, West Brom and Karlan Grant but it has not yet got over the line. The speculation about the tran...

Sep262020 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Huddersfield Town 1-0 Forest – Player ratings – An unexpected man of the match

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town won their first game of the season last night in a one nil victory over Nottingham Forest. It was a well-deserved win and the best performance we’ve seen under Town’s new Head Coach, Carlos Corberán. There were still plenty of areas to improve upon but there was a clearer sense of the new identity Town are striving for in this game. There were a number of individual performances that stood out, including some players that have received a fair amount of criticism. It’s so nice to be able to sing the praises of Huddersfield Town players for a change! With that in mind, here are my player ratings. Ben Hamer - 9 out of 10 (Man of the match) Made a couple of stunning saves that kept Huddersfield Town in the game in the first half. Knowing how much conceding goals aff...

Sep252020 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town starting XI for tonight’s game against Forest

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town play Nottingham Forest tonight in a game they hope will lead to their first goal and points of the season. Forest haven't had a great start to the season either but have some quality players in their squad that could hurt Town if we let them. The team selection tonight presents Carlos Corberán with some tricky choices. In previous weeks he’s only had twelve or thirteen senior players available to pick from and then made the squad up with youngsters. With new arrivals becoming available and existing players returning from injury there is a bit more to choose from tonight. Goalkeeper: Hamer I saw a poll during the week that showed most fans would prefer to see Pereira start tonight instead of Hamer. I personally disagree. For all his flaws, Hamer has been given the role ...