As much as watching Huddersfield Town can be an unpleasant experience at times, it’s still annoying when the international break gives a pause to the football. Thankfully neither Burton or Huddersfield Town had enough internationals to justify calling off this Saturday’s game, so we’ve only missed one weekend of football.
As a fan, I haven’t enjoyed the break in club football but I can see how some extra time on the training ground and a break from competitive games was a good thing for the team. After a very promising start to the season, our last three results had been two draws and a defeat against three teams that varied from poor to average.
Burton Albion might not be the league’s most fancied teams but they’ve accumulated the same number of points as Town this season and will leapfrog us in the table if they beat us. Martin Drury will need to get his team selection right if he wants to get anything from this game. Here’s whatI think he’ll decide…
Goalkeeper: Young
Matty Young has looked a bit wobbily in recent games, particularly around commanding his box and coming out for crosses. His reluctance to get off his line has meant he’s not got to balls he should have won a couple of times, which have led to goals. This feels like something that can be coached into a young keeper though and hopefully he’ll get better. I have a feeling other teams will have noticed this weakness too and might target him. He looks pretty good otherwise and has played some lovely long range passes out to start counter-attacks, so he’s obviously got something about him but he needs to get better at commanding his box and smashing everything that gets between him and the ball when crosses come into the box.
Defenders: Bronkhorst, Balker, Wallace, Bowat, Roughan
Town have a plethora of choices at rightback, with Bronkhorst, Sorensen, Gooch and even freakishly good long thrower Max Murry in the Under 21s. So far, Martin Drury has been pretty faithful to Bronkhorst in this position and I suspect he’ll keep the faith for this game too. I quite like Bronkhorst but his crossing has been poor so far. Having said that, Lyden Gooch is a better crosser but rarely manages to get into positions where he can deliver a telling cross.
Radinio Balker has been away on international duty with Suriname so has clocked up a fair number of air miles as well as starting two games for his country during the break. The problem is that we don’t have a like-for-like replacement in the squad for him, in terms of having a ball-playing central defender that’s also comfortable dropping into the right-back area. Jack Whatmough might have been a different but capable alternative but he’s had another injury setback and won’t be seen for a little while.
After singing Murray Wallace’s praises earlier in the season, I’ve been unimpressed with him in some recent games. He’s a useful old head to have on the pitch but I wonder if we might be better giving Joe Low a run in defence for a while instead to give us a bit more height and power at the back. I don’t think Martin Drury will go that way for this game though as he’s tended towards keeping a settled starting eleven as much as injuries allow.
Ibane Bowat can have the odd lapse but on the whole I think he’s done well for us so far. He’s pretty quick for his size, looks comfortable on the ball and can switch between left-back and left side of a back three without too much of an issue. It’s nice to have a young central defender that’s actually our player rather than a loanee, as hopefully he’ll be at the club for a number of years and we’ll get the benefit of him improving as he gets more experience.
The left side of our team is a problem area and I don’t think we’ve found the best option within the squad we currently have. Sean Roughan’s start to the season has been disrupted by injury but I believe he’s fully fit and ready for selection now, so I’d like to see him brought in at left-wingback. He might not be the most attacking minded, but he can get forward and has a pretty decent cross on him. The alternatives of Bali Mumba and Jay Sway are both a bit inconsistent and, in Mumba’s case, infuriating to watch. Mumba’s tendency to constantly turn onto his right foot makes me question why he’s always played on the left. I appreciate it can be useful to cut in from wide areas sometimes but when it’s all the time and often straight into traffic, it feels a bit silly.
Midfielders: Collins, Harness, Humphreys
Ryan Ledson is still out with a poorly elbow, so I’d expect the pairing of Humphreys and Collins to persist. I’m hopeful that Archie Collins will improve as he gets closer to full match fitness. He missed out on preseason friendlies because he was a free agent and has been spending the time since he signed catching up. Necessity has meant he’s been thrown in before he was at his peak, so I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet but surely he must be close to full match sharpness now.
Cameron Humphreys has looked pretty good since he came back to Town. I think he’s settled in quickly because he played well at the end of last season under Drury and Stead, so didn’t have the kind of adjustment period other new players have needed. He’s also a very talented footballer, so he is handy to have on the pitch. Personally, I’d prefer to see him in a more advanced role where he can be affecting our attacking play more but while Ledson is injured he’s needed in a more traditional midfield area.
I’m not sure Martin Drury has worked out the best position to play Marcus Harness in yet this season, he’s played in central midfield, both wings, wingback and behind a main striker. To his credit, Harness has said that he’s happy to play wherever he’s asked but he could do with nailing down a regular position and getting some consistency. The way I’ve picked the team, I’ve imagined him as a sort of link between midfield and attack, playing in the area Joe Taylor has been featuring, as a tucked in winger/secondary striker. He’s not got Taylor’s electric pace but I think his skill on the ball and ability to pick out a clever pass could be useful in this role.
Attackers: Fernandes, Radulovic
Martin Drury rested/dropped Fernandes for the Bromley game and we played poorly and lost. Hopefully that was a lesson learned and Fernandes will play whenever he’s available. It has been noted that he tends to save his best games for the Accu Stadium but I’d still want to see him starting every week while we have so few other genuinely exciting attacking players. With Joe Taylor away on international duty, this would be an opportunity to experiment with Fernandes playing more like a striker, alongside whichever of the big men Drury picks to go up front.
I’ve consistently incorrectly picked whether Drury will go with Radulovic or Fletcher up front this season. They seem to be in equal positions in the pecking order even though they bring different skills to this role. Radulovic doesn’t have quite the same battering ram style as Fletcher but he is better at dropping off and linking play and has been more clinical in front of goal this season. He missed the Bromley game due to a back spasm but is apparently fully fit again now.
If I was Martin Drury, I’d be tempted to play both Radulovic and Fletcher as a front two and then bombard Burton’s box with crosses for them to feed off. The reason I don’t think we’ll do this is because we would then have no reliable option to replace either of them, and both have tended to be subbed off after an hour in most of our games when they’ve started. After Samson Tovide’s error-strewn debut against Bromley, I would be very reluctant to give him more minutes on the pitch in meaningful games.
