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 changed the game on Saturday:
- Fer could have been sent off for his brutal challenge on Lössl in the opening minutes
- Ince could (should) have scored from 8 yards out
- Lössl could have passed to Zanka instead of a Swansea player in the build-up for the first goal (not exactly bad luck, but a moment that went against us)
- Tom Ince could have gone one-on-one with the keeper and scored if he wasn’t hacked down
- The ref could have awarded a penalty and red card for the foul in the incident above, he did neither
- The loose ball from Mooy’s tackle could have gone somewhere else instead of being a perfect through ball for Swansea
- VLP’s deflected shot might have crept under the crossbar instead of hitting it
- Billing and Malone needing to come off meant we couldn’t make any more tactical substitutes, so Sabiri didn’t get a chance to turn the game
I’m not saying we deserved to win, but on another day we might have had a bit more luck and managed to get something from the game. Ince’s early miss would have changed the game completely and I genuinely think that would have given us a platform to go on and win from.
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Huddersfield Town are 12th in the Premier League
It’s easy to forget that we’re in a really strong position in the league. Our recent form is poor, but we put points on the board early, which means this run without a win isn’t as bad as it might feel to some fans.
Things are congested in the middle of the Premier League table and a few wins could propel us back into contention for the European places. In all honesty, I doubt we’re likely to be competing in the top half of the league, but we’re only six points away from the Champions League spots at the moment.
More importantly, we’re four points above the relegation zone. My expectation is that we’ll be hovering in or around the drop zone for most of the season but there are plenty of other teams with problems. There’s a very good chance we’ll be safe this year if we can find a bit of form.
David Wagner knows what he’s doing
I’ve seen quite a few complaints aimed at Wagner after the Swansea defeat but I don’t think they’re justified. I don’t think the Swansea result was a case of the wrong tactics or wrong selection, it was just too many players underperforming on the day.
The good news is that Wagner proved last season that he’s capable of recovering from runs of bad results. Last season followed a similar arc, where we started very well and then slumped in the autumn. We bounced back then, and I expect we will this season too.
There’s a lot more scrutiny on the team now we’re in the Premier League and ever decision is pulled to pieces but Wagner is still a top manager and we can trust him to get things moving in the right direction.
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Key players are coming back from injury
Danny Williams, Steve Mounié, Kasey Palmer, and Collin Quaner are all either back in training or close to being available again. These players are capable of turning games and will increase competition for places within the team.
Mounié, in particular, has been sorely missed. Even if Depoitre is the starting striker, we need another striker available, so we can freshen things up in the later stages of games. Collin Quaner, for all the criticism he receives, is also a great impact sub.
On top of that Mooy will have had a chance to rest after his exploits with the Australian national team, so will be fresh and raring to go for the Manchester United game.
The pressure is off Town in the next two games
We’ve got Manchester United at home and Liverpool away in our next games. There’s no shame in Town losing these games but there’s a chance for Town to achieve a result that will be remembered for generations.
I can imagine telling my grandchildren about the time Town stuffed Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United at the John Smith’s, or how we scraped a flukey 3-2 win away at Anfield. Maybe these results aren’t likely, but how incredible it is that it’s even possible?
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The “enjoy the ride” people have a point
As I see it, there are two camps of people that support Town. One group thinks that now we’re promoted we should lift our expectations, be competitive in every game, and get annoyed if we don’t do well. The others are pleased to be playing in the Premier League and aren’t going to be too upset if we get the odd spanking.
“Let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride” is a common response from the more laid back fans, and I think they’ve got a point. It was a complete freak outcome for us to get into the Premier League in the first place, now we’re here it’s silly to not just enjoy the experience, regardless of results.
I’m sure David Wagner isn’t telling the players to “enjoy the ride”, he’ll be showing them the way they can get something from games against the top teams. However, as fans, it seems much more enjoyable to just be happy to be sitting at the big boy’s table, even if we have to feed off scraps.
TerrierSpirit, we can’t just accept one season and then be relegated. It’s silly to be here to just make up the numbers. Let’s sort out the form and not just enjoy playing Premier League football. We can be an established club and play the calibre of teams we are playing on a regular basis if we just sort the worrying form out. I cannot defend this form. How can anyone enjoy hardly winning? The first two wins are yonks ago. We are 12th but, believe me, continue with this form into the future and we will be looking over our shoulders at the drop zone. You can’t enjoy that I’m afraid.
I hope we don’t get relegated but if we do it’ll be OK. The parachute money means we’ll be able to be a big team and have a chance of bouncing back.
The Premier League is tough but while we’re here I’m going to enjoy every minute, regardless of what happens.
I enjoy being in it too and at the start of the campaign I looked at us and I really thought this team can survive. Now we’re in the middle of a barren run I’m losing patience with the team. Getting out of these runs is important to staying up.
On a personal level, parachute money doesn’t make you a favourite for an immediate return from the Championship or a big club. It’s just there to assist the relegated club with their bid for a return back to the Premier League. It’s doesnt necessarily help though. You only have to look at Sunderland. They could do a Blackburn and go down to League One. Talk of relegation is somewhat inevitable as a newly-promoted club, but we can set the stakes higher if we just get back to our best. This league takes no prisoners, so the sooner the better.
Zanka’s face is disgusted in the photo in your write-up; therefore, he cares. Tell your team-mates to sort themselves out Mr Zanka. One goal in three games since Leicester at home is INDEFENSIBLE and no win since August is INDEFENSIBLE. I’d tell the rest of the back four, including Lössl, to stop messing around with the ball and just kick it up field out of danger. If you concede goals from it, you know you can’t play that style of football.
No goal in three games*
I believe we can survive but we need more depth up front , we have cover for every position but we rely on two strikers , I hope we can buy two more strikers in January , that aside I’m living the dream , I never in my wildest dreams thought we would get into the premiership so I for one am enjoying the season whatever happens , I’m in the cowshed this year and the atmosphere is electric
It is electric in there Dean. I wanted my Season Card in there, but silly me renewed my current seat in the FMU when I knew in the back of my head that my heart was in the Cowshed. The one downside to being in the Premier League is having to hand the visiting team the maximum allocation of 2,340 regularly and other fans can’t exchange into the stand as frequent like last season. The only visitors that have been given the reduced allocation of 1,500 (we know the segregation barrier is movable) was Southampton. Goodness knows when fans can exchange into the stand again. Maybe Brighton in December as a possibility?
I will move next season in what will HOPEFULLY be a second season in the Premier League. Just rediscover that winning mentality that is desparately missing as it’s not there when you haven’t won in so many matches. A run without a win is inevitable and it’s about responding. We haven’t done that as yet. Frustrations will run high in the fanbase. We just don’t want to look back at this run with regret as runs of this kind can be costly.