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A kamikaze keeper, winning moments, Ashia bursts onto the scene and passing problems – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win at Reading

A kamikaze keeper, winning moments, Ashia bursts onto the scene and passing problems – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win at Reading

Matches, Notes
Huddersfield Town kept their 100% win record on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Reading. The performance was not always fluent but the dedication and effort were consistent across the players involved. The scoreline hints at an easier victory than this game actually was but I think Town did enough to deserve all three points.  Town now sit top of the embryonic league table and are showing signs of being a strong team this season. It’s very early days but all the current indicators point towards huge potential. There will be tougher tests ahead for Town this season but I’m really pleased with how well they’ve navigated their two tricky opening games.  Here are some of my thoughts on this Reading win… A tight game, decided by 3 moments There are millions of variables that ...
“Showed the desire needed” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win over Reading

“Showed the desire needed” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win over Reading

Matches, Player ratings
Huddersfield Town made it two wins in two with their 2-0 victory against Reading on Saturday lunchtime. The game was finely poised, with both teams being too wasteful in the final third despite the two teams trying to play good football. Thankfully, two set piece goals won the game for Town but it could have been a different story if Reading had taken their chances at the other end. I’m not sure I’d call it lucky though, as a game between two well-matched opponents will usually be decided by fine margins and Town made the most of their chances and Reading didn't. Collectively, Town weren’t quite as good as they were in their opening game but we were away from home against a good League One team, so perhaps that was to be expected. I thought Town would need quite a few games to get up to...
May and Taylor both starting? Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Reading

May and Taylor both starting? Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to face Reading

Matches, Predicted lineups
Huddersfield Town head to Reading for a Saturday lunchtime game, where they’ll be hoping to keep their momentum going after beating Leyton Orient 3-0 last weekend. There are fitness doubts over Marcus Harness and Sean Roughan but better news in terms of Josh Feeney being available now after suspension and Murray Wallace getting closer to full fitness.  Despite Reading losing their opening game to Lincoln, they will provide stiff opposition for Town and I have a feeling we’ll see a good game. While I thought League One would be full of cloggers when Town were relegated, there are actually quite a few teams that want to play football on the ground and build up possession from the back, Reading are one of those teams. So I'm expecting two teams having a good go at each other and some ...
Birmingham comparisons, Grant’s honesty, tactical conundrums and new pressure – 4 talking points ahead of Reading v Huddersfield Town

Birmingham comparisons, Grant’s honesty, tactical conundrums and new pressure – 4 talking points ahead of Reading v Huddersfield Town

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town head to Reading tomorrow (Saturday) for their first away game of the season against Reading, in an early kickoff in front of the Sky cameras. After last weekend’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient, Town find themselves top of the table on goal difference. While some naysayers may question the validity of the league table after one game, I think those people should shut up.  Reading were an oddity last season, as they had a remarkably good end to the season on the field while having all sorts of turmoil off it. Usually when a club is in financial strife or being emperilled by a dodgy owner we see results tail off but Reading defied that narrative and narrowly missed out on the playoffs with a seventh placed finish. They’re under new, seemingly stable, ownership now and wi...
Optimism, a penalty, partnerships, & the fan contribution – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

Optimism, a penalty, partnerships, & the fan contribution – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

Matches, Notes
Huddersfield Town opened their season with a 3-0 against Leyton Orient on Saturday in glorious sunshine and even scored a penalty. After finishing last season so pathetically, particularly in the final home game against Leyton Orient, this game went a long way to emphasise that we’re now in a new era at Huddersfield Town.  Lee Grant fielded eight debutants (not debutantes, as I spelled it in my last article, suggesting Grant was introducing young ladies to polite society) but against a Leyton Orient side that was also full of new blood, Town looked the more cohesive team of the two. It’s early days obviously, but there was a lot to like about this performance even if we still look to be gelling as a group.  How the game unfolded  The game started at a frenetic pace,...
“I’ve probably gone a bit overboard” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

“I’ve probably gone a bit overboard” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

Matches, Player ratings
I gave up doing player ratings a few seasons ago but thought I'd bring this format out of retirement for this new era of Huddersfield Town. There are problems with trying to boil down 16 different performances into numbers between one and ten, it's too blunt an instrument to really capture what happened and every single fan watching a game has different opinions. However, it's an excuse to talk about the various players involved in a game, so I'm not going to over think it.  This article covers Huddersfield Town's 3-0 win over Leyton Orient on Saturday and looking back I've probably gone a bit overboard with my scores here. Town outplayed Leyton Orient and deserved to win but it wasn't exactly a fluent or completely dominant performance. On the other hand, context matters and the s...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Leyton Orient

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Leyton Orient

Matches, Previews
Huddersfield Town take on Leyton Orient later today at the newly named, Accu stadium. Newness is a theme, we have a new manager, new players, a new system and a new sense of hope. While the raft of changes since last season ended all seem positive, today's game is the first chance to see what this new version of Huddersfield Town are really about.  Predicting Lee Grant's starting eleven is tricky today as Grant was cagey about the availability of his players, apart from confirming Anthony Evans will be out for up to ten weeks with a gammy knee. It's also Town's first competitive outing under Grant, so he may pick a different team to the one we saw against Burnley last weekend, as some players were apparently rested as a precaution rather than genuinely injured.  Here's how ...
New rules, 2 strikers 1 slot, Koroma’s return & Northern Football – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Leyton Orient

New rules, 2 strikers 1 slot, Koroma’s return & Northern Football – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Leyton Orient

Matches, Previews
After a long wait over the summer, football is finally back when Huddersfield Town open their League One campaign against Leyton Orient at the Accu Stadium tomorrow (Saturday). The summer break has felt longer than usual this year because Town’s season effectively ended in March when Michael Duff was sacked. While Jonathan Worthington took charge for the final ten games, we tailed off so badly it was clear our season was over long before the games actually stopped.  Our opening day fixture is the same as last season’s final fixture, which feels appropriate, as that 4-1 defeat was as bad as any of the other humbling defeats Town suffered last season and repeating it gives us a chance to signal a fresh start. Town’s players were so mentally checked out of that game that it wouldn’t h...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Burnley

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Burnley

Matches
The team selections in preseason have been hard to predict because the main priority has been to get minutes into the legs of as many players as possible. Now we're facing the final game before the League One opener against Leyton Orient next weekend, I expect something closer to our best eleven against Burnley.  With eleven signings so far this summer and more expected before the transfer deadline, it's going to feel like a brand new version of Huddersfield Town, which is much needed after previous failures. All this change will hopefully mean a new positive approach and a fresh sense of optimism around the club.  After winning promotion to the Premier League last season, Burnley are likely to present us with a tough challenge, even accounting for their squad being split b...
Nastiness, The Radulovic Redemption, an injury crisis & transfer news – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Greuther Furth

Nastiness, The Radulovic Redemption, an injury crisis & transfer news – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Greuther Furth

Matches
Huddersfield Town were 1-0 winners against Greurther Furth on Saturday, in their final friendly of their Austrian tour. It was a scrappy, bad-tempered and low quality game of football but Town just about deserved the win against a team that is technically playing at a level above them (the German second tier).  Here are some of my thoughts about the game… Another rough and tumble encounter  The most memorable thing about this friendly game was how unfriendly it was. Just like against Young Boys of Berne, Town got right up in the faces of their opposition and made life difficult for them. The physical treatment we handed out was perhaps a bit over the top at times and Kasumu could have seen red for some of his challenges he put in while on a booking.  After seeing...