Terrier Spirit

Aug92024 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Peterborough United

Matches

Technically speaking, there wasn't a break in the football this summer, as the Euros conveniently overlapped with the start of Huddersfield Town's preseason friendlies. But even so, international tournaments and preseason friendlies are really only the equivalent of methadone to the proper football fix that club football brings, or at least that's how I feel. So it feels like it's been forever since Town left the Championship with a whimper and hopefully between the start of May and the middle of August, Town had changed from a dreadful Championship team to a top League One team. We don't know if that's the case yet but the beauty of being a football fan is that a few weeks away from watching games washes away the weariness of a relegation season and a new sense of optimism can seep in.&n...

Aug82024 by Terrier Spirit21 Comments

We’re doomed! A pessimistic Huddersfield Town season preview

Opinion

I like to split my season previews into two and write a pessimistic and optimsitic version. I've already published the optimistic version, so you can click over and read that one if you were born on the sunny side of the street. Otherwise, if you'd prefer to dwell on the more concerning omens about the season ahead, strap yourself in for my pitch black preview of the coming season. Before I get started, I'd like to say that this year's negative preview has been harder to write than in previous seasons, as my genuine feelings towards Town are pretty positive right now despite our relegation. So while there may be some truth in the ideas expressed below, I'm actually not nearly as negative as this article might suggest. My real feelings are probably a mixture of the positive and negative...

Aug82024 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

The glass IS half full – A positive season preview for Huddersfield Town

Opinion

As has become a tradition on this blog, I'm dividing my Huddersfield Town season preview into two halves, one dwelling on the negatives and another talking up the positives. It's always impossible to know before a season starts which way things are going to go, so I find splitting myself in two and pouring all my hopes into one article and fears into another makes it easier to write these things. Typically, the pessimistic article is both easier to write and gets around double the clicks from Town fans too. This season might be a bit different though, as personally, I'm not feeling the usual creeping dread about the coming season, instead I've an unusual and unfamiliar feeling, which I think might be a vague sense of optimsim. It's the hope that kills you, as the saying goes! So, here'...

Aug52024 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

Selection shows recruitment needs, putting Blades to the sword, new boys shine – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s friendly draw against Sheffield United

Matches

The stadium looking very smart after it's summer refurb (all the home fans were in the Riverside and away fans in the South Stand - I promise it wasn't empty!) Huddersfield Town completed their preseason fixtures with a decent 1-1 draw against Sheffield United on Friday night. The first half was impressive and the second half was more of a mixed bag but overall it was a good showing against a team that were in the Premier League last season and will most likely compete at the top end of the Championship in the season to come. While preseason is often a poor predictor of how a new season is going to pan out, this final game caps off an impressive start to Michael Duff's first few weeks in charge at Town and he seems to be doing everything right so far. The first proper test wil...

Aug12024 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

Overthinking Huddersfield Town’s squad numbers – who might leave, the new leadership group and theories about what the numbers might mean

News

Huddersfield Town announced their squad numbers for the 24/25 season yesterday and if you’re the kind of person who likes to scrutinise lists of numbers and names to try and find hidden meanings then this sort of thing will be right up your street. Obviously, squad numbers are relatively meaningless these days but then again, it was probably fairly significant to the handful of players that didn't receive a squad number at all. There was also some information about a new leadership group for the coming season which provided some hints at some players that maybe aren't expected to be around for much longer. So I'll speculate about that stuff too. Shirt numbers and leadership group for Huddersfield Town 24/25 Here are this season's squad numbers: 1 - Lee Nicholls ...

Jul262024 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

Town tighten up, Koroma & Wiles shine, Thomas exit looms, new signings needed – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 victory over Hertha Berlin

Matches

Huddersfield Town put in a very solid display against Hertha Berlin yesterday in their 2-1 victory. While results aren't all that important in preseason friendlies, it was reassuring to see the frailties that were exposed in the game against Aris Limasso shored up in this game and Town were much more solid despite coming up against a high-quality opponent. In this article I'll take a look at what this game might have shown us about Huddersfield Town, as we get ever closer to the start of the season. I think Michael Duff showed a slightly different side to how he could set Town up in this game, which was a bit less exciting but was reassuring too as it showed some flexibility and pragmatism. Town were deserved winners in the end, with Hertha Berlin struggling to break Tow...

Jul232024 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

Avoidable goals, moments of quality, sluggish selection & vulnerabilities exposed – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 4-2 loss to Aris Limassol

Matches

Huddersfield Town fell to their first defeat of their preseason yesterday when they lost 4-2 to Aris Limassol in Austria. While obviously we all know that the results of friendlies aren't all that important, someone needs to tell that to Michael Duff's face, as he was clearly unhappy in his post-match interview with the club's media team. He was frustrated with the goals the team conceded and the performances levels though offered some insight into why Town didn't reach the levels we might have expected. Aris Limassol were a decent opponent. Being a top Cypriot team doesn't sound like much to brag about but they actually were a very decent team and looking back on their recent history shows they played Rangers in Europe last season and beat them at home and drew away with them. So goin...

Jul212024 by Terrier Spirit21 Comments

Huddersfield Town’s Austria squad: who are the winners and losers?

Opinion

Photo by Brian de Karma on Pexels.com Huddersfield Town have arrived in Austria for their nine-day pre-season trip to Austria. The club have been keen to emphasise this trip to a spa resort will not be particularly relaxing for the playing staff that are out in the Austrian mountains, as they will be subjecting to a gruelling routine of double training sessions and psychological torment* (*they didn’t actually mention anything about psychological torment, I just inferred that from the context of the article). Michael Duff has made some ruthless decisions in selecting his 27-man squad to take to Austria. In doing so, it’s the first clear indication of which players have impressed him so far in preseason and which ones are unlikely to be in his plans for the coming season. In t...

Jul152024 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

Battle of the HTAFCs – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-2 friendly win against Harrogate Town

Matches

Huddersfield Town notched up their third preseason victory on Saturday with a 3-2 victory over Harrogate Town in a friendly win that was far more one sided than the scoreline suggests. Town played some decent football and showed some glimmers of real quality and structure alongside the usual preseason clunkiness that you expect in these games. The positive afternoon's work was marred by the late injury to Radinio Balker, who was stretchered off after going down awkwardly as he tidied up a loose ball. As we've seen in the previous two friendlies, there were wholesale changes to the team in this match, with a completely different eleven coming out in the second half. Hopefully we'll soon see players going beyond 45 minutes in a game but in the time the players had on the pitch, I t...

Jul82024 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Michael Duff’s system starts to take shape – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 7-0 friendly win at Guiseley

Matches

Huddersfield Town had another emphatic friendly win on Saturday, brushing aside Guiseley 7-0 in their second warm up game of the preseason after beating Emley 5-0 last weeekend. Obviously the result was secondary but the game provided a reasonable workout for the Terriers and a step up in exertion, as the first teamers played a full half of football each, having only played for 30 minutes a piece last weekend. There were some signs of Michael Duff's tactical work starting to bed in with the team too and the positions and attacking shapes seemed to be following a particular plan which I suspect we'll see a lot more of in the season to come. In this article I'll wring whatever talking points I can from a game where we battered a team that are several steps below us i...