Huddersfield Town take on Norwich tonight in a game that is likely to be tricky for the Terriers given the Canaries sit top of the table by a comfortable margin, have some excellent players among their ranks and are in the habit of winning most of their games.
Town are unbeaten in five games though, so know at least that they can make themselves difficult to beat at the moment even if that comes at the expense of playing pretty football. This unbeaten run has a bit of a Lee Clark feel to it, given we’ve drawn four and only won one of them. It’s still a decent achievement given its helping us to slowly drag ourselves towards the point where we can consider ourselves safe from the threat of relegation.
Rather than try to predict tonight’s lineup, I thought it might be interesting to see how much has changed with the starting eleven since we lost 1-0 to Norwich on the opening day of the season way back in September. Here’s a quick look at every player that started that game:
Goalkeeper: Ben Hamer (sold to Swansea)
I said at the time that getting rid of Hamer was a gamble intended to cut the wage bill in the hope that Schofield wouldn’t need Championship-standard cover. I’d say we’ve just about got away with it, as Schofield has improved in recent games but at one stage his confidence looked shot and many fans were clamouring for him to be rested. If we’d have kept Hamer then he would most likely have stepped in during that dodgy patch Schofield had but the remaining goalkeeping options most likely weren’t deemed good enough to risk. Having said that, Schofield is likely to be our long-term number one, so the faith invested in him this season will hopefully be repaid with interest over the course of his career at Town.
Defence: Pipa (first choice), Stearman (coming back from injury), Schindler (out for the season), Toffolo (injured)
Pipa had previously only ever played a handful of first team games in any season prior to his arrival at Huddersfield Town, so it’s incredible that he’s played virtually every game he’s been available for with very little variation in form. He’s currently being asked to play out of position on the left while Toffolo is out injured. With a year of Championship football under his belt and his continued selection for the Spanish Under 21s, it’s likely there will be some interest in him in the summer but I hope we can fend his suitors off for at least another season.
Stearman was to blame for the goal that decided the game against Norwich on the opening day, as his back pass was horrifically under hit and made the goal that followed inevitable. While the elbow he’d received from Cantwell moments earlier was likely a factor, it was also the kind of error you see a lot when a right footer plays on the left side of defence as he got his legs tangled up when a natural left footer would have passed the ball more naturally on their stronger foot. He’s now fighting it out with Richard Keogh for a place in the starting eleven and is mostly losing that battle because Keogh is doing a decent enough job.
It’s hard to imagine how this season might have been if Schindler hadn’t been injured but it’s likely we’d have been better off. While he’s lost half a yard of pace since his peak form in the Premier League days, he’s still a terrific player and will be sorely missed if the rumours are true and he leaves for Germany in the summer.
Toffolo is another key player that we’ve lost to injury, though thankfully for not quite as many games as others. O’Brien, Brown, Rowe and Pipa have all been given a go at left back and none of them have got close to the standard of Toffolo in his absence. Like Pipa, he’s another player I hope we do our best to keep on the next transfer window.
Midfield: Pritchard (our of form), Hogg (first choice), Jackson (loaned to Bolton)
After a couple of promising preseason games in a deeper midfield role for Pritchard I thought this might be his season. Wrong! He’s been unlucky with injuries but also looked pretty ineffectual when he’s been fit enough to play. I’ve said he’s out of form but is that true or is he just a poor player? We know he can tear up this league, based on what he did at Brentford and Norwich but we’ve seen almost nothing of that ability this season. I suspect the murderball training regime and emphasis on workrate hasn’t suited his natural game and a move at the end of his contract in the summer may give him a chance to shine if he can find a team where he’s a better fit.
There are a significant number of Town fans that aren’t keen on Jonathan Hogg and they come out of the woodwork whenever he has a bad game. Thankfully those days have been few this season and I’d have him down as a potential player of the season. He’s always had his limitations but the things he does well he does very well and his commitment and desire drive the players around him as well as himself. His recurring hip problem has limited his number of games but Town are yet to win a game this season without Hogg being in the side, which tells you everything you need to know.
Ben Jackson had a couple of decent friendly performances but was an unexpected inclusion in our first league game. This selection was mostly due to the glut of midfield injuries we had in Carlos’ early days while the players adjusted to the new regime. He didn’t disgrace himself but only had 13 touches in his 57 minutes and hasn’t played for Town in the league since. He’s now on loan at Bolton in League Two, trying to get into their first team as a left back but he’s only played four games since his move in January.
Forwards: Bacuna (starting XI player), Koroma (long-term injury), Diakhaby (sold)
I’m not Bacuna’s biggest fan but he’s done pretty well this season, playing most games and adapting to whatever role he’s given. I still find him very frustrating when he tries to do fancy flicks in his own half but he’s one of the most talented players in the squad and this is why he continues to be selected despite often being annoying to watch.
Of all the injuries we’ve suffered this season, it’s Koroma’s that cost us the most. His absence completely unbalanced the squad that was already lacking attacking threat and we’ve not been the same since. With Campbell notably not a goalscoring forward the way he plays for Town and Mbenza tending to stay wide, it was Koroma that we relied on to cut inside and shoot in much the same way Karlan Grant had done for us last season. He’s currently close to a return and should help strengthen the attacking options for the run in.
I think enough has been said about Diakhaby and his time at Town. I’m still stunned we managed to offload him in January and saved ourselves his wages for the last few months of his contract. A truly awful player, though he actually did reasonably well as a second left back in the opening-day game, marking Norwich’s hotshot rightback out of the game.
TerrierSpirit.com opinion on the changes in Huddersfield Town since the start of the season
Some of the selections for the home game against Norwich show that Corberán was still getting to know his players and hadn’t settled on his best eleven. It’s telling that Hogg is the only one from that game that I feel confident will start the game tonight. Pipa is an injury doubt, Keogh seems to be preferred to Stearman and Bacuna was on the bench against Brentford at the weekend. All the other players that played in the last game are either sold or injured.
Despite being vastly different, I’m not convinced tonight’s Huddersfield Town team will be significantly better than the one that turned out against Norwich last September. More worrying is the fact that Norwich were quite disjointed and hesitant in their first post-relegation league game but now they’ve hit their stride and will take some stopping.
I think we’ll see a far more defensive approach tonight and it’s likely we’ll sacrifice possession in favour of staying organised and trying to hit them on the break. It’s also possible we’ll see key players subbed off early or rested entirely as Carlos keeps half an eye on the weekend’s crucial game against Rotherham.