Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Mansfield

After a very long period away from club football because of the international break, we’re now at the start of a hectic period with a glut of games over the next few weeks. Town’s visit to Mansfield this afternoon will be a chance for Lee Grant’s men to continue their momentum from their two consecutive wins before the break. Though there’s also the looming doubt about whether Town have really turned a corner, following a pretty dismal collapse in form prior to those two wins.

To get the right result today, Lee Grant will need to make the right selection. With a few players returning to fitness over the last few weeks, there are more options available. But with Town putting in one of their better performances against Plymouth in their last game, it would be understandable to want to stick with a winning team.

Here’s how I think we’ll line up today…

Goalkeeper: Goodman

Owen Goodman travelled to the Canada national team camp but didn’t play in any of their friendly games. While that seems like a lot of travelling to just sit on the bench and watch other people play football, he’ll no doubt have enjoyed the experience of international football and will be licking his lips at the prospect of forcing his way into their team in time for next summer’s World Cup. Cynics might question Goodman’s allegiance to a country he only became a resident of in October of 2025 but he did live there for eight years as a child. Jetlag could potentially mean Goodman is dropped in favour of Lee Nicholls but I suspect, having only just been returned to the league starting eleven, Goodman will most likely keep his place today.

Defence: Sorensen, Feeney, Balker, Roosken

Lyden Gooch is now fully fit but I think Sorensen deserves to keep his starting place at right-back, based on his recent outings. Gooch is probably the better of the two but as Sorensen was decent against Plymouth, I think it would send the wrong message to drop him. Particularly as Gooch can play nearly every outfield position, so is handy to have on the bench.

When we signed Josh Feeney, I assumed he was likely to feature occasionally as backup to Whatmough and Low. With those two struggling for fitness and form respectively, Feeney has been our most consistent central defender so far this season. He’s comfortable on the ball and tends to win his defensive battles, so I’m pleased that he’s getting so much game time. While I’m not sure he’s of the standard to make him likely to play for his parent club in the Premier League, there are definitely signs that he could play at a higher level in the future.

Feeney’s partner in central defence isn’t clear and this is the area of my predicted lineup I think I’m most likely to get wrong. Balker started against Plymouth and was very good but he’s been with the Suriname national team and has done a lot of travelling, so may be kept back to preserve him. Joe Low and Murray Wallace have both returned to fitness, so could step in, with Low being the obvious choice, given how often Grant has played him this season. My gut tells me that we’ll see more of Radinio Balker, as he’s a brilliant passer and carries the ball up the field well. He can be a bit dodgy when up against a physical and aerially dominant striker but that’s a tradeoff worth making for his classier qualities.

Ruben Roosken wasn’t even considered a left-back at the start of the season but after the failed experiment with him as a winger, it now seems that he’s being given a chance at his preferred position of left-back. Paradoxically, Roosken is more of a threat going forward when he’s playing in a deeper position. I think his main strength when attacking is to make runs from deep that are harder for defences to pick up. When he plays as a winger he doesn’t have the space to get up a bit of momentum and he lacks the skills and close control to make space the way wingers usually do. At fullback he can bomb forward and overlap, which helps him get into dangerous areas.

Midfield: Wiles, Harness, Ledson, Miller

I’m not Ben Wiles’ biggest fan but I think he’s a bit of a teacher’s pet, as Lee Grant picks him whenever he’s available. Perhaps Wiles is doing something for the team which is hard to spot as a fan but is very useful to the manager in implementing his tactics. Or perhaps he has incriminating photos of Lee Grant. Either way, I think Wiles will keep his place on the right wing even if Leo Castledine is the more exciting option for the same role.

Moving on to another teacher’s pet, Marcus Harness was thrown into central midfield because of the complete absence of senior squad members that specialise in that role. However, the winger proved himself to be a very useful player in this area of the pitch. He’s not a conventional midfielder but Harness’ ability on the ball makes him valuable in getting our passing game going. As a winger without a great deal of pace, playing deeper gives him more time on the ball and his lack of pace doesn’t matter so much as he can make the ball do the work for him, when he pings it around into spaces. Even when the regular central midfielders become available (Kasumu is apparently close, with Evans not far behind), I’d be tempted to stick with Harness if he can keep up his form from the last two games.

I’ve expressed my doubts about Ryan Ledson during Town’s downturn but he was actually very good in our last game against Plymouth. He got through a lot of busywork in midfield, keeping things ticking over and helped to keep the tempo of the game up. With Harness not likely to be crunching into tackles, it was useful to have Ledson on hand to do the ugly side of the game.

I talked about how Roosken’s conversion to a left winger didn’t take earlier in the season but it looks like Mickel Miller may make a better fist of this role. While I’d still prefer an actual left winger to play on left wing, Miller can do a pretty decent impression of one. He’s a bit more technically skilled in tight areas, compared to Roosken, so is more likely to take a man on or show a bit of flair. Now we’re playing with two strikers, I’d like to see more of the lashed-in crosses that he specialises in.

Strikers: Radulovic and Charles

Playing with two strikers is far too rare in modern football, with number tens, false nines or inverted wingers often being preferred. I’m sure there are long-winded powerpoint presentations that get shown to modern managers to warn them off this type of football, but as a fan I love to see two strikers being given a go. And if you look back on Radulovic’s goal against Plymouth, there was a perfect example of why two strikers are useful. Charles did great work in the channel and Bojan was able to work his way into space in the box to tap-in Charles’ square ball. Without a second striker on the pitch, there wouldn’t have been an extra body in that spot to convert a simple opportunity.

While I would hope that Alfie May and Joe Taylor play plenty more minutes this season, it’s hard to drop Charles and Radulovic when both have looked good in our last two victories. Charles has three goals in his last two games, Radulovic has two goals in four league appearances (one start, three from the bench). They’ve also each played well, contributing to the team in ways that complement each other rather than get in the way.

Despite having plenty of options in the striker position, I still hope we look to bring in another one in January (though I can’t remember a transfer window when Town didn’t need to sign a striker). The big, ugly, nasty centre forward that we’ve all been hoping for since Alan “Alan” Lee left. But maybe one that’s a bit better at football than Alan Lee was, as I remember him more for his elbows than anything he did with his feet.