After last week’s stunning victory over Manchester United, Huddersfield Town get another dream game. We’re going to Anfield to play Liverpool in the Premier League. These are the fixtures I’ve daydreamed about all the time I’ve followed Town, so it’s incredible that they’re now happening regularly.
Of course, this fixture is a meeting of good friends, Klopp and Wagner. This little-known fact has somehow eluded the football press. Or perhaps they’re aware and have decided to stick to covering football matters instead. Oh, wait, no, it’s the only thing being discussed in the build-up to this match.
Liverpool v Huddersfield Town – Match details
Kick-off: 3 PM, Saturday 28 October 2017
Away travel info: The HTSA has a good write up of how to get to Anfield and where to drink before the game. As it stands there’s extensive disruption to the trains on match day, so plan ahead and expect replacement buses if you’re planning on taking the train.
Referee: Kevin Friend – This is the second Town game of the season for Friend, having been in charge of our 2-0 defeat away at West Ham. He didn’t do us any favours that night. Andy Carroll was allowed to maul our defence for long periods without being booked and it allowed their hoofball tactics to be effective.
Predicted lineup
After such an amazing team performance against a top-six club, it’s hard to see why Wagner would change much in his team selection against Liverpool. The only slight doubt I have is about whether van La Parra or Kachunga will start.
Kachunga started last week and was doing OK until needing to come off with a back injury. He’s trained all week, so should be fit enough for selection. VLP did a very good job from the bench last week, so may get the nod. I’ll predict van La Parra, because he was very good in the second half last weekend. When we needed players to take the pressure off, he was there.
Pre-match comments
The press conference featured heavily on the relationship between Klopp and Wagner, so there wasn’t a lot of football talk in there. He takes the endless and repetitive questions with good grace though and manages to deflect the conversation back to footballing matters.
Things to watch for
Will Wagner keep the tactics the same?
David Wagner broke from his usual 4-2-3-1 formation last week and played a more combative 4-5-1 lineup. This change gave us more presence in the middle of the park, covered the defence better, and gave Williams and Mooy licence to take turns in bursting forward from midfield with the ball.
Against Spurs we were too open and they picked us off, this re-jigged system gives us a more solid base to operate from. It compresses space in the middle of the park and limited Man United’s chances to mostly long-range pot shots.
I hope Wagner sets up his team the same way again. Against teams like West Brom and Brighton it would be better to play a two-man defensive midfield and a number 10, but against top teams it makes sense to be harder to break down.
Which manager knows the other best?
Given Wagner and Klopp’s close relationship I’m sure each will have a decent understanding of the other’s philosophy on the game and will have a good idea of their gameplan. It’ll be interesting to watch the tactical battle unfold and see who gets the upper hand.
The fans at Anfield are vocal in their support, but also in their criticism when things aren’t going right. I wonder if Wagner will try to build a bit of pressure on his old friend by trying to frustrate Liverpool and see if the crowd turns on their own team.
If Liverpool fans are muttering about how they “should be beating teams like Huddlesfield” by the end of the match then we’ll have done our job well.
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Will the P1s do Town justice?
Tickets in the away end at Anfield sold out very early in the priority two stage, so most of the fans in attendance will be in the priority one grouping. Some fans on social media have (unfairly) accused P1s being the kind of fans that don’t make it to many away games, don’t sing much, and complain into their thermoses instead of backing the team.
These assumptions are obviously rubbish, but it’s probably true that it will be a different mix in the stands to the typical Town away crowd. However, P1s have been going to Town games for a long time, so have shown their loyalty and support over the years.
I get the impression from social media that some of our most vocal fans aren’t in the top priority groupings for tickets, or at least not all are. It may be a bit like we’re playing our reserves in the away end at Anfield. But, as has happened in all our games this season, I’m sure our fans in the stadium will give the team every bit of support they can muster on Saturday.
Which side will the wingers play on?
One thing I found interesting about last weekend’s tweaked system was that the wingers played a slightly different role to the usual. For most of the game we had Ince on the left-wing and VLP on the right. Both prefer to play on the opposite wing to their dominant foot, so they can cut in and shoot. Instead, they were both playing on their less preferred wing.
I presume this switch was because the fullbacks weren’t going to overlap as much, and therefore the wingers needed to play with more natural width themselves. It seemed an effective tactic, as Ince was involved in the opening goal with a run down the left and VLP had his best game for Town (in my opinion) while he was playing on the right.
Opposition info: Liverpool
Liverpool received a 4-1 mauling from Spurs at the weekend, which has left them questioning their ability to compete with the top teams in the Premier League. It’s been a relatively poor start to the season for Merseyside club, sitting on 13 points from nine games so far. Defeat on Saturday would see Town leap-frog their opponents and put us back into the top-half of the table.
Jurgen Klopp employs a style of football that is very similar in style to David Wagner’s system, they press their opponents high up the pitch, try to win the ball back, and launch attacks quickly. They have a wealth of quick and skilfull players going forward but have a tendency to make silly mistakes at the back.
Man to watch: Mohamed Salah
Salah didn’t make it in the Premier League initially when he was at Chelsea, continually being loaned out all over the place instead of getting in their team. He made a name for himself at Roma though, before Liverpool signed him up for £37m this summer.
He plays on the right of Liverpool’s front three and he has incredible speed and skill on the ball. He’s also got the ability to finish too, so he’s just very good. While Saido Mane is out injured I think he’s Liverpool’s most potent attacking threat.
