Terrier Spirit

Apr192021 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

“Thankfully we weren’t punished for his mistakes” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s victory over Nottingham Forest

Matches

Huddersfield Town were deserved leaders at half time after Aaron Rowe put them in the lead. After a nervy start, Town became more dominant as the half wore on and it was their opponents that made an error while passing around at the back which lead to the goal. The win was sealed in the second half when Bacuna's thunderbolt put us two up and ended the game as a contest. While it was far from a perfect performance, it was a significant improvement on recent outings from Town and we were the better team on the day. While relegation isn't completely avoided with this win but it certainly puts us very close to safety. Here are my player ratings for the match… Ryan Schofield - 6 out of 10 A quiet afternoon for the stopper but he did everything asked of...

Apr172021 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

The starting XI Carlos should pick if he’s learned from his mistakes against Bournemouth

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Nottingham Forest this lunchtime in a game that represents a chance to make a significant step towards Championship survival. Nottingham Forest aren't pushovers but we've beaten them once already this season and we have much more to play for as they are all but safe. I'm basing today's predicted lineup on the players I think Carlos should pick, based mostly upon their performances in Tuesday's game against Bournemouth. Many of the starting lineup were outshone by the subs that came on to replace them, so I'd like to see quite a few changes to today's lineup but I have a suspicion that Carlos may choose to stick with the core players he's used most of the season, even those that have underperformed lately. We'll find out at half eleven. Goalkeepe...

Apr172021 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Phil Hodgkinson strikes the right tone in his update but needs to now follow through on his promises

News, Opinion

Because of how our brains work, this article would get more clicks if the title was highly critical of Phil Hodgkinson. But his latest update it was actually a well-judged and informative statement which avoided some of his past mistakes of over promising but still offered some hope to fans. This is an improvement over Mark Devlin's thoroughly depressing recent statements about it taking three to five years for Town to feel capable of competing at the top end of the Championship. Here's a quick summary of what the statement said and some of my thoughts on it… What was actually said in the statement? Of course your best bet is to read the full statement on the club's website but here's a bullet point summary of what was said: Effusive praise for people who bought season ticke...

Apr142021 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

“He seems to have given up” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Bournemouth

Matches

While defeat was fully expected against Bournemouth, it still hurts to see a team that are literally playing for their livelihoods surrender so meekly as Town did in the first half last night. The early stages of the second half saw the worst performing players subbed out and a small but significant improvement was apparent from the rejigged team. Bournemouth were pretty comfortable despite Hogg's headed goal that brought us within a goal of them. For all the improvements in the second half, we couldn't find an equaliser despite some promising play at times. I have a feeling my view of this game may be out of step with many fans, as I was fairly happy with the second half and even in the first half I thought many players were doing okay. Though a few were diabolically b...

Apr132021 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

The big change to Huddersfield Town season cards that was tucked away in the FAQs

News, Opinion

Yesterday, Huddersfield Town released the details of their season cards for next season. There were few surprises and very little to criticise as existing season card holders had their price frozen as promised and people that didn't have a 20/21 season ticket only have to pay an extra £50 (working off adult prices). The age bands were adjusted in a sensible way to smooth the transition from child to adult with a new Under 23 bracket. I love to grumble about the way the club is run but it all seemed fair enough to me and we must surely continue to be among the cheapest Championship clubs to watch. The most interesting news released yesterday, to me at least, was a fairly major change to how the practicalities of season cards will work for most fans next season. Unless you arrange ...

Apr132021 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Bournemouth

Matches

In George R. Romero's zombie film, Dawn of the Dead, he depicted zombies returning to a shopping mall because their consumer instincts were so hard-wired into them that they still shuffled around the aisles even though they were technically dead. I shall be returning to the Town website to watch tonight's stream of the game against Bournemouth in a similar fashion. Not because I expect to be entertained or see my team triumph but out of muscle memory and grim routine. If that bleak intro didn't tip you off, I'm not feeling optimistic about Town's prospects tonight. In fact, you can probably find literally hundreds of better things to do with your time rather than watch Town this evening. Suchas organising your underpants by colour, staring at the wall or watching the soaps. All those ...

Apr112021 by Terrier Spirit13 Comments

“Sloppy and didn’t create enough” Huddersfield Town player ratings following their dismal draw with Rotherham

Matches

Huddersfield Town were incredibly lucky to come away from their game against Rotherham with a point. A couple of sitters were missed, Ryan Schofield made some lovely saves and the ref denied them a clear penalty. While Town haven’t always had their share of luck this season, it may be that we were saving it all up for this game. Town conceded seven fewer goals in this game than on Tuesday night, so that’s some progress but the quality of the football suggests that we may have to be patient as Town slowly inch their way to safety. Here’s what I made of the individual performances in this game. Ryan Schofield - 8 out of 10 Made at least one excellent save and two or three others that were bordering on excellent too. He also just about did enough to deal with the aerial thr...

Apr102021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Rotherham

Matches

This is it! The big one! The most important game of the season so far for Carlos Corberán and his (occasionally) tricky Terriers. Today's game against Rotherham is a chance for Town to put some breathing space between us and the bottom three. But Rotherham will be desperate to get the three points themselves, to help with their survival struggle and to pull Town back into the scrap at the bottom. There's additional significance to this game due to the fact Town are coming off the back of their worst defeat for decades after Tuesday's 7-0 spanking from Norwich. The team selection for that game was seen as a major part of why it went so wrong. Here's the lineup I think Carlos will go for today… Goalkeeper: Ryan Schofield Illness ruled Schofield out at the last minute ag...

Apr92021 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

5 lessons Carlos Corberán needs to learn from the 7-0 drubbing

Matches, Opinion

It’s been a couple of days since Town were rigorously and repeatedly violated by Norwich and it’s still a painful memory. While some fans have been left numb to Town’s struggles this season due to not being physically in the stadia, this result hurt as much as any whipping I’ve witnessed from the stands. It’s popular to try and frame horrible experiences as opportunities for learning and growth. I’m thinking of that time Noriwch got hammered 7-1 by Colchester on the opening day of the season before going on to romp their way to League One promotion. While such a turnaround isn’t possible for Town after their humbling defeat, there are some lessons that Carlos can (and should) learn from Tuesday night. Lewis O'Brien is not a leftback On paper, O'Brien should be a decent makeshift ...

Apr72021 by Terrier Spirit21 Comments

A rant about Huddersfield Town’s 7-0 humiliation against Norwich

Matches

Huddersfield Town were humiliated by Norwich last night in a 7-0 drubbing which was every bit as bad for Town as the scoreline suggests. The heaviest defeat Town have suffered since the infamous 10-1 game against Man City was painful to watch. In a season of ups and downs this performance revealed just how far away from the required standard Town currently are. While I'm sure most fans won't want to spend too much time thinking about last night's sustained and complete annihilation of Town's defence, here are a few of my thoughts on the game. Credit to Norwich Even through my blue and white tinted specs it was impossible to ignore that Norwich played excellently. As much as we allowed them the space, they exploited it ruthlessly with their dynamic movement an...