Terrier Spirit

Dec292022 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Why was Sorba Thomas dropped?, Diarra the difference maker, the change that improved Rudoni and is Fotheringham actually quite good? – Notes on the win at Preston

Matches

I appreciate this post-Preston game blog is a bit late, given we’re playing Rotherham tonight but I’ve been struck down with the bug that’s going round, so I’ve got behind on things. The win at Preston was huge, not least because it was the first time we’d won there in around 500 years (my zero key got stuck but it feels about right). The three points also mean we can now imagine a world where we’re not stuck at the bottom of the table and things don’t feel quite so miserable. Or at least they don’t for me, because I have an unfathomable tendency towards optimism when it comes to Huddersfield Town, despite years of evidence where events have played out the other way. Anyway, here’s my look back at the Preston game…. if I get the chance I’ll do a team prediction for tonig...

Dec202022 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

Pretendance, Watford’s weird tactics, bleak future, gulf in quality – Notes on Town’s loss to the Hornets

Matches

There have been a few days for the dust to settle on Saturday’s defeat to Watford and it still hurts. Even though it was one of the division’s better teams and Town played relatively well in patches, we still looked completely toothless and struggled to lay a glove on our opponent. The post-match reaction that I’ve seen makes me think that other fans may have taken the defeat harder than me but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. With off the pitch issues looking almost as bleak as the results on the pitch, it’s not a great time to be a Town fan. But things can turn around quickly in football (it’s only seven months since we were two denied VAR decisions from a place in the Premier League). Here are a few of my thoughts on Saturday’s game. A positive start sq...

Dec192022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

“His killer instinct has abandoned him and his time at Huddersfield is up” Player ratings for Town’s defeat to Watford

Matches

Town were well beaten in the end by Watford, although they put up a decent fight for at least half an hour they ultimately couldn't cope with the quality, strength and speed of their opponent. It wasn't a complete hammering but the scoreline perhaps flatters Town as Watford has a clear penalty shout turned down in the first half and spurned some glorious scoring opportunities. It wasn't all gloom though, as Town showed some nice moments against a strong opponent that hints at the possibility that we might look a bit better when we're up against teams with fewer superstar (for the Championship) players. Here are my ratings for each individual player in yesterday's game. Lee Nicholls - 8 out of 10 Stopped what looked like a certain goal as well as pulling off some other mo...

Dec172022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Watford (and other preview bits)

Matches

I didn't write about last weekend's game as I watched it on my phone on an iffy 4g connection on the train, so I didn't have the best perspective from which to judge the action. So this game marks the blog's return to action after the World Cup hiatus. Town sit bottom of the table and in desperate need of points or they risk being cut adrift from those above them on the table. Yet it isn't likely to be easy to get them today against a team that are so far above them in the table. Here’s my preview of the game… Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Watford Fozzy Bear’s hands are tied somewhat for his selection today, as apparently he shouldn’t have played Hoggy as much as he did last weekend, so he won’t yet be ready to start today. The same can be said for the man-mo...

Nov142022 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

Passed to death, revealing xG stats, the table is weird and getting the World Cup break right – notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Swansea

Matches

Wins are always happy occasions, even if you have to win ugly, it’s always nice to take three points. Defeats are never nice, even if you play well and lose valiantly, you’ve still tasted failure and that’s hard to take. Draws are awkward though as you have to make up a story to go along with the point that you take away from the game. So some Town fans will have come away from the game against Swansea feeling happy about a battling performance where our injury ravaged side took a point from one of the league’s better teams and “on another day” (Fotheringham’s favourite post-match line) we could have taken all three. But other Town fans will have walked out of the stadium feeling frustrated at our lack of ambition and cutting edge in the final third, bemoaning how readily we allowed t...

Nov122022 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup, what to expect from Swansea and score prediction for today’s game

Matches

Huddersfield Town have their last game for a month today, as they host Swansea City at the John Smith’s Stadium. They will be hoping to put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season after Josh Ruffels' brace proved enough to come away with three points against QPR on Tuesday night. Victory today can’t pull Town out of the relegation zone but it can help them to finish this part of the season on a positive note and put leave with more than one point per game so far this season, which is usually enough to keep you up. Here’s my preview of today’s game… Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup There are some tough calls for Mark Fotheringham to make for today’s game. He’s already confirmed that Tom Lees will come straight back into the team now he’s back fro...

Nov92022 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

The Josh Ruffels finishing school, understudies shine, QPR poor, goal dissected – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s first away win of the season

Matches

When Danny Ward spurned a presentable chance in the opening seconds of last night’s game and then QPR went straight up the other end and scored the opening goal it felt like it was going to be a long night for Town. And then it suddenly wasn’t. The script of recent weeks was torn up and instead of Town playing well but ultimately losing, they got their noses in front and then hung on until the final whistle. It wasn’t always pretty but Town deserved the three points for showing the character and nerve to dig in and resist relentless pressure from QPR. The second half was hard to watch from a Town perspective as we went long periods without meaningful possession but we stuck to our task and came away with three vital points and a renewed sense of hope. Here are a few of my thoughts o...

Nov72022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Which loan players might Huddersfield Town recall in January?

Opinion, Transfers

Huddersfield Town are currently bottom of the league, riddled with injuries and looking League One in the face. As the club is currently up for sale it seems unlikely there will be a large war chest available for new blood in January, so another potential source of fresh faces could be to recall some of our youngsters who are currently out on loan. I thought it might be interesting to take a look to see which of the crop of loanees might be interesting to Mark Fotheringham, based on a combination of their stats for their loans so far and the gaps in the current Town squad. Here’s what I’ve found out… Ryan Schofield On loan at: Hibs Level: SPL Games played: 0 WhoScored.com average rating: N/A Stats: Number of times he’s warmed the bench: 9 He was sign...

Nov62022 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Trying to find positives, goal drought, Fotheringham’s tunnel exit, mounting pressure and looking ahead – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Blackburn

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost 1-0 to Blackburn yesterday afternoon in a game that was frustratingly similar to their recent outings, where they actually played pretty well for long spells of the game but a lack of cutting edge up front and a momentary lapse at the back meant they left Ewood Park empty handed. There’s no point talking about what Town deserved or not from this game because you only win games by scoring goals and Town’s players are currently showing a complete inability to get the ball into the back of the net and it’s causing us a great deal of pain at the moment and could ultimately cost us our place in the Championship. But yet, we went away from home with a weakened team and went toe-to-toe with one of the division’s best teams for 90 minutes and looked pretty...

Nov52022 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Predicted lineup and preview for Huddersfield Town’s trip to Blackburn

Matches

Huddersfield Town’s hectic pre-World Cup fixture run continues later today when they take the short journey over the Pennines to play near-neighbours, Blackburn. This War of the Roses clash sees our Lancastrian foes come into the game in better form than Town, sitting in second in the table compared to our bottom position. Add to that the fact that Town are currently ravaged by injuries and it’s hard to be too optimistic for this game. But there were still glimmers of hope in Town’s defeat to Sunderland on Wednesday night. Despite still lacking cutting edge in front of goal, Town fought hard and had spells where they played some nice football. The youngsters that stepped up to fill the gaps created by injured senior players also did well too. Sadly, the games key moments were really decid...