Last Saturday was a new low for this blog’s attempts at predicting the lineup as Carlos defied expectations and played a weakened side against one of the league’s best teams. Today’s lineup will hopefully be a return of familiar faces after the replacements that came in on Saturday were almost universally poor in the 5-0 defeat to the Cherries.
Here’s how I think we’ll lineup tonight.
Goalkeeper: Schofield
Hamer came off as a precaution at half time at the weekend but it seems he’s likely to need at least this game to recover too after picking up a slight muscle strain. Schofield should therefore get a chance to impress his coach tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him as he’s now reaching the kind of age where he should be pushing himself into contention for the number one jersey, if not this season then definitely for the next one.
I’ve seen some Manchester United fans on Twitter complain the Pereira isn’t playing for Town after his loan arrival in the summer but he made a mess of his one opportunity and unfortunately goalkeepers often don’t get more than once chance at a club. I see no reason why he should be given another run in goals when we’ve put own young keeper that’s looking ready to play in the first team.
Defence: Pipa, Edmonds-Green, Sarr, Toffolo
While nobody covered themselves in glory, I thought Rowe didn’t look awful at right back at the weekend. He wasn’t Pipa though and will surely make way now Pipa’s had a game off and will hopefully be fresh.
A lack of other options makes Edmonds-Green a likely starter tonight but I’m glad we’re getting to see a bit more of him. While he made a few mistakes against Bournemouth, none were as bad as some of the blunders committed by his more experienced defensive partner, Naby Sarr. He’s also showing a level of composure on the ball that we didn’t have when Stearman or Schindler were on the right side of central defence. It’s his ability to read danger, stand up to physical opponents and get into the right positions that he needs to work in my opinion but there are signs that he could be a top player if he develops these areas.
Speaking of Sarr, he’s another that will be likely to start again. It’s been widely reported that the big centre back seems to only ever be awful or awesome with no middle ground, so hopefully tonight we’ll get the commanding, assured version of the player rather than the hapless player we saw gifting opportunities to the opposition last Saturday. If we had more options available then it would be worth considering dropping him for a game so he can both rest and think about how he can cut out the sloppy mistakes he’s been making. Sadly though, Crichlow is the only other available central defender and it would be too risky to play him alongside another youthful defender.
Quite frankly, Toffolo stank against Bournemouth. He lost his individual battles, looked poor going forward and seemed badly in need of a rest. I think Carlos will stick with him though, because one of the points of leaving out so many in our last game was to field our strongest possible team in this game. We don’t have anyone in the squad that comes close to Toffolo’s level even when he’s not at his best.
Midfield: Hogg, O’Brien, Eiting
Bacuna and Pritchard were both ineffective in midfield at the weekend, so it’s hard to see either of them keeping their places. Thankfully Hogg is reportedly fit again, so must surely come straight back in after being so sorely missed recently.
I was surprised to see Vallejo overlooked from the starting eleven against Bournemouth as he seemed like the natural choice to come in for Hoggy. Instead he had to settle for a place on the bench and looked largely ineffective when he did come on to the pitch. It’s too soon to write him off but the signs aren’t great when he can’t get into the second-string team that faced Bournemouth never mind the best XI.
O’Brien struggled at the weekend but at least showed some fight. Bacuna and Pritchard were both frustrating in the exact same way they have both been all season. Bacuna is a luxury player that doesn’t suit the current team-focused approach we’ve got under Corberán and his better attributes don’t sufficiently compensate for the annoying aspects of his game.
Pritchard is a slightly different case as he just looks like he’s forgotten how to do the things that came naturally to him early in his career. I’m starting to think the only realistic prospect of him recapturing the promise of his youth will be at another club.
It wouldn’t stun me if Ajax have some sort of a say in the amount of games Eiting is played in (there were rumours Smith Rowe had a clause in his Town loan to restrict his number of games). He should be fit and fresh tonight though, so I expect him to play as the slightly more advanced of the three, with O’Brien more of a box-to-box player.
