After back-to-back wins in the league, Huddersfield Town’s attention now turns to the League Cup, where they’ll host Leicester on Wednesday evening. While I’m sure many fans will hope to see a strong first team fielded by Town, I can’t remember the last Town manager that played a full strength lineup in the early rounds of any cup competition. The good thing is that Town have a relatively deep squad and the players not currently starting league games are capable of stepping in and doing a good job for Town.
Leicester were relegated from the Premier League last season but will be aiming to yo-yo themselves back up there this year, starting that project with a win against beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend. Having said that, they’ve shipped out a host of players and only signed a goalkeeper this summer so far, so they are objectively weaker than the squad that struggled in the top flight last season.
Here are some talking points ahead of the game…
Does Lee Grant care about the cups?
I’d like a straight answer to this question before leaving the house on Wednesday night but I’m sure Lee Grant will give the usual stock answer about respecting the competition and fielding a strong team before naming a team full of backup players and kids.
While every club rotates their squad for the cup these days, some managers have more of a go at winning games than others. While they’d never admit it, I’m pretty sure previous Town managers have actively tried to lose League Cup games to reduce fixture congestion. Will Lee Grant be one of these managers or does he, within reason, want to give it a good go?
I expect a vastly changed lineup from the one that started against Reading but the bench and how we use our subs will be telling. If the likes of Alfie May, Ryan Ledson and Joe Low are warming the bench, then that suggests we’re keeping our best players as options to bring on if we’re chasing the game. If the bench is mostly kids from the academy then it’s a sign we’re not going to push too hard to get into the next round.
Personally, I’d like us to have a really good go at this game. Resting a few players to keep them fresh for Blackpool is fair enough but I’d like to see us trying our best to get into the next round. I always enjoy League Cup games under the floodlights. Knockout football is good fun and I like getting a look at some of the players on the fringes of the squad. Not to mention the chance of a decent away trip at a big club if we can navigate the first few rounds.
How well will the fringe players manage?
If we assume that there will be heavy rotation, this game could be an excellent opportunity to get some minutes into players that haven’t featured much yet. Both Marcus McGuane and Leo Castledine have yet to feature but will surely get some minutes in this game to ease them into competitive football. Josh Feeney and Murray Wallace will also have a chance to get a bit more time on the pitch after not getting into either starting lineup so far this season.
Successful teams tend to have a fairly settled starting eleven but will also have backup players waiting in the wings, ready for when an opportunity comes their way. For example, I could still name the starting eleven that David Wagner preferred in our promotion season but we still had dependable second choices in our squad, like Martin Cranie, Dean Whitehead and Jack Payne. Lee Grant has already emphasized the need for the whole squad to chip in this season, so this game will be a chance for those fringe players to show they are up to the task.
How will Town deal with Leicester’s possession-based approach?
Despite only winning 2-1 against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday in their opening Championship game of the season, Leicester enjoyed 75% of the possession and had 431 successful passes to Wednesday’s 99. So if Leicester have it their way, we will barely get a touch of the ball and it’ll be death by a thousand cuts as they pass us into submission.
Lee Grant’s options fall into two categories. The usual option would be to sit back nice and deep and let them have as much possession as they like but clog up the danger areas while trying to have the odd breakaway to snatch a goal if we can. Alternatively, we could try to get in their faces, press them high up and disrupt their natural passing game in the early stages. The second option is closer to Grant’s ambition for Town’s style of play but is also pretty risky against a side that is blatantly better than we are (on paper at least).
My head says that keeping it tight and trying to snatch something is the right way to go but my heart wants to see us have a real go at them even if the odds are against us coming out on top. If league points were in the line, scrapping for a draw may make sense but in a knockout cup game that isn’t anyone’s priority, why not go out with all guns blazing?
Will the atmosphere be rubbish?
At the point I was getting my ticket for this game the other day, Town fans were limited to booking seats only in the Riverside Lower. This will obviously save the club a bit of money on stewarding and staffing the kiosks in the other stands but I worry it could create a strange, lockdown football sort of atmosphere, with two entirely empty stands and only Leicester’s away following in the South Stand.
Midweek cup games rarely create a sizzling atmosphere at the best of times but isolating Town fans to a single stand is likely to make the stadium feel odd. I suppose opening the stadium up to allow a low attendance to scatter out may also take away from the atmosphere compared to packing everyone in together, it certainly seems to for the Giants when they play at home.
After Town fans have created a pretty sensational atmosphere at both of our games so far, this match will be a test of how Lee Grant and his players can get a response from fans that perhaps aren’t quite as up for it as we were against Leyton Orient and Reading. If the players do the business on the pitch, I’m sure the fans will respond even if they are all squeezed into just one stand.
A bit of hype – Huddersfield have attractive opponents in Leicester – is really Town Reserves v Leicester Reserves. Of very little interest.
Gone are the days of 1967/68 season, and memorable night matches v Fulham and v West Ham, a run to the semis and 2 legs against Arsenal. That first away leg is etched on my brain. We lost it 3-2, goals from Colin Dobson and Trevor Cherry, a great opportunity in the second home leg, Tony Leighton scored early (3-3 on aggregate), great atmosphere. But then Arsenal got a grip and ran out 3-1 winners on the night. That’s when the competition really mattered. Now,, who really cares?
It’s like test match cricket v the 100; you need some tension to give a match meaning.
It is a shame how the cup competitions have been devalued, at least until teams get close to finals. I used to love cup final day as a kid when it was presented as the highlight of the season but now it’s treated like any old game.
Personally, I’m quite looking forward to the game but mostly just to see how we measure up against an opponent from a higher division.
I’ve driven up for it. I expect Town to lose, but go down swinging.
Most fans remember that game against Everton under Carlos where we lost, but left the stadium smiling because we sensed that we’d have beaten most non-Prem teams. Hopefully we’ll leave the Accu feeling that we’d have beaten most non-Champ teams.
I remember that Everton game too. I’m never too disappointed in losing if I feel like Town have given it a good go and they did that night. Let’s hope it’s the same against Leicester.