Blog – Page 34 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Feb22021 by Terrier Spirit17 Comments

“Dithering could prove costly” – A review of Huddersfield Town’s January Transfer Window

Transfers

The transfer window slammed shut last night and ultimately ended in disappointment for many Town fans who hoped an additional striker would have been added to the ranks. Despite extensive links to a wide variety of forwards none of the rumours materialised into actual signings. From the outside it came across as an unseemly scramble to try and court multiple players that ultimately led to us getting nobody through the door. While this transfer window will be remembered because of our inability to bring in someone to provide competition and support for Fraizer Campbell in the striker role, I thought it would be worth looking at the business we actually managed to conduct. Arrivals - 6 new players coming through the door The disappointment of deadline day makes it easy to forget t...

Feb12021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Transfer rumour roundup – Who might be coming to Huddersfield Town today?

Transfers

The transfer window slams shut tonight at 11pm and many Town fans will be hoping to see some new faces between now and then. But who are Town looking to bring in? Here's a roundup of all the latest rumours involving Huddersfield Town. Lee Gregory from Stoke The 32-year-old striker has struggled at Stoke and has suffered a persistent groin injury, so it's not a huge surprise that this rumour hasn't set pulses racing. However, he's got experience of the Championship and has previously been highly rated. Given that Fraizer Campbell is knocking on in years and Danny Ward is currently plagued by niggling injuries, it makes sense to get in another striker but Gregory doesn't represent the statement of intent many fans are hoping for. On the other hand, our recruitm...

Jan312021 by Terrier Spirit22 Comments

“His dip in form has plumbed new depths” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s draw with Stoke

Matches

Huddersfield Town drew with Stoke yesterday despite playing against ten men for all of the second half. Familiar frustrations returned when Stoke sat deep and Town were unable to find a way through. Most fans would have been happy with a point before kickoff but the circumstances of the match make this feel like a defeat. After going ahead early then getting pinned back after a sloppy mistake led to a penalty, the red card incident should have given Town an advantage that made victory inevitable. Sadly we continue to struggle to break down unambitious but organised defences and that cost us once again. Here's what I thought of each player. Ryan Schofield - 6 out of 10 Hard to really give a rating as he had a very very quiet afternoon. Couldn't do anything to stop the penal...

Jan302021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

5 questions that will be answered when Huddersfield Town play Stoke later today

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Stoke this afternoon at the John Smith's Stadium and will be hoping to break their five-game losing streak and register their first points of 2021. Stoke present an intriguing challenge as their recent form isn't great but they've got some quality players in their squad. The previous meeting, earlier this season ended in a 4-3 defeat for Town in an entertaining but infuriating encounter at the Bet 365 Stadium. Here are five questions that will be answered this afternoon… Will Carlos play the same starting eleven? My opinion is that we'll see an unchanged lineup today. That's why I'm writing a more general match preview rather than a post dedicated exclusively to predicting the team. Duane Holmes is likely to make the bench b...

Jan272021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

“Amateur defending” – Player ratings for Town’s 2-1 defeat to Bristol City

Matches

Town were beaten by Bristol despite an excellent second half display due to a pair of soft goals in the first half that gave our opponents an insurmountable lead. It was a game that was equally frustrating and promising as Town showed many of the consistent themes of this season, such as conceding sloppy goals, failing to finish chances and, on a more positive note, attacking, exciting football. Here are my player ratings. Ryan Schofield - 5 out of 10 I might be being a bit harsh but I thought he committed too early for the opener and made it too easy for the Bristol player to ease past him and finish into an open net. The second wasn't one he could so much about as it was a nice finish. The goals were the only shots on target for Bristol so he didn't make any other saves but did come o...

Jan262021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Predicted Huddersfiedl Town XI to take on Bristol City – This time I might even be right!

Matches

I've made no secret in the past of how my predicted Town lineups are often wide of the mark. Despite my best efforts it's not easy to know what Carlos is thinking when it comes to team selection. However, for tonight's game I genuinely think I might be able to accurately predict the whole starting eleven. In fairness, this is more due to the fact we've only got around eleven experienced players in the squad at the moment and Carlos has shown a reluctance to play youngsters from the academy when there's a first team player available, regardless of their form. So here's who I think we'll see playing for Town tonight. Goalkeeper: Schofield Couldn’t be blamed for Scott Malone's curling finish last Wednesday. No Town fan expected Malone to be capable of such an assured finish after his largely ...

Jan252021 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

Odd deal structure and Derby fans’ anger adds interest to Duane Holmes arrival at Huddersfield Town

Transfers

After over a week of speculation he was on the verge of signing, Huddersfield Town have finally announced the acquisition of Duane Holmes from Derby County. As usual, both clubs have said the deal involves an "undisclosed fee" but Ryan Conway of The Athletic has tweeted about the structure of the deal. Conway suggest that there is no upfront fee involved in the arrangement between Derby and Town, instead there are triggers agreed that will lead to payments down the line if certain milestones are met. https://twitter.com/RJConway92/status/1353659456698122244 What are the triggers that will lead to fees being due? There are no details about what these specific triggers are but it's likely they will be based upon Holmes having a successful career at Huddersfield Town. So thin...

Jan202021 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Millwall

Matches

Huddersfield Town host Millwall tonight and will be hoping this game will be a chance to stop our three-game losing streak. Having beaten Millwall once already and the Lions currently being on a poor run of form themselves, this game isn't as daunting for Town as it might have looked when the fixtures came out. Carlos Corberán was forced to field a weakened team against Watford at the weekend due to a glut of injuries but the arrival of Richard Keogh and others returning from injury mean we've a few more options available this evening. Here's my predicted lineup… Goalkeeper: Schofield After his blunder at the weekend, he'll be hoping for an uneventful evening tonight. I'm confident that he'll have learned from his mistake and any dodgy looking back pass will go directly to Row Z withou...

Jan182021 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

The mistake, the assault, tedious tactics, murderball, commentary and transfer rumours – Notes on Watford away

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were beaten 2-0 by Watford on Saturday in a game that turned on a silly mistake by Ryan Schofield. The opener came at an unfortunate moment in the game and gave Town a mountain to climb against a Watford team full of quality players. It’s one of those games that you can find negatives or positives, depending on your disposition. Some fans will despair at Town’s lack of attacking threat and inability to put pressure on the Watford goal. Other fans, the dangerously optimistic ones, would point to how Town mostly held their own against one of the league's strongest teams despite having to field a team full of untested backup players. The mistake This was a game that was light on incident or drama, so the first thing to talk about is Schofield’s nightmare moment w...

Jan172021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

“Too sloppy” – Huddersfield Town player ratings following their 2-0 defeat to Watford

Matches

Huddersfield Town were beaten by a better opponent in yesterday’s game but it’s hard not to come away from the match wondering what might have happened. What if Deeney had been sent off in the first half? What if Schofield hadn’t misread Vallejo’s backpass? What if we had decent, experienced players on the bench to bring on when we fell behind? We’ll never know. So instead we’ve just got to mull over this defeat and put it behind us before we entertain Millwall on Wednesday night. Here are my player ratings. Ryan Schofield - 3 out of 10 There’s no nice way of saying it, his error cost us the game. I don’t think there’s a lot of benefit in finger pointing or shaming players for mistakes, it’s something to learn from and move on. He completely misjudged the pace of the ball, the speed of...