Terrier Spirit

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...

Nov32022 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

A whole season in 90 minutes, Mackem’s quality, injury woes, Town’s youth shines, slow transitions, bleak future – Notes on defeat to Sunderland

Matches

Huddersfield Town stay stuck at the bottom of the table after defeat to Sunderland last night. Injuries and suspension forced them to field a weakened team and despite battling valiantly in horrendous conditions, they were second best against a Sunderland side that weren’t a great deal better than Town but possessed just enough quality to finish us off. More worrying still, after losing Ollie Turton to long-term injury and Tom Lees to injury before this game, we also saw Yuta Nakayama and Ben Jackson both stretchered off, both looking distraught. Hopefully the prognosis will be positive once they get properly checked over but neither injury looks good, which is particularly heartbreaking for Nakayama with the World Cup just around the corner. Here are a few more of my thoughts...

Nov22022 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Sunderland

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Sunderland this evening and will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run to three games. Strangely, it is the first time we have played Sunderland in the league this century, with our only encounter this side of the millennium celebrations coming in a league cup encounter that Town won back in 2003 despite being several leagues below the Mackems at the time. Tonight’s game should be a closely fought encounter with both sides finding themselves in the bottom half of the Championship. After Town’s decent display against Millwall at the weekend though, it’s possible to feel a bit more optimistic about our chances tonight. However, Sorba Thomas will miss the match through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season on Saturday (most have been for o...

Nov12022 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

The Fotheringham Way, shooting boots, towel drama, making Millwall bad & table climbing – notes on Town’s win over Millwall

Matches

Huddersfield Town beat Millwall on Saturday and given it was such a good result for the Terriers, I’m going to write another article to dig into what went on. While there will be better performances for Town this season, there most likely won't be one that comes as more of a surprise as we turned a spell of indifferent form into a decent performance that warranted a win against a team that had won their last four games. The next challenge is for Town to build on their hard-fought draw at Middlesbrough and impressive win against Millwall and turn it into a proper run of good form. If they can do that then they may well pull themselves clear of the relegation zone before the World Cup break comes in a few weeks' time. That would be a lovely pre-Christmas present for fans. But before we get ...

Oct312022 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

“The closest thing we have to a Lewis O’Brien replacement” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s win over Millwall

Matches

After I confidently predictee defeat before the game, regular readers of this blog will have not been surprised to have seen Huddersfield Town’s players make me look silly. On Saturday afternoon Town put in a performance that few saw coming and outplayed Millwall for 90 minutes and came out worthy winners, even if it took a goal that required an outrageous piece of fortune to win the game for the Terriers. While Millwall fans might curse the circumstances that led to the winning goal, few will argue that Town were the better team on the day and, if anything, I think 1-0 flattered the London team and Town really should have converted their dominant spells into a more commanding lead. That minor quibble aside, it was an excellent afternoon’s work for Town, so expect generous scores to f...

Oct292022 by Terrier Spirit19 Comments

Predicted lineup, lost faith in subs, Town old boys, winning ugly, score prediction – Preview of Huddersfield Town v Millwall

Matches

Huddersfield Town start a hectic period of games with a tricky home fixture against Millwall later today. It’s the first of a sequence of five games in 15 days and with Town currently sitting bottom of the league, it’s hard not to see these next few weeks as being absolutely pivotal to Town’s season. If we can pick up a few wins then we can claw ourselves back into contention but if we continue to flounder then we could head into the World Cup break adrift at the bottom of the table. Millwall are having a good season so far, after being tipped to struggle after losing their star player, Jed Wallace, in the summer. They’ve been particularly good recently, having won their last four and are undefeated in five. Whereas Town’s recent form has been faltering at best. Last weekend’s battling...

Oct262022 by Terrier Spirit16 Comments

Why I’m worried about Dean Hoyle putting Huddersfield Town up for sale

News, Opinion

Dean Hoyle announced yesterday that he is going to step back from the day-to-day running of the football club and will look to find someone to buy the club. This news was coupled with the announcement of a new managing director, Dave Baldwin, that will take over the work Dean was doing as the club’s figurehead and who will be in charge of the search for a new buyer of the club. I’ve seen some fans celebrate this news and act as though this can only be a good thing for the club but I’m far less optimistic. While there’s a possibility that things could work out well down the line, I’m a bit concerned. In this article I’ll talk about a few of the things that worry me about this new development… The takeover between Phil and Dean has still not been officially concluded Unless I misse...

Oct232022 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

Bore draw talking points, Boro as bad as Town, a good point, pressure on Fotheringham – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Middlesbrough

Matches

Basketball is a game that is spoiled because there are too many points scored. One team attacks and scores, the other team attacks and scores, then one might miss, then the other scores, over and over. It’s too easy to get the ball in the hoop and scoring isn’t important enough to be meaningful. That’s why football, in my opinion, is more enjoyable to watch, there are far fewer scoring opportunities so goals are far more important and enjoyable when they do get scored. But the downside is that you get occasional games where no goals are scored - like when Town played Middlesbrough yesterday. In fact, if you were going to use this game as an advert for the sport of football you would do little to tempt any neutral into ever watching the sport ever again. It was a dire game which will no...

Oct122022 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Bad starts, lazy trainers, poor Hull, Fotheringham’s boom or bust and Young Guns Part 2 – Notes on Town’s win over Hull

Matches

Huddersfield Town beat Hull on Sunday and now the dust has settled it's easier to see this result for what it was: a good three points against a poor opponent. While Town started the game poorly and had a few shaky moments throughout the game, they unquestionably deserved the win and showed signs of improvement under Mark Fotheringham after a dismal start to the season prior to his arrival. I don't think winning this game means all our problems are over, as many issues that have blighted this season were still evident in this game but there are green shoots of recovery on display now and that gives fans all they ever want… hope. We've seen enough false dawns in the past to not get too carried away but there are early signs that things are improving at Town. Here are a few of my tho...