Terrier Spirit

Aug12022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Credit to Burnley, Schofield’s short honeymoon, old problems, future hope, transfer moves and perspective – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Burnley

Matches

After all the weeks of anticipation, the shine of the new season was quickly worn away in a first half against Burnley which saw Huddersfield Town passed off the park by a team that were supposed to be in the middle of a huge change in philosophy that meant they would be a bit of a mess but in fact they looked calm, composed and full of confidence. Town, despite fielding a starting eleven without a single new signing, looked lost, disjointed and couldn't get out of their own half for long periods of a truly dismal first half. Thankfully the second half offered a little more hope as the coaching team showed a bit of tactical knowhow, the players a bit of fight and the new boys on the bench added the bit of flair we badly missed in the first half. Here are a few of my thou...

Jul302022 by Terrier Spirit13 Comments

“The footballing equivalent of Bez from the Happy Mondays” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley

Matches

Huddersfield Town were played off the park by Burnley in the first half last night but showed a bit of Terrier Spirit in the second half when they fought their way back into the game and at least showed a bit of fight. It wasn’t always pretty to watch from a Town perspective but by the end of the end of the game there were a few positives that could be taken away from the game, though that may not be reflected in some of the player ratings below. So strap yourself in for a pretty brutal first player ratings article of the season… Lee Nicholls - 6 out of 10 Made a decent save shortly after their goal and some other fairly regulation stops. He did, however, get away with a bit of a howler, when he got closed down with the ball at his feet which could have cost us a goal. This had b...

Jul292022 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Burnley tonight

Matches

The day has finally arrived! The start of the new season. Today is a fresh start for a number of other reasons too as both teams have new head coaches tonight and will most likely be fielding a few new players (though for Huddersfield Town they may be on the bench to start with). Both of tonight’s teams hoped to be starting this season in the Premier League but are having to settle for the Championship. Burnley after relegation, Huddersfield Town following a bitter playoff final defeat. Both teams now have to put those disappointments aside, brush themselves down and get ready for a 46-game Championship campaign. How good you were last season does not matter one bit any more and now it’s all about what you can do this season, it’s a fresh start and that’s the beauty of football. ...

Jul282022 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Schofield’s coaching style, new players, five subs, ghost fans, Kompany’s transition – 6 questions about Huddersfield Town v Burnley

Matches

Huddersfield Town and Burnley have got the honour of cutting the ribbon on the new football league season tomorrow night in front of the Sky cameras. In this article I’ll preview some of the potential talking points from the game. Opening day fixtures can be misleading, after a summer of anticipation, their significance can be blown out of proportion and rather than a single result they are often seen as a signifier of how the whole season will go. But in fact they are just one game and because Town are a team in transition it’ll be even harder than usual to draw any kind of conclusions from tomorrow night’s game as they’re most likely going to need a few games to find their feet. Anyway, here are a few of my thoughts about tomorrow night’s game… What kind of head coach wi...

Jul282022 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

We’re doomed! 6 reasons to feel pessimistic about Huddersfield chances this season

Opinion

After getting your hope up with my optimistic preview yesterday, it's time to bring you back down to Earth with a thunk with my pessimistic look ahead to Huddersfield Town's 22/23 Championship season. If you're anything like the typical Town fan you'll feel much more at home among the misery and cynicism anyway. Those rare moments of success feel bewildering and almost threatening, much better the familiar and almost comforting gloom that tends to gather over Town Dan's faces when the subject of our club's fates come up. You don't have to be miserable to be a Town fan but it helps! I'm exaggerating but it does sometimes feel like it's better to expect the worst with Huddersfield Town so then at least it's not a surprise I'd things end badly. While we have had our moments...

Jul272022 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

6 reasons to feel optimistic about Huddersfield Town’s prospects this season

Opinion

We’re just a couple of days away from the new season starting so I thought I’d look ahead to what we have in store. Rather than try to write one balanced season preview article I’ve split my personality in two and written one that is completely miserable and one that is much more positive. This is the happy clappy, pollyanna one, that looks towards the sunny side of the street and tries to squeeze the positives out of our current situation. The negative preview will be out later. As an interesting aside, I’ve done this double preview approach over the last few seasons and the negative article usually gets about twice as many views as the positive one. So the next time you complain about how miserable the media are you should really blame yourself for clicking all that negative bile rat...

Jul262022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Predicted 22/23 Championship table

Opinion

It seems like an act of pointless vanity to try and predict the league table before a ball has been kicked but it’s also a bit of fun and passes the time while we wait for the big kickoff on Friday. So here are my thoughts on what I think will happen in the Championship this season. Feel free to bookmark this post and come back to it in May next year when none of my predictions have come true so you can laugh at me. Then again, by May 2023 the robot uprising may well have taken place and we’ll no doubt look back with teary-eyed nostalgia at the times when we had the opportunity to think about football rather than spend every waking moment working for our robot masters. Anyway, on with the predictions! The top two - Norwich and Middlesbrough Norwich are pretty boring at this...

Jul252022 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Are Huddersfield Town unprepared for the start of the new season?

Opinion

Huddersfield Town concluded their preseason campaign at the weekend with a 4-1 victory at Tranmere Rovers with their second team and a 1-1 draw against Bolton with their, in theory, strongest team - though Bolton’s late equaliser came in the dying moments of the game when nearly half half the senior players had been subbed and replaced by the kids on the bench. Preseasons are notoriously difficult to use as indicators for the prospects for the season ahead but it’s literally all we have to go on until Town play Burnley on Friday of this week, so I thought I’d chew over some of my thoughts about the preseason campaign in general. Too short, not ambitious but probably fine Because Huddersfield Town’s 2021/22 ran for around a month longer than everyone else’s due to our playof...

Jul232022 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Which Huddersfield Town players are in the last year of their contract?

Matches, Player profiles, Transfers

Maybe it’s a bit early to be worrying about it, but a number of Huddersfield Town’s squad are entering into their final year of their contract this season. That means next could see more churn within the squad unless the people behind the scenes at the club are able to tie down key players to new deals. Or, looking at it from another perspective, some players that haven’t done enough or that have reached the twilight of their careers will be allowed to leave so we can recruit better replacements. There’s also the phenomena to consider that I like to call the “Simon Baldry effect” which is when a player that has previously been pretty average suddenly starts playing like a world beater when their contract is a few months away from ending to earn themselves a new deal before reverting ba...

Jul222022 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

There are gaps in Huddersfield Town’s squad – here’s where they are

Transfers

Now we're only one week away from the start of the Championship season open against Burnley in front of the Sky cameras, I thought it might be interesting to see what shape the squad is in. Here's a quick look at how each position in the squad is looking. Goalkeeper NichollsSchofieldBilokapic / Chapman / Bellagambi / Roxburgh Obviously our first choice is superb but then the remaining options are a bit of a worry. It may be one or more of the B Team lads are ready to step up to be the main cover for Nicholls but otherwise we need senior backup before the season starts as Schofield hasn't been seen in preseason. I presume he's not recovered from the injury he had last season but this hasn't been officially confirmed by the club. Right back Ollie Turto...