Opinion – Page 14 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Nov262017 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Huddersfield Town 1-2 Manchester City – TerrierSpirit.com player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Town were unlucky to be defeated 2-1 by the runaway league leaders Manchester City. Ther Terriers produced a spirited and disciplined performance that frustrated City and left them relying on a generous referee and a big slice of luck to get a win. It’s quite tricky to break down the performance into individual scores because it was a great team effort, but I’ll give it a go anyway. Lössl - 8 out of 10 Wasn’t able to play the ball short to the centrebacks as much as he’d have liked because City pressed high up the pitch. However, his distribution was intelligent and mostly well targeted. Made a good safe in the first half but parried the ball into Sterling’s path, thankfully he missed the open goal. Smith - 7 out of 10 A mixed performance in my eyes. At some points he looked to be o...

Nov192017 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

What went wrong in the defeat at Bournemouth?

Opinion

This article isn't a witch hunt or a protracted moan about getting beaten 4-0 by Bournemouth. It's meant to be a look at the factors that led to us suffering a heavy defeat against a team we may have beaten on a different day. Key players were injured, suspended, on paternity leave, or jetlagged Before talking about the specifics of the game, it's worth noting we were missing some key players. Schindler has been our best player this season but was suspended following his red card in the West Brom game. Hogg was unavailable because his wife gave birth the night before (this is a completely acceptable reason to miss a day's work in my opinion, and I'm saddened by some of the comments I've seen about it). While Mooy played 90 minutes, he probably shouldn't have after travelling around t...

Nov42017 by Terrier Spirit15 Comments

Huddersfield Town 1-0 West Brom: TerrierSpirit.com Player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town managed to cling on to a 1-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at the John Smith’s Stadium. A red card for Christopher Schindler meant Town had to play 30 minutes with ten men. It was another excellent team performance and yet another memorable game for the fans. Here are my ratings for each of Town’s players. Nobody had a bad game, and some of them were superb. Lössl - 8 out of 10 Made two vital saves late on to secure the win. Rarely tested otherwise but his distribution was excellent and he commanded his box well. Malone 8 out of 10 Played very high up the pitch and made some great runs. He's more of a threat going forward than Löwe and added something extra to our attacks. I don't know if it was injury or fitness that saw him subbed late on, but it's the secon...

Oct292017 by Terrier Spirit19 Comments

Liverpool 3-0 Huddersfield Town – TerrierSpirit.com player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were comprehensively beaten by Liverpool at Anfield, by three goals to nil. Town managed to contain and frustrate in the first half, but Liverpool found another gear in the second, which allowed them to run out well-deserved winners. Town played an unusually negative game, parking the proverbial bus until the first goal went in. Once they trailed they had to try to get back into the game, which only gave Liverpool more space to attack and allowed them to extend their lead. It wasn't a terrible performance by Town but there was a distinct lack of creativity and drive. Lössl - 7 out of 10 Couldn't do much about the goals, and made a couple of good saves, including a great penalty save. He also didn't make any silly mistakes, so it looks like he's cut that out of his ga...

Oct222017 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

Huddersfield Town 2-1 Manchester United – TerrierSpirit.com Player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town recorded a historic 2-1 victory over Manchester United. It was an incredible occasion that I don't think I'll ever forget. While Manchester United were having an 0ff day, Town were at their best and worthy winners. It's unsurprising then that such a great result has led to some high player ratings. It was a wonderful team performance, with every player doing their bit to help achieve a win that will be talked about for a long time. Lössl - 8 out of 10 His kicking was great, with one punt upfield leading directly to Depoitre’s goal. Also made a good save late on to help us hold onto the lead. Had a couple of iffy moments coming out for crosses he didn't collect. The ref blew for one and his teammates cleared the loose ball on the other. I'm used to Town keepers being...

Oct212017 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Why the academy downgrade could be a positive move for Town

Opinion

Huddersfield Town recently announced their plan to downgrade their academy from grade two to grade four. The decision has been met with hostility from some fans and media critics. I can understand the anger and frustration, particularly for those connected to the kids that have been let go. However, I also think the club have made the right move and I’ll explain why I think that in this article. What’s actually happening to Town’s academy It was occasionally reported as the club closing down the academy but that’s not true. The teams for under 16s and downwards are being disbanded but the under 18s and under 23s will continue in a slightly altered fashion. This means that Town will bring in players who are in their late teens to join the youth setup, rather than recruiting younger la...

Oct182017 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

6 reasons to feel positive after the Swansea defeat

Opinion

The dust has settled from Town’s 2-0 defeat to Swansea, and even though the performance wasn’t great there’s still lots to be positive about Town right now. There’s been a fair bit of negativity in response to the Swansea result, so I thought I’d write my six reasons to not get too upset just yet. Town didn’t play that badly against Swansea Reading some of the reaction to the game from fans on Facebook, Twitter and Down at the Mac would make you think Town were beaten 10-0 and completely humiliated against Swansea. We weren’t great, but it wasn’t an awful performance. When you play well and win it’s hard to remember moments of bad luck or decisions going the wrong way because you won. In defeat these moments stick in your mind. Here are some things that could have gone differently and...

Oct12017 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

Town 0-4 Spurs – TerrierSpirit.com player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town fell to a 4-0 defeat to a clinical Tottenham side that severely punished some silly mistakes from Town. This match showed the gulf in class between the top six teams and the rest of the Premier League. We've been competitive in all six of our previous games, but against Spurs we never stood a chance. Having said that, Town didn't play all that badly. A few players had bad days and made silly errors, but we played some nice football at times and looked like we might cause an upset when we flew at Spurs in the opening minutes. Sadly we caught Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen on good days and they ripped us to pieces. I think this game will have taught Wagner and his men some valuable lessons and it's really not a big deal to catch a beating from an in-form Spurs team. He...

Sep242017 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

5 Talking points from Huddersfield Town’s draw with Burnley

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town played out a scoreless draw with Burnley, with neither side doing enough to take all three points. Here are some of the major talking points from the game. Includes THAT dive, gushing praise for Schindler, talk about our lack of goals, Dyche love for Hogg, and a quick look at our run of upcoming fixtures. van La Parra's dive Having seen a replay it looks pretty bad. In real time it looked like he was playing to win a penalty and didn't get the contact he was aiming for. Is it cheating to try and draw a foul in the box? Probably not. Is it cheating to hurl yourself at the ground under minimal contact? Yes. If VLP had been more cunning and drawn significant contact from Lowton he'd have received plaudits for "winning" a penalty. As it stands he deserves a bit of stick fo...

Sep232017 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Burnley 0-0 Huddersfield Town- TerrierSpirit.com Player ratings

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town went to Burnley and played out a fairly tedious 0-0 draw. Neither side generated the moment of quality that was needed to secure a win. A point away at Burnley isn't a bad result for Town and there were some good performances. But it's hard not to wonder if we could have won it with just a bit more quality in the final third. Lössl - 7 out of 10 Had very little to do, but his distribution was once again superb. Short, mid, and long-range passes all found their man. His quick thinking and accurate kicks started a couple of breaks for Town. Löwe - 6 out of 10 Another below par performance from the German. He seems to have lost some confidence, getting basic things wrong and being hesitant with his positioning. Schindler - 9 out of 10 (Man of the Match) Yet again, a...