Matches – Page 41 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Aug182018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Man City

Matches

Huddersfield Town face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. David Wagner has some tricky problems to resolve when he picks his team to take on Pep Guardiola’s men. How will he deal with replacing Zanka, following his training ground injury this week? Will Hogg be able to shake off a hip problem? Should he stick to a similarly negative gameplan to the one that led to a 3-0 defeat last weekend? Here’s my attempt to answer those questions… Tactics: Town to stick with 3-5-2 Town looked good in the first half against Chelsea last week when they played a three-man central defence. They allowed Chelsea possession in non-threatening areas but pressed hard when the ball game near Ben Hamer’s goal. I expect we'll try the same plan again, and hope for better luck in the key...

Aug132018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Five interesting stats from Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea

Matches, Opinion

There are lies, damn lies and statistics, or at least that’s how the saying goes. Regardless, I’ve had a trawl through the stats from Town’s defeat to Chelsea to see if there’s anything interesting to take away from it. Here are the stats that stood out to me... Hazard had six successful dribbles in his brief cameo Hazard was only on the pitch for a 15 minute cameo appearance towards the end, but in that time he ran rings around a tired and demoralised Town defence. A successful dribble means he took on an opposition player with the ball and came away cleanly. His six dribbles were more than any other player on the pitch, even though he only popped on for the last few minutes (and he only returned for preseason training last week). In case you were curious, no Town player manage...

Aug122018 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

6 thoughts about Town’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea

Matches, Opinion

The dust has settled on Town’s opening day 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League and I feel better about it now I’ve had time to think on what happened. The result is a bit disappointing, the performance had good and bad points, but overall I think it wasn’t that bad a day. Here are a few of my thoughts about the game... The tactics weren't wrong but they could have been executed better Playing open and expansive football is likely to lead to a pummelling against the top teams. We experienced it last season against Tottenham, and were similarly exposed in the first half of the friendly against Lyon when we tried to press them high up the field. Lyon spurned their opportunities, but there must have been four occasions where they broke our press and their attackers flooded pas...

Aug112018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Huddersfield Town 0-3 Chelsea: Player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 3-0 at home to Chelsea. Town were somewhat unlucky to go in at half-time two goals down, but struggled to get into the game in the second half and didn’t do enough to deserve anything from the game. Despite the scoreline, it wasn’t that bad a performance. You could argue long into the night about the right tactical approach Town should take in these games, but I think we’re always likely to lose against top six teams, regardless of the system. Chelsea punished Town on the few occasions they opened us up, and we couldn’t finish our chances. It’s important not to draw too much into this result or performance. We’ll have better days than today this season, we just need to learn from the experience and move on. Here’s...

Aug112018 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Chelsea

Matches, Opinion

The day we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! Town’s second Premier League campaign starts today at home to Chelsea. David Wagner has a host of new players to pick from alongside some old favourites. Here’s my guess at who he’ll pick to take on Chelsea. Formation: 3-5-2 I think we’ll see David Wagner use a 3-5-2 formation against Chelsea, allowing him to choose three central defenders. This is less adventurous than the typical 4-2-3-1 shape, but will make us harder to break down and clog up the middle of the pitch when we don’t have the ball. Goalkeeper: Jonas Lössl I’m not convinced I’m right about this prediction. Lössl only played two 45 minutes spells in preseason because of his extended post-World Cup break, and looked a bit shaky at times. Ben Hamer, who came in this sum...

Aug102018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Have David Wagner’s signings solved Town’s biggest problem?

Matches

Huddersfield Town have invested heavily in three new wingers this close season. This has been a wise move from David Wagner, as our lack of goals last season seemed to stem from a lack of creativity in the final third, rather than a lack of goal-scoring talent. The hope is that these new boys (and VLP) are able cause problems to opposition defences in a way we didn’t often manage last season. While there was no lack of effort from our wingers in our first year in the Premier League, they didn’t contribute enough in terms of goals or assists, so it’s understandable that we’ll be seeing three new faces in this area. This article will look at whether Town's wingers will be able to add some creativity and attacking dynamism to the final third... Adama Diakhaby I’m very excited about th...

Aug52018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

SQUAD REPORT 18/19: Defence – Can Wagner keep everyone happy?

Matches

Following Friday’s squad report about our goalkeeping talent, here’s a summary of how Town’s defence is looking ahead of the upcoming Premier League season. Terence Kongolo and Erik Durm are notable additions to a back line that was already pretty decent. Here’s the case for the defence… Right back - Flo set to keep Tommy Smith out of the starting XI Florent Hadergjonaj I’ve been really impressed with the 23-year-old Swiss right back since his arrival at Town last season. He had to be patient while he waited for his chance in the team, but when he’s been called upon he’s always done a good job. Flo’s most obvious asset is his speed, as he can motor up and down the touchline all game. This means he’s able to take up good positions and support attacks but will still bust a gut to get back ...

Aug42018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Five thoughts about Town’s 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig

Matches

Town turned in an impressive performance in their final friendly of preseason, beating RB Leipzig 3-0. Admittedly, our opposition had played a Europa League qualifier the night before and fielded a somewhat weakened team.But they still had Germany and Denmark’s first choice strikers from the World Cup up front, and a few multimillion Euro signings in their starting line up. Here are a few of my thoughts about the game… The 3-5-2 system worked well in its first outing of preseason This was the first time I’ve seen Town play with three central defenders for any length of time this preseason. It was a similar shape to the way we lined up towards the end of last season, and the system worked well. Everyone stuck to their task and there was no space for RB Leipzig to exploit. Zanka, Sch...

Aug32018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

2018/19 SQUAD REPORT – Goalkeepers at Huddersfield Town

Matches

In advance of the Premier League season starting next week, I thought I'd do a series of blogposts taking a look at Huddersfield Town's squad. This first post will look at the goalkeeping options in the club. Then it'll be defenders, midfielders, and finally attackers. Jonas Lössl When you consider Danny Ward went to Leicester for £12m it's stunning that we managed to buy Lössl for around £2.5m, given most Town fans wouldn't be willing to swap Lössl for Ward. The big Dane arrived at Huddersfield Town last summer with a reputation of being a liability, with the Examiner podcast saying he'd been descibed as "the worst goalkeeper in the Bundesliga", yet he had a fine first year at Town. There were a few occasions were errors led to conceding goals, but these moments were far outweighed b...

Aug12018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Five things I noticed in Town’s 2-1 win over Bologna

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town scored in the last second of their friendly with Bologna to win the game 2-1. It was a fairly tepid encounter but there were some glimpses of decent football and I think the team look close to being ready for the start of the season. Here are a few things I noticed from the game... Sobhi showed his strength Ramadan Sobhi is incredibly strong on the ball for a winger. There were a few occasions where a Bologna defender tried to musle him off the ball and he just swatted them away. His close control looked very good, and he looked surprisingly speedy when chasing down balls. I wasn’t all that impressed with Ramadan in the Lyon friendly, but saw plenty to like about him in this game. The real test will obviously come in the Premier League, but the signs are there tha...