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Liverpool v Town history
I’m a bit surprised to see our record against Liverpool is good, we’ve won 31, drawn 17 and lost 27. Not too shabby at all. The first meeting was in the FA Cup in 1921 where we beat them 2-1.
The most recent game was also in the FA Cup, back in December 1999. We lost 2-0 that day, in front of 23,678 fans at the McAlpine Stadium. Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher all played for Liverpool. Town had Kenny Irons, Marcus Steward and Clyde Wijnhard in their team.
Terrier Spirit prediction: 1-1 draw
I was called a fool for thinking we could beat Manchester United in my prediction last weekend. This week I’m going to scale my optimism back a bit, but I still think we’ll come away from Anfield with a point.
Last weekend’s heroics were special, so we can’t expect results like that every week, but a draw is possible if we show the same fighting spirit. Liverpool can be very dangerous once their forward line start bombing up the pitch, but they’ve repeatedly made basic errors at the back this season. I’m predicting we’ll concede but also get chances to score.
They may be P1 Terrier Spirit and earned that right through the length of their Season Card but, TerrierSpirit, I NEVER EVER want an away end just made up of P1s with just the odd few P2s, 3s, 4s and 5s through the ballot. There are 10-year SC Holders in P2 and we’re just as good. I’m not one of them but, being a 7-year SC Holder, I’m still a SC Holder who’s being there for a good chunk of seasons. They get two days for too many games to buy. Roll out the red carpet for them – so much royalty treatment for them.
The amount of days is not spread evenly for all the priorities. You get one two day gaps and even gaps of three days – P3 from Friday next week to P4 the following Monday for instance. Do you think P1s are better than any other P number? We’re all fans really, however long we’ve had our SC. The top two priorities are the best to be in if you’re an away day addict though.
So yeah, I’m a SC Holder of 7 seasons TerrierSpirit. Is that impressive in your judgement? It goes back to the 2011/12 season, the season that our climb up the leagues started.
Counting your chickens 🐓 rather crazily can happen when we’ve had the win on the scale of Man Utd. I’m one of the fans not only optimistic, but bullishly. Liverpool will want a response from the Spurs defeat because the goals they let in, in that game were freakish for a defence like Liverpool’s. We can score against their defence because it’s not performing at the heights expected of it, but they also have players who are dangerous and they could be even more of a threat than Utd’s attackers if we allow their firepower 🔥 to exploit us too easily. Utd’s couldn’t because the ever-present Schindler, Zanka and the rest of our backline were all a brick wall and stubborn to open up.
There can’t be a P1 sellout as easily because of the figures below. It’s dependant on the away allocation in addition to numbers wanting to go. An allocation of 2,000 or so and there’s a possibility as they each of them could buy and just leave the ballot tickets left. Going comfortably above 2,000 and around the 3,000 region and there cannot be a sellout.
P1 numbers – 1,950
P2 numbers – 3,000
Why they will sell out in P2 this season depending on demand is because of the numbers in P2. I’ll mostly be fine as long as the P1s behave like good P1s when there’s an allocation of 2,000 or so.
WE ARE USELESS AWAY FROM HOME TERRIERSPIRIT! An eternity ago the Crystal Palace win was. We will have to be reliant on the home form as this away form is comparable to Burnley’s last season. They were just hopeless and we are following in their footsteps. Can’t buy a win away or even a goal for that matter. Phew, we’re at home next week – back in our comfort zone as we produce more when we are in our own backyard and not having to step on a coach.
I feel for the fans who are consistent in buying away tickets to not be rewarded with three points, including myself who’s not even P1. I travel away as you can’t beat an away day, but someday we just have to win away and I don’t want to walk through an away turnstile every time after a match with a face of disappointment. Burnley still survived with an away record which was poor. However, there are no gurantees for teams with a record like we have.
I demand wins from West Brom AND Bournemouth away. No match in the league is a breeze, but these teams are similar to us. If you catch a big boy on an off day like v Man Utd, you can get points. It’s the fixtures like the two games next in the awaiting in the list of fixtures points have to be acrude.
Crystal Palace WAY BACK on the first day was a monumental moment, a day to enter the history books. We can look back with fondness, but it’s in the past and it can’t help the current away record. MORE than one away day win required AND MORE than the three goals notched yonks ago are needed. Come on, the fans travel in great numbers. The demand for the tickets is with the most loyal of fans in P1 and P2, and Anfield’s atmosphere would have been dead if it wasn’t for our travelling faithful in the Anfield Road Lower. There were more Liverpool fans interested in waving half and half scarves around and taking selfies. They were only singing when they were winning and you’d think they were badly losing when they were heading up the staircases and for the exits well before the end. We sung more than they did. For Anfield the atmosphere was shocking. It was comparable to a library – SSSHHHH! Please Town, never inherit that style of surroundings at the JSS.
I cannot help but think that Klopp was confident of the win when he knew his best mate’s team have the away day winless run bug, even though they have respect for each other ;). They’ll have had a drink afterwards would have thought and a good laugh. I think we aren’t ambitious enough away. Some things in the set up aren’t right.
We don’t attack and we park the bus away. We achieved the win v Man Utd by defending for our lives, but I have to think that the away displays involve lackluster ambition going forward and defending which is panicky and forces them into errors. It’s undue pressure on them. All this occured yesterday, at Swansea and away to West Ham. We should alter how many men we play up front too and not just away from the JSS. We were okay away at Burnley, but the displays away haven’t been too impressive.
You can lose away and produce effort, but they haven’t tried with all their might away from W Yorks at Swansea and yesterday. Give it a go and if you gave it your all, even if the away days losses are mounting up, then it’s something to build on.