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Championship league predictions – Huddersfield Town to narrowly escape the drop

Championship league predictions – Huddersfield Town to narrowly escape the drop

Matches, Opinion
The Championship season is due to start on Saturday, following one of the shortest ever post-season breaks (despite it feeling like a very long time since Town were beaten by Millwall and the Cowley brothers were sacked less than 48 hours later). As we embark upon a new season, I have decided to put together my predictions for the Championship this season. Any regular readers of the blog will know my predictions are often wayward and I expect this will be no different. Feel free to bookmark this page and come back to it in May to tell me how deluded my opinions were. Automatic spots - Brentford to win it and Watford to finish 2nd It feels like Brentford have been creeping closer to promotion every season for a number of years and I think this could be their time to shine. Despite the li...
7 tweets that show how Huddersfield Town fans feel about their cup defeat

7 tweets that show how Huddersfield Town fans feel about their cup defeat

Matches
Huddersfield Town were deservedly beaten by Rochdale in yesterday's Carabao Cup game. While Town are experienced at getting knocked out in the first round of the cup, it was a blow to be beaten by lower-league opposition, doubly so for it to happen because of a poor Town performance. Here's a roundup of some of the best tweets from after the game yesterday. I've tried to show the full spectrum of reaction as Huddersfield Town fans have a broad range of opinions and it's interesting (to me at least) to see what people are saying about the game. Ben Hamer was singled out for his role in Rochdale's winning goal https://twitter.com/htafcChris1994/status/1302269927890526210 Hamer's role in yesterday's goal wasn't the same calibre of howler as last week, where he basically kicked t...
6 thoughts about Huddersfield Town getting dumped out of the cup by Rochdale

6 thoughts about Huddersfield Town getting dumped out of the cup by Rochdale

Matches, Opinion
Huddersfield Town were knocked out of the league Cup by Rochdale in a game that highlighted some of the issues Huddersfield Town currently face. Going out of the cup isn't the worst thing to happen but the manner of the defeat was disappointingly familiar to Town fans. It's too early to write this season off but there were some troubling signs in this match. It now seems obvious that Carlos Corberán has a very difficult job on his hands. Fragile optimism crushed Rather than talk about the football I want to start talking about the impact this defeat has on the fans. After seeing some improvements in the style of football in the two friendly games I was cautiously optimistic that the new coaches had a plan that could make a difference, as were many other supporters. That fragile optimis...
“Tepid and toothless” Huddersfield Town 0-1 Rochdale – Player ratings

“Tepid and toothless” Huddersfield Town 0-1 Rochdale – Player ratings

Matches
Huddersfield Town played a surprisingly good Rochdale team in the first round of the Carabao Cup today. A one nil defeat was all Town deserved in a lacklustre performance that saw them crash out of the league cup in the first round yet again. The match was Carlos Corberán’s first competitive game and there were small glimmers of the new approach the Spaniard is trying to cultivate at Town but the performance fell a long way short of where we need to be. Here are my thoughts on how each player did in the game for Town. Ben Hamer - 4 out of 10 I really wanted to be able to be positive about Hamer today and there were some decent things to say about him. He looked more confident in possession and has some nice little passes. This good work was entirely undone by dithering about whether to...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Rochdale in the Carabao Cup – Outcasts, old heroes and new blood.

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Rochdale in the Carabao Cup – Outcasts, old heroes and new blood.

Matches, Opinion
Huddersfield Town have their first competitive game of the new season today against League One's Rochdale. Town's preseason has been blighted by injury and has only seen them play two friendly games, with many first teamers missing from these games for various reasons. It's very hard to make accurate team predictions but Carlos Corberán dropped a few hints about his plans in his press conference yesterday. Schindler, Hogg, Diakhaby and Mbenza are all going to feature after recovering from injury. Corberán also confirmed the team will be a mix of academy and first team players. Here's how I think Town will lineup: Goalkeeper: Joel Pereria I can't remember the last Town manager that took the league Cup seriously and I don't think Corberán is going to break that streak. This game will be...
Key Huddersfield Town players back in training (and a look at why we’ve had so many injuries)