Forwards: Mbenza, Campbell, Diakhaby
In the absence of Koroma, Mbenza is the dangerman in our squad now, so he has to start tonight and needs to show some goal threat. His return of three goals so far is OK but when you consider two have come from direct freekicks, it shows that he hasn’t been getting into scoring positions from open play enough. This didn’t matter so much when Koroma was on the pitch too but now I’d like to see Mbenza looking to shoot more than cross and trying to get into good areas inside the box. Moving him to the left wing, so he can cut onto his right foot to shoot may give him more chances to score.
Fraizer Campbell is another player that could do with taking on some of the responsibility to score goals now our top scorer is sidelined. This might mean making fewer selfless runs to draw away defenders and instead looking to get on the end of a few chances himself instead. While I doubt he’ll ever be prolific for us, he can at least chip in with a few more goals than he is currently managing.
I sense I’ll get a bit of stick in the comments for predicting Diakhaby starting tonight but he’s literally the only fit winger we have available. I’d be hesitant to say he played well against Bournemouth but equally, he played better than at least five of the other starters in my view which is an improvement. He’s still very frustrating to watch and has frankly appalling body language at times but Carlos doesn’t appear to have written him off just yet so I can see him starting tonight.
There are alternatives to Diakhaby that could be considered but I’m not too keen on any of them. Jaden Brown doesn’t ever look like he’s going to get past his marker and I’m not convinced he can play on the wings. Bacuna slows the game down by trying to do too much with the ball in possession. Pritchard isn’t quick or skillful enough to be able to play this position. Then there’s just the kids in the academy to consider and I think last Saturday showed that we need to ease them in gently rather than throwing them in to the start of Championship games.
Spot on, despite Diakhaby. Why not play Aaron Rowe or Pritchard on the right wing and Mbenza on the left. Also Bacuna can’t do too much damage playing high up the pitch. A good performance is required.
I’d be interested in seeing Rowe playa but further up the pitch. He’s probably a similar speed to Diakhaby and might have a bit more about him too. I’ve found it odd that he had his debut in the second Premier League season but hasn’t made much of an impact since then.
Well that’s about the best team we have at present. I wouldn’t be totally surprised though if Carlos started Brown on the left but I also agree he’s not a left winger nor good enough.
Thats just about the best eleven we can field, Bacuna always plays his best off the bench in the second half, we need to take advantage of the number of home games now till new year, surely we cant have another debacle like sat. and agree that Mbenza takes on the scoring mantle, we know he has a good shot on him, he just needs to use it more. UTT.
Phillips as an impact sub?
In theory I’d like to see Rowe start further up the pitch, but in practice, it’s probably already been tried. They tried it with Jack Hunt all those years ago and for some reason it doesn’t work. Attacking wing backs only seem effective when overlapping from the deeper defensive positions.
The difference between Rowe and Hunt is that Rowe is a natural winger who has tried to be converted to a fullback whereas Hunt was a natural fullback converted to a wingback.
If you saw him in the cup game at Arsenal I think you’ll agree he looked every inch the flying winger when he flew down the wing on that amazing run. Never saw him do anything as good as that again though I must admit.
I was with you right up to the last name on your list. We have many better players than Diakhaby
(it would be a sorry state of affairs if we had many worse) at the club and they’re not all injured. If he plays I can only assume it’s because Carlos is under orders to pick him.
Rowe looked good in pre-season, so I’d be temped to swap him for Diakhaby. I’d even risk one of the B-Team kids over Dia.
They’ll have obviously tried Aaron Rowe in the more forward position in training and it doesn’t work.
When they played the pre season friendly with Man U U23s, Rowe was fantastic working with Koroma down that side. If now, they could alternate him with Tipa down that side, sharing the attacking and defensive duties, I can’t see any reason why that shouldn’t work. But have they already tried it in training.
Hunt was a wingback that couldn’t defend.
