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“We shouldn’t be losing to teams like Mansfield”, pressure on Grant, striker choices and 4-4-2 vs 4-2-3-1 – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town’s trip to Mansfield

“We shouldn’t be losing to teams like Mansfield”, pressure on Grant, striker choices and 4-4-2 vs 4-2-3-1 – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town’s trip to Mansfield

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town return from the international break on Saturday with an away game against Mansfield. This should give us a chance to see if the two wins we saw just before the break were the start of a turning point for the team, or if it was just a blip and we'll return to the downward spiral we'd seen before that. It feels like international breaks don't always suit Town, and we often struggle in the first game back. However, with the team ravaged by injuries prior to the break, these couple of weeks to recover a few players should mean we travel to Mansfield with more options and a stronger lineup. There's also been a few weeks of time on the training pitch without matches to prepare for, so Lee Grant has had more time to get his ideas over. While there are still fans who doubt Lee...
“A very intelligent change” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle

“A very intelligent change” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle

Matches, Player ratings
Huddersfield Town desperately needed a win against Plymouth on Saturdays and thanks to a decent performance and a tweaked approach from Lee Grant, they beat Plymouth 3-1. After a poor run of form that saw many fans calling for Grant's head, this victory should be enough to keep him in a job a bit longer.  There were encouraging elements in Town's performance beyond just the result and some players that have previously struggled, showed their value to the team. It's worth noting that Plymouth were pretty bad, so much so that they looked like Town at their worst. But regardless of the opposition's failings, this was the positive result and performance Town needed and could potentially be a turning point in the season.  Here's what I made of each player's performance…  ...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Bolton Wanderers

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Bolton Wanderers

Matches, Predicted lineups
Drawing teams from your own division in the cup is always a drag. It's even worse when it's against a team that's decent enough to beat us but not a big enough scalp for a Town victory to mean a great deal. Add to that the fact we recently allowed today's opponents to steal three points from us in the league a few weeks ago and this game doesn't bode well. Lee Grant's under fire and injury ravaged Terriers will cross the Pennines to take on Bolton in the first round of the FA Cup today, but it's likely few fans will join them in their journey given the gloom hanging over the club currently. One of the things I enjoy about writing these team prediction articles is that they often get me into the mood for a game. It'll take something pretty special to get me excited about this game though...
Lee Grant hanging by a thread, Kevin Nagle feeds the trolls, how not to play with ten men and red card thoughts – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

Lee Grant hanging by a thread, Kevin Nagle feeds the trolls, how not to play with ten men and red card thoughts – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

Matches, Notes
It's been a few days now since Huddersfield Town lost 3-0 to Wycombe and the passing of time hasn't made this result more palatable. In fact, if I was to describe this game as a meal in a restaurant, it would be a bucket of hot sick with something unmentionable floating in it as a crouton. It is tempting to say this is the worst performance since a long while back but the sad truth is that it's only the worst defeat since the last defeat, when we threw away a 1-0 lead by allowing two stoppage time goals. But, for a team with Town's aspirations, we really shouldn't be turning in so many horrible performances. You can only get away with calling a poor performance "a bad day at the office" so many times. If you're continually having bad days at the office, maybe they're not isolated incide...
“He let everyone down” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

“He let everyone down” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Wycombe

Matches, Player ratings
After a bright start, Huddersfield Town left Wycombe with their tail between their legs on Saturday, following a 3-0 defeat. It was caused by a combination of Alfie May's daft red card and the remaining players' inept response to going a man down.  In a game where Lee Grant really needed to see a response from his players, they continued to look second best and too many players lost individual battles, which is bad news with a full complement on the pitch but a disaster when we're a man down.  Here's what I made of each individual player who contributed to this disappointing outcome.  Lee Nicholls - 8 out of 10 We saw both sides of Nicholls' distribution, with some creative and risky short stuff before the red card followed by some pretty desperate and fruitless clearances...
Duff’s revenge, learning not winning, May headache & predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Wycombe

Duff’s revenge, learning not winning, May headache & predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Wycombe

Matches, Predicted lineups, Talking points
Huddersfield Town head to Wycombe this afternoon in a game that will see Town reunited with their former manager, Michael Duff. While Wycombe had a dodgy start to the season, they've picked up since Duff's arrival and he's been able to make them competitive in most games.  Town come into the game in poor form, and Lee Grant is under pressure after a run of lacklustre and tactically naive displays. A win might quiet some of those doubting voices, and a defeat would increase the speculation about his ability to lead “The Group”. Will this be Duff's revenge? Michael Duff spoke about his exit from Huddersfield Town in his press conference for this game. He was discreet enough not to start getting into specifics but he did make it clear he felt badly done to by Town and his exit w...
Square pegs in round holes – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Bolton

Square pegs in round holes – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Bolton

Matches
Huddersfield Town were 1-0 up against Bolton as they entered stoppage time but somehow managed to throw away a lead they didn’t deserve by conceding TWO injury time goals and squandering three points.  Even though I’m writing this article a few days after the game, I’m still cross about how we approached this game. While the last few minutes were a disaster, they weren’t unexpected, as we’d been pretty dire after we went 1-0 up.  Here is what I made of each individual player… How it felt watching our inevitable collapse in this game. Lee Nicholls - 5 out of 10 Dealt with everything thrown at him until stoppage time. He made five saves and none were world-class class but a few were testing and he dealt with them without any fuss. For the first goal, it was a brilli...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Bolton

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Bolton

Matches, Predicted lineups
Huddersfield Town take on Bolton tonight in a rare Thursday night game for the Terriers. After an extended break due to the international games, Town will hope this game will be a chance to put things right after a humbling 2-1 defeat to ten-man Stockport in their last outing. Bolton have yet to win on the road this season and have a tendency to struggle to finish the chances they create, so they have their own problems to deal with.  Lee Grant has a few more players available for selection in this game, after Mickel Miller and Anthony Evans have been declared fit, as well as Lynden Gooch now being futher along with his recovery from injury. The difficult decision will be whether to stick with the players he was using before the international break or to throw in these returning pl...
Fans on the turn, a helpful break, Bolton’s awful away form & playoff hopes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Bolton

Fans on the turn, a helpful break, Bolton’s awful away form & playoff hopes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Bolton

Matches, Talking points
Thursdays must be the least likely time to play a game of League One football but for whatever reason (bending over backwards for TV money), Huddersfield Town entertain Bolton on Thursday night in front of the Sky cameras. I suppose it means we get a Town game to watch earlier than usual after an international break and, from a pessimistic point of view, playing a few days earlier means that Town aren’t going to ruin another weekend for fans.  Trying to predict what’s going to happen in this game is a fool’s errand because both teams come into it with very erratic form. Town have had some respectable results so far this season but they have also had some punishing defeats, so it’s hard to have any expectations either way. Bolton are in a similar position and have found away games p...
“His worst game in a Town shirt” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s dismal defeat to Stockport

“His worst game in a Town shirt” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s dismal defeat to Stockport

Matches, Player ratings
Huddersfield Town suffered another depressing defeat on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Stockport. After struggling to break down ten-man Blackpool earlier in the season, I had a sinking feeling when Stockport had a man sent off early in the second half. That feeling was completely justified as, if anything, we played significantly worse than when we were playing against 11 men.  Apologies it’s a bit later than usual, but here are my player ratings for this deeply disappointing defeat.  Lee Nicholls - 6 out of 10 Made a series of regulation saves, which he made look easy with his good positioning and good anticipation. His best moment was in the second half when he stopped a one-on-one by coming quickly off his line and not committing, meaning the shot hit his forearm and went harmle...