Key Huddersfield Town players back in training (and a look at why we’ve had so many injuries)

Matches, News
Jonathan Hogg and Christopher Schindler were both seen back in training yesterday after missing some of preseason with injuries. Hogg had suffered a recurrence of the hip injury that bothered him for spells last season and I don't recall the club giving a reason why Schindler wasn't able to train. In totally unrelated news, it's now two weeks since the club announced they had a "small number" of positive coronavirus cases. So the undisclosed personnel that had to self isolate will now be able to return if they are well. (Adama Diakhaby is also back in training too, but he's got a long way to go before he can be described as a key player. I'm all for players getting another chance but he's got a lot to prove after his previous lacklustre efforts for Town.) How important are Hogg and Sch...
Which transfer deals could soon go through at Huddersfield Town?

Which transfer deals could soon go through at Huddersfield Town?

Matches, Transfers
The transfer market has been moving at a similar pace to Alan Lee in his slippers this last few weeks. Despite Huddersfield Town desperately needing players, only two incoming deals have got over the line in this transfer window, with Danny Ward arriving on a free and Joel Pereira coming on loan from Manchester United. Rumours have been circulating for weeks about players being on the verge of signing for Town but then nothing would materialise. I though it might be useful to recap the deals that have been reported but not completed. There have been dozens of players names connected to Town but some have been more consistently mentioned. I've written below about the four most likely to happen. While I can't see Town signing all these players before Saturday's game against Rochdale, I'd h...
What can Sheffield Wednesday fans expect from Elias Kachunga? A HTAFC fan’s opinion

What can Sheffield Wednesday fans expect from Elias Kachunga? A HTAFC fan’s opinion

Matches, Player profiles
Elias Kachunga was announced as Sheffield Wednesday's latest signing today. Prior to his release last month, he had been a Huddersfield Town player for the last four seasons. I thought it might be interesting to put forward a Huddersfield Town fan's point of view on what kind of player Elias Kachunga is. The best things about Elias Kachunga My favourite thing about Kachunga is his work rate. He's a player that puts maximum effort into every game. This means he closes down well, makes runs into the box when the other winger is attacking and generally puts himself about. Kachunga is also a good character to have around the team. He's always smiling, having a laugh and lifting the morale of his teammates. This is easy to do in good times but he showed real professionalism during spells wh...
7 thoughts about Huddersfield Town’s draw with Manchester United U23s

7 thoughts about Huddersfield Town’s draw with Manchester United U23s

Matches, Opinion
Thoughts about Huddersfield Town's draw with Manchester United U23s Huddersfield Town participated in a high-scoring friendly against Manchester United Under 23s yesterday afternoon. It was the second and final preseason friendly for the team before their first competitive game next Saturday. Here are some of my thoughts on the game and what it means for Huddersfield Town. Another enjoyable friendly After a series of tense but stale games during lockdown it’s been refreshing to watch Town play with more freedom and less pressure. This isn’t an attempt to diminish the achievements of Danny Cowley to guide Town to survival but the friendlies this week have hinted towards the new vision at Huddersfield Town and its much better to watch. It’s no surprise that Town have failed to keep clea...
Huddersfield Town 3-3 Manchester United U23s – Player ratings

Huddersfield Town 3-3 Manchester United U23s – Player ratings

Matches
Huddersfield Town played out an entertaining draw with Manchester United youth team this afternoon. Town only fielded seven of their senior players, so it was another chance to see some of our exciting academy products in action. Here are my ratings for the players this afternoon. Before reading it’s important to note that most players didn’t play the full 90 minutes, it’s only a friendly and I was watching on a fairly blurry YouTube stream so might have missed a lot. With that in mind, take all these ratings with a pinch of salt. Hamer - 4 out of 10 Made a huge error for the opening goal and looked nervy for a good while after. I’ve watched the goal several times to try and work out what he did wrong. He knew the Man United player was coming but turned his back on him anyway and took f...