Terrier Spirit

Feb122018 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Crushed Cherries – Talking points from Town’s victory over Bournemouth

Matches

Just when it seemed like Huddersfield Town’s Premier League losing streak was going to run on forever, we pulled off a fabulous performance with a resounding victory against Bournemouth. Here are some of the things that stood out from the game. Wagner unleashed the dogs Obviously, we desperately needed points to get us out of the relegation zone, but the manner of the victory was more important than the result. This wasn’t a “low block”, backs to the wall performance. We played the attacking football that got us promoted to the Premier League in the first place and it worked a treat. The change in approach was obvious on Sunday, compared to the defensive systems we’ve used against Liverpool and Manchester United recently. We also showed more desire, creativity, and commitment than in th...

Feb122018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

PLAYER RATINGS: Huddersfield Town 4-1 Bournemouth

Matches

We’re back! After a long wait, Town returned to winning ways with a fine performance over Bournemouth. More pleasing than the result was the manner in which we achieved it. The “Terrier Identity” was back, with aggressive pressing and attacking intent. It’s a pleasure to write these player rating articles after this kind of performance because there were so many players that played well. After widespread underperformance for quite a while, it’s good to see so many putting in a decent shift. Jonas Lössl - 7 out of 10 Didn’t have that much work to do, as we limited Bournemouth’s chances. It’s hard to blame him for their goal, as Stanislas had time to steady himself and pick his shot from close range. His distribution was good and he helped us to keep possession and build up our atta...

Feb52018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

5 positives from the defeat to Manchester United

Matches

Town suffered their fifth consecutive defeat against Manchester United last Saturday, stretching the winless run to eight games. While most fans expected we’d experience tough spells like this, it’s still hard to watch us getting beaten every week. There are some positives to take from our recent games though. Liverpool and Manchester United were always strong favourites to beat us, but there are some things to draw from these matches which show signs of recovery. We’ve cut out sloppy mistakes In the losses to Stoke and West Ham, we made some pretty silly errors, some leading to goals. Playing the ball out from the back and being sloppy with possession in our own half was making it easy for teams to exploit mistakes and score from the breakdown of our attacking moves. While Tow...

Feb42018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Manchester United 2-0 Huddersfield Town – Player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town fell to a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. It started out as a solid defensive display but Town struggled to find a response after they went behind. It was always going to be hard to get anything from this game, but I think there were signs of improvement in Town’s performance. Here are my player ratings from the match. Jonas Lössl - 8 out of 10 Made some good saves, including the penalty from Sanchez. It was unfortunate that the ball ricocheted off his body and straight out to the penalty taker. He played safe with his kicking, which was the right choice under the circumstances. Terence Kongolo - 8 out of 10 We probably should have conceded a penalty for his brutal slam into McTominay in the first half, but I enjoyed seeing how committed he was...

Feb22018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup for Manchester United away

Matches

Huddersfield Town travel to Old Trafford in poor form, perilously close to the relegation zone, and very low on confidence. Despite the doom and gloom, I think we've got a better chance against Manchester United than the bookies predict. Don't forget they wrote us off in the home game, where Town beat Man United 2-1. Here the lineup I think David Wagner will pick to get a result from the Manchester United game. Formation: 5-3-2 Despite losing 3-0 to Liverpool playing with three centre-backs on Tuesday night I think David Wagner will have seen enough positives to try it again. The new shape meant there weren't too many gaps to exploit and Liverpool's attacking threat was limited. That might sound strange when they scored three but our defence was mostly well-disciplined and closed d...

Feb22018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

PLAYER RATINGS: Huddersfield Town 0-3 Liverpool

Matches

Huddersfield Town were outclassed by Liverpool in a Premier League mismatch that continued our poor run of results. I thought there were a few encouraging signs in Town's performance but we were a long way short of the standard required to get points against top Premier League teams. Lössl - 6 out of 10 Unlucky with the deflection for the opener but shouldn't have left his near post open for the second goal. Löwe - 7 out of 10 Limited Salah’s opportunities to get into space and run at us. Offered very little going forward apart from the excellent cross for Depoitre early in the game. Kongolo - 7 out of 10 Made some excellent clearances and looked composed despite having to soak up a lot of pressure. Schindler - 8 out 10 Seems to suit being in the middle of a back three. Very...

Jan302018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

PREVIEW: Town v Liverpool -What can we expect?

Matches

Town host Liverpool in the Premier League tonight. When the implications of Town’s playoff victory were settling in last May I was thinking about this sort of game, and it still seems unbelievable. While our recent form isn’t much to shout about, the fact we’re playing against Liverpool in a league game in our stadium is something special. I can’t wait to watch it. Time to experiment with three at the back? David Wagner has played a 4-5-1 system against the top-six teams in the games since we lost to Spurs using the more open 4-2-3-1 shape. I think the Liverpool game might be the time to experiment with three centre-backs. Terence Kongolo was one of the few players to emerge from the draw against Birmingham with any credit, so he deserves a chance to play in a back three. Addin...

Jan272018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

MATCH PREVIEW – Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City

Matches

Town are experiencing a tough time in the Premier League, so this weekend’s visit of Birmingham City in the FA Cup is a welcome respite. While managers like to pay lip service to the "magic of the cup", we’re likely to see wholesale changes from David Wagner. Rotation policy This won’t be the first time that Wagner has rotated his players for a game against Birmingham. Last season’s away game in the Championship came shortly before our playoff games, and Wagner changed the bulk of the team to rest his best players. Much to Blackburn fans displeasure, who went down instead of Birmingham, in part because our reserves were soundly beaten by Birmingham. David Wagner, quite frankly, doesn’t care about criticism though. His desire to play a high-pressing game and his background in sports sc...

Jan212018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Town beaten 2-0 by Stoke – THE INQUEST

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town related social media streams are filling up with overreactions and dramatic statements like a music festival toilet that’s not been emptied all weekend. In both cases, the result is unpleasant and creates a stink. It understandable that the most volatile Town fans would take our 2-0 defeat badly. The cataclysmic premonitions rippling through Facebook, Twitter, and Down at the Mac suggest we’re not going to get another point all season and are doomed to relegation already. While it’s not quite THAT bad, things are fairly grim at Town right now. We’ve not won since mid-December and our next two league games are against Liverpool and Manchester United. Town under David Wagner have consistently recovered from bad spells though, so I think we need to keep some perspectiv...

Jan212018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Stoke 2-0 Huddersfield Town – TerrierSpirit.com Player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of fellow relegation strugglers, Stoke City. Our third consecutive defeat in the league was as bad or worse than the West Ham and Leicester games. We were comprehensively outplayed and struggled to get a foothold in the game. It’s not going to be pretty, but here are my player ratings from the game... Lössl - 6 out of 10 Following his poor short pass leading to a goal last week, he played it much safer with his kicking. While this was something many fans have been calling for, it meant we struggled to get time on the ball and couldn't build up from the back. He did make a great reflex save against Shaqiri just before half-time. But I think he went down too early for Diouf’s goal, making it easier for the Stoke man to sco...