Matches – Page 8 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Aug72023 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Avoidable goals, missed opportunities, concerns: old & new, and a few positives if you looked hard enough – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Plymouth

Matches

It was a disappointing start to the season for Huddersfield Town, with them making the long trip down to Plymouth and coming away with no points after conceding three sloppy goals. There were a mixture of positives and negatives to take away from the game and it’s difficult at this early stage of the season to know how concerned fans should be by this result. Because there are no other recent competitive games to give context to the result, the first game of the season always has an outsized importance to fans. So a defeat like this was always going to be hard to swallow but rather than running around like the sky is falling in, I’ll try and take a more measured reaction. I’ll wait at least two more games before I start acting like the sky is falling in. All three ...

Aug72023 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

“Cumbersome and off the pace” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s opening day defeat to Plymouth Argyle

Matches

Huddersfield Town came away from the south coast empty handed, after falling to a 3-1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle on the opening day of the season. It was a mildly infuriating result, as while the defeat was deserved, Town were the architects of their own downfall with poor finishing and sloppy mistakes the biggest factors in why they lost. Plymouth deserve credit too, because they exploited our weaknesses and finished their chances but this still felt like an avoidable defeat. Having said that, there were some positives to be taken from the game. It’s easy to think the sky is falling in after this sort of result but there were glimmers of hope for optimists to cling on to in this performance. And I’d be genuinely stunned if we concede three goals as bad as that in a game again this seas...

Aug52023 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup, tactics, score and player to watch for their trip to Plymouth

Matches

Huddersfield Town open their Championship campaign this afternoon against Plymouth Argyle on the south coast. It’s our host’s first game back in the Championship after getting promotion from League One as champions last season. It’s worth bearing in mind that Town could easily have taken Plymouth’s place in League One this campaign, had it not been for some unlikely results in our run in. Neil Warnock described last season relegstion escape this week as the greatest achievement of his managerial career. So while there may be concerns about the season ahead, it’s worth also relishing the prospect of getting to compete in the Championship for another season when relegation seemed certain in early spring of this year. Anyway, after the long summer break, it’s nice to have a game ...

Aug12023 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

Midfield worries, red card call lacked common sense, Edwards’ long throw, Hudlin’s claim – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Heerenveen

Matches

Huddersfield Town finished their preseason schedule with a 1-0 victory of Heerenveen on Saturday afternoon. They faced a stern test in the first half until a red card just before half time saw the visitors from the Netherlands reduced to ten men and Town dominated the second half. It wasn’t as full-blooded as some of Town’s other preseason games, perhaps both teams wanted to preserve themselves for the upcoming season, but it was still relatively entertaining. However, I’m not sure the game served up warranted the time and expense invested by the 300ish Heerenveen fans who enjoyed a weekend in West Yorkshire. They were in fine voice and seemed to enjoy themselve but they must be a bit barmy to have made the trip to England for a meaningless friendly - hats off to them. First h...

Jul232023 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Glorious goals, captain Sorba, same old problems, Rhodes spite, special teams subs – Notes on the Stockport friendly

Matches

Huddersfield Town traveled to Stockport yesterday for a friendly and came away with a 4-0 victory. While it’s important not to get too carried away with preseason games, particularly when they’re against a team from further down the divisions, there were some positive signs on display alongside the important fitness test for the Terriers. The game was played at a fairly good tempo for a friendly game, I don’t think Neil Warnock would allow any team of his to drop their standards for even a meaningless game like this. While it wasn’t anything like a proper league game, there were some full-blooded tackles and there weren't those horrible lulls you sometimes get in friendlies, where the players almost stand on the ball to get their breath back. Both teams went for it and had a go. And w...

May82023 by Terrier Spirit14 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup, Reading relegation hangover, goodbyes & a big hello – PREVIEW

Matches

What a treat today’s game is going to be. After an absolutely miserable season, we’ve managed to drag ourselves over the line to safety with a game to spare thanks to a remarkable and completely implausible turnaround due, mostly, to Neil Warnock’s excellent management. So instead of a nervy, do-or-die final day nail-biter, we can sit back and relax for today’s game and see it instead as a survival party where we can give Neil Warnock and Dean Hoyle a proper send off, say hello to our new owner and, hopefully, pick up a final win against Reading too. The 90 minutes of football may not be the main focus of the events at the stadium this afternoon, with the prospect of so many goodbyes and a significant taking place, it’s likely that the game won’t produce the same drama as we’ll see aft...

Apr162023 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Both teams too timid, flight regrets, spark missing, lack of depth – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Swansea

Matches

Huddersfield Town fell to a 1-0 defeat to Swansea yesterday, in a game where they saw little of the ball but managed to mostly frustrate our opponents and the game’s only goal was only conceded thanks to an unkind deflection that took it away from Vaclik. It sounds like sour grapes to whinge about losing a game where your team only had 25% possession but this was Town’s first defeat in six games and they’ve had similar stats in most of those games too. I don’t think Town’s game plan was to blame for their defeat in this game, it was the execution of it that fell short, as they struggled to cause Swansea enough problems despite having opportunities. Thankfully, results elsewhere were kind to Town and we’re still above the relegation zone but our position is precarious. With four ga...

Apr152023 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Predicted lineup, passing to death, player to watch, how to win – Swansea v Huddersfield Town PREVIEW

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Swansea this afternoon, after making the long journey from West Yorkshire to south Wales. It’s likely to be another tricky afternoon for the Terriers, as Swansea are a decent team who like to play possession football. So expect another game where Town see very little of the ball and have to play on the counter. That might actually suit Neil Warnock’s Terriers though, as our recent turn around in fortunes has mostly been built around dogged performances where we let the other team keep the ball and hit them on the counter and with set pieces rather than trying to do anything too fancy ourselves. Town go into the game outside of the relegation zone with just five games to go and this game represents a chance to put some extra space between us and the drop ...

Apr122023 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Town break a record, riding our luck, Vaclik saves & Pearson marks drinks break – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Blackburn

Matches

Huddersfield Town drew 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers on Easter Monday and it was either two points thrown away after holding a 2-0 lead at half time or a valuable point gained after being completely outplayed for the entirety of the 90 minutes, depending on your perspective. While the 90th-minute equaliser from Blackburn was a sickener at the time, I’ve since reflected that it’s a decent outcome for Town and the point could be very valuable in the fight for survival. I’ll cover some of my thoughts on the game in this blogpost. Record breaking Terriers! The nerds at Opta have confirmed that no Championship team have completed fewer passes since they started counting them on their fingers and toes back in 2013. We registered just 63 successful passes over the course of the 90 minut...

Apr92023 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

Watford = talent without passion, Rudoni and Harrat goals, counterattacking masterclass, Warnock tribute – Notes on Watford away

Matches

During Mark Fotheringham’s time as Town manager he often talked about how “on another day” things would have gone differently. Unfortunately for him, those days never seemed to come. However, under Neil Warnock, we seem to be having quite a few of those days, where things go our way. It happened again for Town against Watford, where we went behind but then scored three goals and won the game. It isn’t good luck that’s led to Town recent upturn in results, it’s, as Neil Warnock pointed out to the club’s media team, having a good manager. We’ve now got a boss that knows how to use the players we have in such a way that gives us a chance of getting results like these. Rather than bemoaning our bad luck, we’re actually making our opponents curse their luck instead. It’s not always pretty, ...