Opinion – Page 7 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Dec202020 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

The dark arts, hard graft, the table & an Mbenza masterclass – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win over Watford

Matches, Opinion

If I told you that Huddersfield Town featured in a game were a goalkeeper mistake and a spectacular own goal decided the game you would be forgiven for thinking Town had another error-riddled outing. Thankfully it was Watford who made these mistakes and we had the tenacity and team-spirit to cling onto a two-goal lead that was so generously gifted to us in our final game before Christmas. There was a lot more than just good fortune that contributed to Huddersfield Town running out victors over a team that clearly had superior individuals but couldn’t quite come together to produce a convincing attacking display. In no particular order, here are a few of my thoughts on the game... A hard grafting performance The Carlos Corberán era has seen Town trying to play attacking and attractive f...

Oct92020 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

How has Carlos Corberán done since arriving at Huddersfield Town from Leeds United?

Opinion

Obviously, we all know it’s very early days in Carlos Corberán's time at Huddersfield Town but the international break presents a lull in the season to take stock of how things are going so far. Corberán took charge of Town shortly after the end of last season and has already overseen a dramatic change in the way Huddersfield Town play and embedded several new players into the team. Here's an early assessment of how he's getting on. If you can't be bothered reading to the bottom, a very quick summary would be that he's doing pretty good. A tricky preseason The implications of the pandemic meant the players had the shortest post-season break ever and Carlos had the shortest ever pre-season to get across his ideas. On top of that Town had played an intense period of games after the restar...

Oct82020 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town FIFA 21 player rankings – Best XI, who’s underrated, who’s overrated and what is says about our squad

Opinion, Social media

I’d like to start by saying that I’m fully aware that this article is not for everyone. If you’re not interested in the FIFA 21 player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s squad then that’s fine, just don’t read on. We all know the ratings made up by a video games company don’t have any effect on reality (although I’ll come back to this later) so this article is really just a bit of fun and might be interesting to those people that are curious about how the geeks at EA have rated our current squad. If nothing else, at least its not another article speculating about Karlan Grant's future. In case you’re not familiar with how FIFA works, each player is given an overall rating out of 100 with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo getting scores in the 90s and Bradford City players being in the 40s and ...

Oct42020 by Terrier Spirit17 Comments

Giants, a weak bench, Naby’s magic wand, fluffed lines, moaners and happy clappers – Rotherham reactions

Matches, Opinion

Town earned a draw in the dying moments of yesterday’s game against a resolute Rotherham side. It was a game that Town could, and perhaps should, have won but there were still plenty of positives to take from the game. Problems in front of goal persist but Carlos Corberán’s tactics are producing some eye-catching football at times. Here are a few of my thoughts from this game, in no particular order or logical structure... Land of the giants! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a tall and strong team before. At set pieces it looked like David and Golliath when Hoggy was battling in the air with a towering Rotherham player. My initial thought was to bemoan how our taller players hadn’t picked up the big guy, then I looked at the other players in the box and every Rotherham player seemed to...

Sep262020 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Huddersfield Town 1-0 Forest – Player ratings – An unexpected man of the match

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town won their first game of the season last night in a one nil victory over Nottingham Forest. It was a well-deserved win and the best performance we’ve seen under Town’s new Head Coach, Carlos Corberán. There were still plenty of areas to improve upon but there was a clearer sense of the new identity Town are striving for in this game. There were a number of individual performances that stood out, including some players that have received a fair amount of criticism. It’s so nice to be able to sing the praises of Huddersfield Town players for a change! With that in mind, here are my player ratings. Ben Hamer - 9 out of 10 (Man of the match) Made a couple of stunning saves that kept Huddersfield Town in the game in the first half. Knowing how much conceding goals affe...

Sep252020 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town starting XI for tonight’s game against Forest

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town play Nottingham Forest tonight in a game they hope will lead to their first goal and points of the season. Forest haven't had a great start to the season either but have some quality players in their squad that could hurt Town if we let them. The team selection tonight presents Carlos Corberán with some tricky choices. In previous weeks he’s only had twelve or thirteen senior players available to pick from and then made the squad up with youngsters. With new arrivals becoming available and existing players returning from injury there is a bit more to choose from tonight. Goalkeeper: Hamer I saw a poll during the week that showed most fans would prefer to see Pereira start tonight instead of Hamer. I personally disagree. For all his flaws, Hamer has been given the role ...

Sep252020 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

6 things to watch out for in the Huddersfield v Nottingham Forest game – Grant, tactics, selection, Eiting, fitness and more

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town face Nottingham Forest this evening in their third Championship game of the season. Neither team has scored a point or a goal in their opening two games, so at least one of the teams will see some sort of upturn in their fortunes by the end of the night. There are plenty of things to watch out for in the game from a Huddersfield Town fan's perspective. Here are some of the questions I'm looking forward to finding out the answers to tonight. How will the tactical battle play out? This game may give us a better look at the tactical system that Carlos Corberán wants to play. The difference in quality between Town and their first two opponents meant we didn't see proper Carlosball as we struggled to dominate those games. Town interviewed a Sarah Clapson from the Nottingha...

Sep222020 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

5 ways iFollow could be improved for Huddersfield Town fans

Opinion

The current reality of being a football fan is that we have to settle for watching our team play on screens rather than in the stadium. While we await the return to something approximating normality, we have to settle for streams of Huddersfield Town’s games using the iFollow service. Streaming a game is never going to be the same as experiencing it in person but it’s the best option available right now. However, the iFollow system that is used to deliver streams to fans is currently not a great user experience. It’s not awful but there are some flaws that hamper it. This article looks at how the iFollow service could be improved. Before starting, I want to quickly point out that this isn’t a criticism of Huddersfield Town as the iFollow service is part of a deal that the whole league is...

Sep202020 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

6 things I keep telling myself to try and feel less worried about Huddersfield Town

Matches, Opinion

Yesterday's defeat to Brentford was bad, not just in terms of the result (which was largely expected) but because it revealed the obvious shortcomings at Huddersfield Town right now. I felt despondent about Town's chances this season at the final whistle but have since been trying to gee myself up and feel a bit better about our prospects. I'm not sure it's working but I thought I'd share my thoughts here anyway. Here are the things I say to myself to try and be a bit more positive. We're at the start of a project that will take time to bear fruit Huddersfield Town weren't immediately transformed under Wagner, Leeds weren't under Bielsa and Liverpool weren't under Klopp. Making a shift in philosophy takes time and can have a bumpy start. We’re probably going to need to be patient. We'v...

Sep202020 by Terrier Spirit25 Comments

A rant about Huddersfield Town’s surrender to Brentford – 6 reasons defeat was inevitable

Matches, Opinion

I try to be positive about Town even when we lose. Last week's defeat against Norwich featured plenty of encouraging signs and I felt relatively positive about the direction Town are now travelling in. Yesterday's defeat to Brentford was different, it was painful to watch at times. The gulf in quality between the two team was enormous and we played right into their hands. Please stop reading if you're hoping for silver linings or glimmers of hope. This article is a rant. I might try writing something more optimistic later but this article delves into why we were so terrible against Brentford. A game plan that couldn't have won the game When Danny Cowley took Town to Brentford last season he knew his players weren't as good as Brentford's, so he had to set up to be hard to beat. The res...