Terrier Spirit

Jan192018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Stoke away predictions: Tactics, team selection, and scoreline

Matches

Huddersfield Town head to the Potteries to take on Stoke in the Premier League. In a quirk of the fixture scheduling, our second game of the season against Stoke comes three weeks after the first. It’s a big game for both teams, with Stoke welcoming new manager Paul Lambert and Town hoping to bounce back from a recent dip in form. Here are my thoughts about the system Town will play and which players David Wagner will pick for the match. These are my ill-informed opinions, so it’s quite possible we’ll play a completely different team. What formation will Town play against Stoke? The question of formations under David Wagner is generally an easy one to answer. He’s a 4-2-3-1 man, and has built his philosophy around playing in this shape. However, we’ve been consistently caught out ...

Jan142018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Huddersfield Town 1-4 West Ham: Our worst performance of the season so far

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were beaten 4-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium by West Ham, the first team to take six points from us this season. It was a dispiriting performance from Town, where every player fell short of the standard required and the tactics didn’t work. West Ham deserve credit too. Their game plan worked well, exploiting our habit of playing out from the back and getting their best players one on one against our defenders when they attacked. Joe Lolley: from the ridiculous to the sublime Lolley’s performance was the main talking point at half-time for both good and bad reasons. Lössl played the ball out to him when marked and West Ham hustled him out of possession and Mark Noble scored a gift of a goal. The keeper was at fault for a poor pass but Lolley’s touch let him down an...

Jan122018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town v West Ham – Everything you need to know before the game

Matches

Town are back in Premier League action against West Ham, after beating Bolton in the FA Cup last weekend. The game at the John Smith’s Stadium is a chance to put right the 2-0 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium earlier in the season. This is a game that could easily shape the direction of the rest of Town’s season. A win will help us cement our position in mid-table, a defeat will put us closer to the relegation spots with some tough games coming up. West Ham are a team that have underperformed this season and are below Town in the league. However, they’ve got good individual players and will be tough opponents. David Moyes isn’t rated as a manager anymore, but he’s built his career on putting together well-organised teams that are hard to break down. Who will play for Town in...

Jan62018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Bolton away preview: Town set to play second-string in FA Cup

Matches

Town travel to Bolton for the third round of the FA Cup today. I remember when the cup was a relief from the trudge of playing in the league and a chance for glory. This season it’s a distraction. Playing in the Premier League is so entertaining the FA Cup feels a bit like a sideshow. David Wagner has consistently rotated his team for cup games during his time at Town. He argues that he does the same in the league too, but that’s usually two or three players, whereas today it is likely to be somewhere between 9 and 11 players. Goalkeeper: Joel Coleman As I’ve mentioned above, I think there will be wholesale changes for this game. Joel Coleman is confirmed to start in goal, giving Jonas Lössl a day off. From Wagner’s comments, it sounds like he’s chosen Coleman over Rob Green en...

Jan62018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

NEW SIGNING: Terence Kongolo – who is he and how will he fit in at Town?

Player profiles, Transfers

Huddersfield Town have signed Terence Kongolo on loan for the rest of the season from AS Monaco. He moved to Monaco from Feyenoord for £13.5m in the summer but has only played six times so far this season, so is coming to Huddersfield to get regular football. He can play at either centre-back or left-back but has played more games as a central defender in his career. He’s 23 years old and has a handful of caps for Holland. Unfortunately, his loan deal doesn’t include an option to buy at the end. It seems it’s a genuine loan rather than the hire purchase types of deals we’ve done for Lössl and Hadergjonaj where we can buy them at the end. This post will look a bit further into who he is, where he's been and what we can expect from our new loan signing. What does Kongolo bring ...

Jan22018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

PLAYER RATINGS: Leicester 3-0 Huddersfield Town

Matches

Town were beaten 3-0 by Leicester at the King Power Stadium. It was a poor performance from Town, particularly after Mahrez’s opener early in the second-half. Here are my player ratings after another disappointing away day in the Premier League. Lössl - 6 out of 10 I think he could have done better for the second goal, where he committed a bit too early when Slimani was through on goal. Not that it was his fault but he could have made it harder for the opposition by staying on his feet for longer. Löwe - 6 out of 10 Had a tough task in marking Mahrez and mostly did a good job. Sadly wasn’t anywhere near him when he scored his goal though. Wagner said he had a painkilling injection in his foot to play but it now sounds like he could be out for a while. Schindler - 8 out of 10 O...

Jan12018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

PREVIEW: Leicester away – predicted lineup, tactics, and score

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Leicester on New Year's Day at the King Power Stadium. It comes just two days after Town’s 0-0 draw with Burnley and marks the end of the hectic Christmas schedule for Town. Here’s a look forward to Monday’s game… Predicted lineup David Wagner has consistently played weakened teams in the cups since he’s been at Town, so I suspect he’ll pick the best available team for Leicester and a weakened team in the FA Cup next weekend. For Leicester this might mean bringing in fresh legs in some areas but sticking with his mainstays in others. Lössl, Zanka and Schindler should start again. Both fullbacks will switch, as Hadergjonaj went off at half-time against Burnley and Malone had a bit of a stinker. Hogg and Mooy are our two first-choice midfielders but I...

Dec312017 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Huddersfield Town 0-0 Burnley: Talking points and player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town drew 0-0 with Burnley at the John Smith’s Stadium in a hard-fought game that Town were lucky to come out of on level terms. Burnley pummeled Town for long spells in the first half but couldn’t quite make the break through. Below are a few of my thoughts about the game, followed by my player ratings. Burnley out-fought Town in the first half The success Burnley have had this season has confounded a lot of pundits, but it was clear from their display against Town why they’re doing so well. In the Premier League it’s been common for Town to come up against opponents with more skilful individuals but this is the first game I’ve seen a harder working team than Town. Every single Burnley player hustled and bustled, we had no time on the ball and looked a bit stumped...

Dec302017 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Predictions for Town v Burnley – Team selection, tactics, bets, and scoreline

Matches

Huddersfield Town face Burnley at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday. Both teams are doing a lot better this year than expected, so it should be a good game. Here are my predictions for the match: Predicted lineup for the Burnley game This game comes in the middle of Town’s hectic Christmas schedule. David Wagner is likely to have half an eye on the game against Leicester on Monday, as well as seeing who’s still fresh after playing Stoke on Tuesday this week. For this reason, I think Wagner will make a few changes to the starting eleven. As I mentioned in the Stoke preview, Lossl, Zanka, Schindler and Mooy are the hardest players to drop so they may retain their places. I suspect Wagner would prefer to rest at least one of his centrebacks but until Hefele and Stankovic are fit a...

Dec282017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town 1-1 Stoke City – TerrierSpirit.com Player Ratings

Matches

Town had to share the points with the Potters in their Boxing Day encounter at the John Smith’s Stadium. It was a good Town performance and on another day it could have been a victory. Here are my player ratings from the game: Lössl - 9 out of 10 Pulled off a string of amazing saves to keep Stoke out in the first half. One of those saves was 90% over the line before he managed to dig down and stop it going in. His distribution was good, he didn’t make any mistakes I can remember. One of his best performances for Town. Löwe - 7 out of 10 Will be disappointed that his marker got in front of him for Stoke’s goal, but otherwise had a decent game. He supported van La Parra down the left and provided an option out wide. His corner deliveries continue to be excellent too. Schindler - 8 ou...