The day has finally arrived! The start of the new season. Today is a fresh start for a number of other reasons too as both teams have new head coaches tonight and will most likely be fielding a few new players (though for Huddersfield Town they may be on the bench to start with).
Both of tonight’s teams hoped to be starting this season in the Premier League but are having to settle for the Championship. Burnley after relegation, Huddersfield Town following a bitter playoff final defeat. Both teams now have to put those disappointments aside, brush themselves down and get ready for a 46-game Championship campaign. How good you were last season does not matter one bit any more and now it’s all about what you can do this season, it’s a fresh start and that’s the beauty of football. Every season you start again with a clean start and get an opportunity to do it all over again. Maybe this time it will be different.
So let’s have a look at who we can expect to see in Danny Schofield’s first proper team selection tonight!
Goalkeeper: Nicholls
The best goalkeeper in the Championship last season. I was going to say in my opinion in that last sentence but the fact he was in the Team of the Season, which means that it was also in everyone else’s opinion too. He may find referee’s don’t give him as much leeway with his time wasting antics this season as there has been an official mandate from on high that such behaviour will not be tolerated. We’ll see how that works though as he proved himself to be a master of the dark arts last season and I can’t see him suddenly becoming a boy scout just because the referees have said they’re going to be tough!
Defence: Turton, Edmonds-Green, Lees, Ruffels
Pipa’s summer exit means that we have a clear master and apprentice in the right back position, with Ollie Turton being the clear first choice and young Northern Ireland international Brodie Spencer being the backup option. Given the youngster played for his country’s senior team in the summer, he must be pretty special, so it will be interesting to see more of him this season but he’ll have to play well to displace the ginger Cafu from the starting eleven.
Matty Pearson is an injury doubt for today’s game after limping out of the friendly with Bolton last weekend after only a few minutes. It looked like a fairly nasty injury but it sounded in the press conference like there’s an outside possibility he could still play (though typically that means he’s out).
Will Boyle is also unavailable due to a suspension he picked up for a red card he received at Cheltenham at the end of last season, so he can’t play today either. So that leaves a choice between Nakayama or Edmonds-Green to partner Tom Lees. I’ve gone with Edmonds-Green instead of Nakayama because the former has played more preseason games despite the latter being a left footer and adding more balance to the back line. However, I watched the Tranmere Rovers friendly last weekend and I thought Edmonds-Green’s sloppy clearance was to blame for Tranmere’s goal in that game, so hopefully he’s a bit more careful with where he boots the ball tonight.
Nakayama is also in contention for the left back berth but again I would go with the player that has played more games in preseason and knows our set up better. Ruffels has had to wait patiently for his opportunities in the past and generally has done well when he’s come in, so deserves a chance to stake his claim on the left back slot now. The League Cup game the week after next is most likely a good opportunity to give new players such as Nakayama a chance to get a run out and let him show what he can do.
Midfield: Hogg, Russell, Holmes
I’m not sure that Schofield will play a three-man midfield. It may be more like a 4-2-3-1, with Holmes playing more like a number 10, who can buzz around and press the defence when we don’t have the ball and support the midfield when we’re in possession. He had to play out on the wings a lot last season but I think his natural position is more central and hopefully we’ll see him there more this season now the squad has more natural wingers in it.
Last season we looked a little bit slow in the middle of the park when we had Hogg and Russell playing as a midfield two, so if we go with that combination tonight it will be down to that pairing to show that they can be mobile and not get caught on the backs of their heels too much. Russell in particular can be guilty of dropping too deep and forgetting to push out when we defend but Hogg is pretty good at telling other players where they need to be, so hopefully they can work together as a unit.
Now O’Brien has gone, I think we have to find a way of getting Hogg and Russell to work together. I think it means Russell being more mobile and playing on the tips of his toes more. I don’t think it’s a fitness issue for him and it is more a state of mind issue. He’s the most laid back player I’ve seen on a football pitch and that’s lovely to see when he’s stroking the ball about like he’s got all the time in the world but when we defend he could do with a bit more hustle bustle about him.
Forwards: Thomas, Ward, Koroma
Thomas went away with Wales for a few weeks after the playoff final, so his post-season break was incredibly short. That was after a season where he played nearly every minute of every game for Town and went away on international duty with Wales during most of the International breaks too. In his first full year of professional football. I’m a bit worried about his body’s ability to cope with the amount of football he’s played. But, having said that, he seems to be in fine fettle and maybe he’s got the kind of body that stands up well to being pushed hard every week. Regardless, we’re not really in a position to rest him because nobody else in our squad can do what he does, so he’ll start on the right wing tonight and now that Sinani has gone we’ll rely even more heavily on him for set pieces too.
Danny Ward scored a superb goal against Bolton last weekend in the friendly (converting a sublime open play cross from Sorba Thomas) where his movement got him in front of a giant of a centre back and he glanced in a header that arced into the far post. He looks sharp, fit and ready to pick up where he left off last season. He did get subbed late on last week but I think that was a precaution and he should be fine to start tonight.
The left wing position is still a bit of a concern for Town. We’ve got lots and lots of options but we don’t have much certainty about who to play there. Josh Koroma, if he was at his best, would be the obvious choice so he’s the player I’ve gone with today but I think it’s over a year since we’ve seen the best of him – currently he looks low on confidence and tries too hard whenver he gets on the ball. Here’s a list of the laternative options: Pat Jones, Tino Anjorin, Danny Grant, Jack Rudoni, Rolando Aarons, Aaron Rowe and even Duane Holmes. They could all play on the left wing at some point this season but I’m not sure any of them are a natural fit.
Koroma could solve a headache for Danny Schofield tonight by showing he’s the obvious choice, otherwise we could see a long list of auditions for the part of the next few months.
It’s a weakened and pretty much untested back line if that’s what we go with.
Turton grew as the season progressed, proof I suppose that a run of games can do so much for a player.
I’m so unconvinced on Ruffels, all I have is the Forest cup game in my head.
He was turned inside out, couldn’t stop a cross and his passing was atrocious.
Hes obviously better than that, but is he above his level I just don’t know.
If he does get a run of games hopefully he turns out similar to Turton.
I’d love to see some new signings blooded from the start but I suppose it’s a balance between maybe being disjointed or playing a team that will ultimately be short of what will be our first eleven.
I can see 4 or so additions coming in to your starting eleven over the season.
Hopefully Burnley are as disjointed as we might be tonight, after all they’ve plenty of new recruits to bed in.
No result would surprise me, but let’s hope for a positive one in what’s a difficult little opening run to boost the confidence of the players that they can still perform without the players who left over the summer.