Terrier Spirit

Oct302023 by Terrier Spirit16 Comments

“Absolutely eviscerated” – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 4-1 defeat to Leeds

Matches

Huddersfield Town were completely blown off the park by their noisy neighbours at Elland Road on Saturday lunchtime. While it would be nice to reach for some sort of excuse to try to disguise the pain of being beaten by our near-by rivals, we were comprehensively outplayed by the better team. I'd even go as far as to say Leeds weren't even the better team on the day but quite obviously a higher quality team and would beat the team Town put out on almost any day. You could potentially reach for the consolation that Town won the second half, as Helik scored and Leeds failed to add to the four goals they put past Nicholls in the first half but you'd be kidding yourself if you thought that meant anything. While Town showed slightly better organisation and weren't quite so wide open i...

Oct232023 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Can you have a bad win?, Rudoni & Helik keep improving, QPR self-sabotage, nerdy keeper stats, square pegs-round holes – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 victory over QPR

Matches

Darren Moore notched his first win of his Huddersfield Town tenure on Saturday by overcoming a spirited but misfiring QPR team. It was mostly thanks to a very good opening spell, some desperate defending and QPR's own problems that Town came away with a win when their performance was probably a long way short of other games this season where we've either lost or drawn. For example, the previous game against Ipswich was a far better performance despite Town only getting a point. But points are the thing that keep you in the division, not pretty football, so maybe this was the kind of game Town needed to get Darren Moore's time at Town properly started. Or perhaps this win was a false dawn and there are warning signs we should be taking heed of before things get any worse. We won't know ...

Oct212023 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI, QPR preview and score prediction

Matches

Huddersfield Town come back from the international break with a home game against QPR today. It feels like forever since we’ve had a Town game to watch, so I’m looking forward to getting down to the stadium and watching Darren Moore’s team play. Which perhaps shows how bad my memory is, because Town were absolute garbage in their last outing against Sheffield Wednesday two weeks ago, where they played out a 0-0 draw with one of the Championship’s worst teams and didn’t register a single shot on target. Today could be different though, as Darren Moore has had the international break to work with his team and we’ll perhaps see a bit more of his vision on the pitch. Up to now, because of the limited amount of time he’s had between matches since his arrival, his tactics have been a Franke...

Oct22023 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

“The next Thierry Henry” (but not really) – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Ipswich

Matches

After coming from behind to snatch a point against Coventry on Monday night, Huddersfield Town had a taste of their own medicine when Ipswich came to town as the Tractor Boys leveled the scores late on and took away a point. It was probably a fair result but it's hard not to feel aggrieved when Town had opportunities to put the game to bed before the equaliser. On the bright side, Ipswich finished Saturday at the top of the Championship table and we came away feeling like we did enough to beat them, so there's something to be said about that. For all the fears I've had about the quality of the Town squad, we've come up against one of the form teams in the division and been more than a match for them. Maybe this Town team are pretty good after all and Neil Warnock's parting remarks abou...

Sep222023 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Shuffling the pack, was it fair?, testing the depth, Warnock Way suggestion, and more – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Stoke

Matches

Huddersfield Town were forced to share the spoils with Stoke on Wednesday night in Neil Warnock's final game as Huddersfield Town manager. (it was actually his third "final" game but this time he really means it!) In this article I'll talk about how I think a draw was probably just about fair, pay some backhanded compliments to Stoke, consider how the fringe players fared when given a chance in this game, reflect for a moment on Warnock and Jepson's time at Town through misty eyes and then look ahead to what's coming next now we know Darren Moore is taking over… Draw a fair result At half time I would have snatched your hand off if you offered me a draw, as Stoke had bossed the game and could easily have been ahead by a couple of goals by that stage. But a decent set piece goal h...

Sep202023 by Terrier Spirit13 Comments

Thoughts on Warnock leaving Huddersfield Town, who might be next, the upcoming Stoke game and the win over Rotherham

Matches

In an ideal world, our manager leaving, last weekend's victory over Rotherham and tonight's game against Stoke would all get their own individual article. But we don't live in an ideal world, so time limitations mean I'm having to consolidate these three topics into one easy-to-swallow package. I'll start by looking at the biggest news, which is Warnock's departure, as it's hard to talk about anything else without first covering that. Then maybe speculate a bit about what we might expect to be coming next, manager-wise before sharing my thoughts on the win against Rotherham and looking ahead to this evening's game. Warnock: a true Huddersfield Town legend These days it's easy to over use the word legend. If someone gets you a timely cup of tea you'll thank them by saying, "You're...

Aug312023 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Boo-boys, bad goals, Wagner tactics, man marking exploited, depth of a puddle and effort concerns – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Norwich

Matches

Huddersfield Town were beaten 4-0 by Norwich on Saturday in a game which saw Town repeatedly scupper their chances of success by conceding soft goals to a team that didn't need any extra help in getting the better of the Terriers. As the scoreline suggests, Norwich were the better team on the day by a distance. The scoreline is perhaps more emphatic than the balance of play might have suggested but then again, if you fail to take your chances and your opponent is clinical with theirs, these are the kind of scorelines you end up with. Here are some of my thoughts on the game. (Apologies it's taken a while to get them out to you.) Bad goals I won’t go into forensic detail of each goal, but they each had elements of self-sabotage to them. The opener was particularly painful to watch...

Aug262023 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI, Warnock: defeatism or dark arts?, one to watch & score prediction against Norwich

Matches

It’s never nice to see your ex with a new partner. And while the feelings aren’t exactly the same, I’ve more affection towards David Wagner than I have many ex partners, so it’ll be weird to see him in the dugout wearing another team’s tracksuit this afternoon. Of course, he’s done it already last season with Norwich and it was pretty strange then too, but we were so bogged down in our own relegation troubles it wasn’t so much of a focus. It’s not like Town can even claim we’ve moved on to better things since leaving David Wagner either. There were a string of bad relationships after him before we had a brief fling with someone that we thought was going to go somewhere (the Premier League), but that ended in tears when he left us for a better offer in Greece. Now we’ve sought comfort ...

Aug222023 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

A meandering ramble about Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough

Matches

Huddersfield Town came away from their trip to Teesside last weekend with a point, which is two fewer than they might have had if they'd have taken all their chances and defended a bit better but is a point more than they should have had, given the golden chance Boro spurned in the dying minutes of the game. If you're sensitive to footballing clichés, you may want to reach for the sick bag now as this game was "a good advert for the Championship" as both sides “went at it hammer and tongs” and pushed for the win. The players “left it all out on the pitch”, “gave 110%”, and in a “game of two halves”, “football was the winner”. While it was a broadly positive away trip for Town, there were some obvious issues that still persist and a few new ones that popped up too. On the other hand,...

Aug162023 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Diarra’s influence, happy in defeat?, front foot Terriers, Leicester not at their best, signings please! – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Leicester

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost to Leicester at the weekend but despite not picking up any points, it was a decent performance from the Terriers and most fans came away happy (some are never happy!). The slight concern is that we had a few chances that we failed to take and the goal we conceded was slightly soft, as it’s one Nicholls probably shouldn’t have let through his legs. But after being written off before the game, Town got up in Leicester’s face and didn’t allow them to settle. Here are my thoughts on the game… A good defeat? How good can a defeat really be? Neil Warnock said after the game that any fans that weren’t happy after that game needed their heads checking. I can see his point too. It was a really entertaining match, with lots of action at both ends of the p...