Diakhaby not good enough had too many chances we need to try something or someone different I would have a go with Duhaney at right back & pipa as the winger they can interact & it shouldn’t disrupt the rest of the team
I am happy with a clean sheet, and accept we don’t have a clinical striker playing so don’t expect hatfulls of goals, but there were some seriously poor performances tonight. Lots of credit then to Schofield and Edmonds-Green for looking like diamonds in the rough. Toffolo defended incredibly well but seems to have lost any attacking ability, as did a very under par Pipa. But what the hell happened to the midfiled? Mbenza was hit and miss, Eiting was totally invisible and O’Brien was a disgrace – if Diakhaby had had as many misplaced passes as him then there would have been uproar. I like Bacuna but he is misfiring at present and tonight was a classic example of how poor he can be. I hate coming here and moaning all the time, and the injury list isn’t helping, bit so many of our regulars just did not perform again.
Pour passing was below par but the work rate was. Good and every point is valuable I’m satisfied with the and clean sheet
Ian, I’m with you! I too would prefer not to be a moaner. I too thought O’Brien’s performance was awful and I agree, if Diakhaby had played like that, well I think we’d have been reading obscenities! And I agree with you about Eiting (was he on the pitch?) and also Bacuna (he’s got to realise he’s not as good as he thinks he is).
On the central striker thing, I hope somehow we can sort that out in the January transfer window. I hold my head in my hands when I watch Campbell running around like he’s on Duracell batteries but to very little effect, and then when finally a cross comes into the box, Campbell arrives too late. We’ve been down this road before but I’m sorry I don’t buy the line “he makes space for others”. If my central striker isn’t great at holding up the ball, not got anything to offer in an aerial battle, no great pace and doesn’t score many goals, well there’s no place in my starting XI. I accept that right now, there really isn’t another viable option. Hence I hope something might happen with a loan striker in January.
I’m waiting for your post match player ratings. I sincerely hope you were watching the same game as me; I don’t think Steven Chicken was judging by his scoring! How about also rating the match as a whole for entertainment value? What do you reckon – 0, 1 or 2?
Agreed Simon. Steve Chicken does appear to have been more than generous but it is notable than the fans scores sem to reflect reality.
first half was a good game second half scrappy but as for ratings its is opinion as it is ours but in the big scheme of things don’t realloy matter. As a side they worked hard and deserved a point nothing more nothing less.given the injuries any point we get will be welcome
I agree, David, the first half was better than the second. Do the ratings matter? In the scheme of things, of course not. But they are interesting to compare & contrast people’s views. If there is one point difference, e.g. you give a 7 and I give a 6, so what? But sometimes one has to say – what game were you watching? An example from yesterday. This is what Steven Chicken said about Lewis O’Brien’s performance:-
“Played two lovely passes in for Mbenza in the first half, the first after winning possession high up the pitch. A pretty convincing return to form. 7. ”
You don’t score a 7 on the back of a couple of decent passes. What was his passing success rate? I’ve no idea but it was woeful. He was absolutely awful in the second half – every pass went astray, running into blind alleys, committing needless & silly fouls. A midfielder who can’t find a man from 10 yards, well it’s incomprehensible. It was a 4/5 rated performance; definitely not a 7.
It gives me no pleasure at all to single out Lewis O’Brien (there were others who were equally as bad) because I do believe he actually is a decent player. He’s playing nowhere near his best form and hasn’t done yet this season. Strangely that does give me grounds for optimism. If Carlos can somehow get O’Brien back on the right track, the Town midfield could come to life.
fair point simon two passes doesnt make a good game but like all the team he put in a good shift but i woudnt have marked him 7 like most of te team a six but lets not be too critical of the team this is a tough time allround..we all want the best but that is easier said than done
Hi Simon, I’m a bit late with the player ratings article but it’s up now. Here’s the link: https://terrierspirit.com/my-patience-is-wearing-thin-with-him-player-ratings-for-huddersfield-towns-bore-draw-with-coventry/. I suspect you’ll think I’ve been too generous but it’s all my honest opinion.
As for the match’s entertainment value, three out of ten would be about right in my opinion, there were a few potential goals and we weren’t dreadful just a bit off it.