Blog – Page 42 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Feb232021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Derby preview – Team news, predicted starting XI, tactics and score

Matches

Huddersfield Town head to Derby riding a wave of euphoria following their unexpected 4-1 dismantling of Swansea at the weekend. The game tonight has huge significance for Town’s season, a positive outcome will help fans to believe our awful recent run ended last Saturday but a defeat could leave us thinking Saturday was just a fever dream, a freak one-off and we’re still deep in trouble. The last time we played Derby they were in dreadful shape and we won the game despite not being all the great ourselves. Wayne Rooney’s managerial career started recently at Derby and he’s presided over an upturn in form that has pulled the Rams out of the relegation zone and returned them to winning ways (though I’ve got my reservations about Rooney as a manager, which you can read about at the end of ...

Feb222021 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

“Superb” Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 4-1 victory over Swansea (better late than never!)

Matches

Where did that come from?! Huddersfield Town managed their first victory of 2021 in their best performance of the season at a time when they seemed to be in terminal decline. While the three points are incredibly useful, the win could mean even more in the context of this season, as this result should help boost the Terrier's badly dented confidence and provide a template for them to follow in future games. While some of the ongoing problems at Town were evident in the first half, a breathtaking 10-minute spell at the start of the second half led to Town being comfortable winners even before an unlucky injury reduced the Swans to 10 men for the closing stages. Here are my ratings for Town's players. Ryan Schofield - 5 out of 10 He was lucky to be bailed out by Sarr...

Feb202021 by Terrier Spirit14 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Swansea today

Matches

I didn't bother with a team prediction article for the last game because it seemed fairly obvious who would start against Middlesbrough. Against Swansea today there are a few more questions about who should play and Corberán will have to decide whether to persevere with senior players that are playing poorly or to experiment with youth against one of the league's best teams. Whatever the lineup, Town haven't won in 2021 and Swansea haven't lost, so it's likely to be a tough afternoon for the Terriers. Goalkeeper:Schofield The young keeper looks increasingly nervous between the sticks and is getting erratic with his decision making. He was lucky that Middlesbrough's free kick goal was chalked off for offside as otherwise his bizarre decision to come for a ball he ...

Feb192021 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

Carlos Corberán shares a bad habit with an ex-Town manager that could be affecting results

Opinion

Could the bad habit of an ex-Town manage point to one if the problems Carlos Corberán could bev causing? Lee Clark had a bad habit when he was the manager of Huddersfield Town and I believe it directly affected his team's ability to play with confidence. I fear that Carlos Corberán is making the same mistake and he may be inadvertently contributing to Town's terrible run of form since the start of 2021. The bad habit I'm referring to is getting angry on the touchline during matches and screaming at your players while the game is going on. Lee Clark was terrible for flapping his arms about and bellowing at the nearest player that would listen during his tenure. Carlos Corberán has similar qualities, often looking like he could murder a player after they fluff a chance of make a...

Feb172021 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

A good start, the capitulation, young guns & a death spiral – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost again last night to extend their 2021 winless run to nine games. Despite taking an early lead Town capitulated and Middlesbrough deserved to win despite a late fightback from Town, led by substitutes Rowe and Phillips. A good start Town flew out of the blocks and completely dominated Middlesbrough in the opening exchanges. We repeatedly carved them open with intense and fluent passing and moving in the final third. Pritchard, Holmes and Bacuna interchanged and popped up all over the places making it hard for them to track the threat. O'Brien bombed down the sides and found space to exploit. The end of this period of dominance came when Mbenza scored a lovely free kick. It seemed like going ahead destroyed our confidence and energy which gav...

Feb162021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

The improvements each Huddersfield Town player needs to make against Middlesbrough tonight

Matches

Despite Town turning in arguably their worst performance of the season against Wycombe on Saturday, I don't think there will be many major changes to the lineup against Middlesbrough tonight. In fact, a completely unchanged team seems quite likely. So instead of predicting the team I'm going to look at what each player needs to improve in their game tonight to avoid another debacle like the Wycombe game. Ryan Schofield All goalkeepers are good shotstoppers, that's why they're goalkeepers but Schofield's ability with reaction saves is far better than the average keeper at this level. He's not so good at the aspects of the game which come with experience, like commanding his area, decision-making with passing and knowing when to leave his line or not. His distribut...

Feb152021 by Terrier Spirit26 Comments

My opinion on Phil Hodgkinson’s statement about Huddersfield Town’s finances, transfers and the running of the club

Opinion, Transfers

Last Friday, Huddersfield Town released an article on their website that was written by Phil Hodgkinson, providing details about how the club is currently being run. Here are a few of my thoughts on the things contained within the statement. Click here to read the statement if you haven't seen it yet. Monthly updates Committing to monthly updates is a good idea as it will help with the communication between the club and the fans. Clearly it would have been better to have done this a long time ago but better late than never. I think live Q&As with fans or interviews with the press would be better than releasing prepared statements every month but otherwise it’s a step in the right direction. Talking with fans or the press allows more opportunity for uncomfo...

Feb132021 by Terrier Spirit16 Comments

A relegation battle beckons – Immediate thoughts after Town’s 3-2 defeat to Wycombe

Matches

What an awful result and performance from Town. It's a tough one to take and this game, for me, represents the point where it's almost impossible to ignore the fact we're now in a relegation battle. Town showed the same weaknesses they've been showing all season and allowed a 2-0 lead against the most toothless attacks in the division to slip away and end in defeat. Here are a few of my immediate thoughts on the game. Feel free to leave yours in the comment section below. A great opening half an hour It feels like a distant memory now but Town started this game playing beautiful, free-flowing football that saw us carving out chances with excellent movement and crisp passing in the final third. It was almost unthinkable that things would crumble from this stage and another 6-0...

Feb122021 by Terrier Spirit20 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Wycombe – Injury forces an unlikely choice on the wings

Matches

Huddersfield Town go into the game against Wycombe with an injury ravaged squad that leaves them with around 13 senior players to pick for the eleven starting spots. We found out in the prematch press conference that Rolando Aarons has picked up an inevitable hamstring injury and faces a spell on the sidelines. Thank goodness we upgraded our treatment room as part of the Canalside renovations, we’re certainly getting our money’s worth out of it. Wycombe are tricky opponents in many ways for Town, as beating them would mean very little, given their poor form and lowly league position, but a victory is far from certain given we struggle creatively against defensive teams and tend to be too generous at the back when facing teams that play route-one football. Here’s who I think we’ll s...

Feb72021 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

“He’s doing something daft every week” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with Luton

Matches

Huddersfield Town scraped a point from yesterday’s game against Luton but were far from convincing in a match that featured all the usual flaws we’ve got used to seeing in Town since Christmas. The game finished with Town on top and playing better but there were long spells in this game where Town looked very poor against a disciplined and hard-working Luton team that probably deserved to win more than we deserved a point. It’s hard to feel positive about Town at the moment and judging by the state of Town fans on Twitter at the moment, there is a rising sense of anger among many. This anger seems to be mainly targeted at the board and the chairman rather than the players or the coaches but if this winless run continues that could soon change. Anyway, let’s look at each individual pl...