Terrier Spirit

Nov292017 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

SCOUTING REPORT: Arsenal – Who will play, what do their fans think, and what’s the history?

Matches

Huddersfield Town head to The Emirates to take on Arsenal tonight. Here’s some useful information about Town’s opposition, including Arsenal’s recent form, likely starting XI, fan opinion, and history between the two clubs. Arsenal’s season so far Arsenal have won four of their last five games in the Premier League, Manchester City being the only game they’ve lost in that time. Their last game was a 1-0 win against Burnley at Turf Moor, with Alexis Sanchez scoring the games only goal. While Arsenal are having a pretty decent season so far, I get the impression that fans are frustrated at the lack of progress recently and want to see their team competing for the league title. On top of their almost-but-not-quite league situation, there’s the ongoing drama over Sanchez and Ozil’s expiri...

Nov282017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Big Col’s big chance? – Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Arsenal

Matches

Huddersfield Town face Arsenal in a rare midweek Premier League fixture. The Terriers will hope that they can build on a disciplined performance against Manchester City last weekend, which ended in a 2-1 defeat. Here's my predicted tactics and team selection for the game. The tactics I expect David Wagner will employ similar tactics against Arsenal as he did at the weekend, in a 4-5-1 formation. The back four will be protected by three aggressive defensive midfielders, the wingers will tuck in to protect the fullbacks and the lone striker will have to work on his own for long spells. I can see why neutral fans might not be in love with Wagner’s style of playing against top-six teams. It’s defensive minded and aimed at stopping the opposition from being able to get between the lines. ...

Nov262017 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Huddersfield Town 1-2 Manchester City – TerrierSpirit.com player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Town were unlucky to be defeated 2-1 by the runaway league leaders Manchester City. Ther Terriers produced a spirited and disciplined performance that frustrated City and left them relying on a generous referee and a big slice of luck to get a win. It’s quite tricky to break down the performance into individual scores because it was a great team effort, but I’ll give it a go anyway. Lössl - 8 out of 10 Wasn’t able to play the ball short to the centrebacks as much as he’d have liked because City pressed high up the pitch. However, his distribution was intelligent and mostly well targeted. Made a good safe in the first half but parried the ball into Sterling’s path, thankfully he missed the open goal. Smith - 7 out of 10 A mixed performance in my eyes. At some points he looked to be o...

Nov252017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town v Manchester City – TerrierSpirit.com MATCH PREVIEW

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Manchester City at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday in front of the Sky cameras. It’ll be another chance for Town to test themselves, this time against one of the best footballing teams in the world right now. There’s a possibility that Town could suffer another heavy defeat at City, but equally, we could pull off an historic victory, like we did against Manchester United. I’m going to enjoy the game regardless of the result. Huddersfield Town v Manchester City - Match details Kick-off: 4pm Sunday 26 November 2017 Tickets: Sold out Referee: Craig Pawson - The only Town match he’s refereed before Sunday was our 1-0 victory over Newcastle earlier this season. He booked seven players in that game, so he’s not shy with the yellow cards. Town will have to be c...

Nov252017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town starting 11 to take on Manchester City in the Premier League

Matches

Here’s my predicted lineup for the home game against Manchester City. I think David Wagner will replicate the system that worked so well against Manchester United. This means playing without a typical number 10, and instead having three central midfielders, with Mooy and Williams taking it in turns to roam forward. GK: Jonas Lössl I think this will be one of those games where Lössl plays it safe with his distribution and mostly kicks it long for Depoitre to chase down. His instinct is to play it out from the back, but against City, we can’t afford any mistakes, so route one might be the best option. RB: Florent Hadergjonaj I thought Flo was one of our better players against Bournemouth last week, so deserves to keep his place. He’s also a bit quicker than Tommy Smith, so might stand ...

Nov192017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

What went wrong in the defeat at Bournemouth?

Opinion

This article isn't a witch hunt or a protracted moan about getting beaten 4-0 by Bournemouth. It's meant to be a look at the factors that led to us suffering a heavy defeat against a team we may have beaten on a different day. Key players were injured, suspended, on paternity leave, or jetlagged Before talking about the specifics of the game, it's worth noting we were missing some key players. Schindler has been our best player this season but was suspended following his red card in the West Brom game. Hogg was unavailable because his wife gave birth the night before (this is a completely acceptable reason to miss a day's work in my opinion, and I'm saddened by some of the comments I've seen about it). While Mooy played 90 minutes, he probably shouldn't have after travelling around t...

Nov182017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Bournemouth 4-0 Huddersfield Town – TerrierSpirit.com PLAYER RATINGS

Matches

Town suffered more away day disappointment after losing 4-0 to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. There were some promising signs for Town in the early stages but it was a very disappointing performance, particularly our inability to score despite playing against 10 men for 45 minutes. Here are my player ratings from the game: Jonas Lössl - 6 out of 10 Not at fault for any of the goals, as far as I could see. His distribution wasn't up to his usual standard though and he looked flustered when Bournemouth players closed him down. Florent Hadergjonaj - 6 out of 10 Not a bad performance, made a lot of runs down the right but didn't create any chances. His crossing wasn't great, and he's still building up an understanding with Kachunga. One thing I like about him is that his pace means...

Nov172017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Bournemouth v Huddersfield Town – TerrierSpirit.com MATCH PREVIEW

Matches

After another seemingly endless international break, we’re back to the Premier League this weekend with Huddersfield Town travelling to Bournemouth. The victory against West Brom in Town’s last outing leave them in a strong position in the league and have little pressure on them. Bournemouth beat Newcastle away from home in their last match to pull them out of the relegation zone. That result helps them, but it’s been an unimpressive start to the season for the Cherries. They’ll no doubt target a home tie against Huddersfield as a chance to pick up three points. Bournemouth v Huddersfield Town - Match details Kick off - Saturday 18 November 2017 at the Vitality Stadium Tickets - The rules on away tickets mean Bournemouth only have to offer 10% of their stadium capacity to awa...

Nov42017 by Terrier Spirit15 Comments

Huddersfield Town 1-0 West Brom: TerrierSpirit.com Player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town managed to cling on to a 1-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at the John Smith’s Stadium. A red card for Christopher Schindler meant Town had to play 30 minutes with ten men. It was another excellent team performance and yet another memorable game for the fans. Here are my ratings for each of Town’s players. Nobody had a bad game, and some of them were superb. Lössl - 8 out of 10 Made two vital saves late on to secure the win. Rarely tested otherwise but his distribution was excellent and he commanded his box well. Malone 8 out of 10 Played very high up the pitch and made some great runs. He's more of a threat going forward than Löwe and added something extra to our attacks. I don't know if it was injury or fitness that saw him subbed late on, but it's the secon...

Nov32017 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

MATCH PREVIEW – Huddersfield Town v West Bromwich Albion

Matches

Huddersfield Town continued their rollercoaster season last week, following their impressive victory over Manchester United with a humbling defeat at the hands of Liverpool. The three nil defeat served as a reminder that we aren’t going to have it all our own way in the Premier League. David Wagner copied Mourinho’s example and tried to park the bus against the scousers. The tactic worked in the first half, as we managed to stifle Liverpool and limit their chances to a penalty that Lössl saved. The wheels came off the proverbial bus in the second half when Liverpool upped their attacking tempo and scored three goals against a fairly limp looking Town team. Huddersfield Town v West Brom - Match details Kick-off: 3pm Saturday 2 November 2017 - Another three o’clock kickoff. While it mea...