Huddersfield Town take on Brentford later today and Carlos Corberán will have the job of trying to pick eleven Town players that can get something out of the game. Not an easy task given the players he has at his disposal.
On the plus side, injuries and a general lack of numbers in our squad makes it easier to predict who we might see turn out for Town (but I’m sure I’ll still manage to make a mess of predicting the starting eleven).
Here’s who I think Carlos will pick…
Goalkeeper: Ben Hamer
I thought that Hamer had a pretty good game against Norwich. He couldn’t be blamed for the game’s only goal and his distribution was quick and precise.
It’s going to take a long run of games like last weekend for Hamer to regain his confidence and the trust of Town fans. The longer he goes without a howler the more he’ll grow in confidence. One uneventful game is a bit early to call this Hamer’s renaissance but I hope it could be the start of him returning to form.
Defence: Pipa, Schindler, Toffolo, Brown
After last weekend’s encouraging debut, Pipa is the obvious choice at right back. You could even say he’s the only choice at right back but that’s not exactly fair to Aaron Rowe and Dumeaco Duhaney.
Schindler is also a near certainty to play on the right side of central defence. This small change in his positioning on the pitch is a clue towards the longer term plan for the defence. Schindler has spent almost all of his Town career as a left sided central defender but Corberán obviously wants a left footed player on that side, who will presumably be Sarr when he’s allowed out of his hotel room.
It’s harder to know who Schindler’s partner will be in the heart of defence for this game. Arguably it would be harsh to drop Stearman after an otherwise excellent performance last weekend was spoiled by a terrible backpass that led to Norwich’s goal. While an elbow to the face played a part, Stearman has been involved in quite a few blunders for Town.
The elbow to the face and his long hair getting in his eyes were cited as possible reasons for that poor pass, the fact he’s a right footer playing on the left was a factor too. A natural lefty wouldn’t have needed to let the ball run across his body in the way Stearman did and would have been able to play Bacuna’s poor pass forward rather than turning away and having to go backwards.
Until Sarr is available Romomey Crichlow is our only left footed centre back on our books. However, Toffolo has been redeployed in this role several times so far under Corberán and I think he may start in central defence against Brentford. This means we won’t get the full benefits of his attacking threat but does mean there will be someone in the heart of defence that is very comfortable on the ball and can pick out a pass.
If Toffolo is moved inside then Jaden Brown is the natural choice to step in at left back, where he will be expected to do a lot of running and supporting the attacks. He’s not as good as Toffolo in this role but can do a decent job.
Midfield: Hogg, Pritchard, Bacuna
It has been reported that Carlos isn’t happy with his options in defensive midfield and is looking to strengthen in this area of the pitch, with Ajax youngster Carel Eiting being a rumoured target. Until we have better options it will most likely be Jonathan Hogg providing cover in front of the defenders.
I picked Austerfield in my last two predictions articles for this role but was wrong on both occasions. Honestly, I’d prefer Austerfield to Hoggy because he’s a bit more ambitious and creative with his passing. However, I understand the need for experience and defensive grit, particularly against a talented Brentford team.
Ben Jackson did not do a great deal wrong against Norwich last weekend and he can be proud to have made his Championship debut. I would, however, limit his involvement in this game to the bench. As I mentioned in my stats article about the Norwich game, Jackson only completed two successful passes out of the seven he attempted in the whole game and did not get on the ball enough for my liking. Most likely just a bit of nerves creeping in but I think it’s important not to overuse young players and to give them time to adapt to this level of football.
Pritchard and Bacuna both deserve to be dropped for their lacklustre performances against Norwich last weekend but the lack of experienced alternatives makes it hard to leave them out of the team. It could be that continuing to pick them gives them time to play themselves into form. I hope so, as a repeat performance of last weekend’s showing from this pair will almost certainly spell defeat for the Terriers.
Forwards: Koroma, Campbell, Diakhaby
Josh Koroma and Adama Diakhaby both performed admirably last weekend and deserve to keep their positions in the starting lineup. The only change I would make to the forward is to bring Campbell back into the lineup and move Koroma wide to fill the gap left by Juninho Bacuna dropping into midfield.
Frazier Campbell has been injured for most of preseason and Corberán confessed he is still working his way back to full match fitness. Our lack of alternative options makes me think that Campbell will start the game but is likely to be subbed early in the second half.
I can’t say I’m confident that this attacking trident will score goals this weekend but I also can’t think of any other combination of three attackers we could field that would be any more potent a threat. Hopefully the tactic of encouraging other players to bomb forward in support when we attack will create enough chaos for goals to come our way.
How many of my predictions did I get right last weekend?
I had an absolute shocker in predicting the team against Norwich last weekend. I accurately predicted seven out of the starting eleven. Crichlow, Austerfield, Mbenza and Ward were all in my selection but didn’t start the game.
In my defence, I didn’t know Danny Ward was injured at the time I published the article and Mbenza had played better than Diakhaby the week before and seemed a more obvious choice. My appreciation of Austerfield clouded my judgement when it was fairly obvious Hogg was likely to start. Stearman starting instead of Crichlow was another example of Corberán going with experience over youth.
How likely are this week’s predictions to be correct?
I wouldn’t rule out Corberán naming an unchanged starting eleven today but that would be fairly boring to write about so I’ve predicted a few changes that might address some of our weaknesses against Norwich. For that reason, I’m not confident I’ve got my prediction right this week.
Toffolo at centre back is a bit of a leftfield prediction (pun intended) but I have a feeling it might happen. Equally, Campbell is most likely not fit enough to start even though we’ve no other available options apart from playing wingers out of position.
What I’m trying to say is that predicting the starting lineup is tricky and I have a tendency to overthink it and get it wrong.
Who do you think will start for Town today? Put your thoughts in the comments below.
Hi, you recently posted about how many players Town need. After today’s limp disjointed performance against Brentford the 4 that you suggested seems well short, perhaps missing a 1 in front of it? I’m sorry to be so pessimistic so early in the season but we just looked out of our depth, even before the injuries to Schindler and Toffolo. The doomsayers predicting relegation have a point……..