Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Peterborough

Huddersfield Town take on Peterborough this afternoon at the Accu Stadium. Peterborough are usually a strong League One team but this season they have picked up a solitary point from their opening five games and have only scored two goals in those outings. 

Lee Grant has spoken about needing to be cautious of Peterborough as they are better than their current league position suggests. There were also a handful of deadline day signings that will make them stronger. Yet, I can’t help but feel a convincing victory is needed from Town to get their promotion push back on the road after faltering at Barnsley last weekend. 

Thankfully, Lee Grant has some tough choices in picking his starting eleven due to our strong squad and relatively small injury list. New loan signings Zepi Richmond has been ruled out for this game, as he needs more time in training to get fully up to speed. Will Alves, our other deadline day signing, is more likely to start as he had a more thorough preseason schedule and is closer to the levels required.

Here’s how I think we’ll line up…

Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls

With Owen Goodman suspended today and presumably for our next two matches, I can be pretty confident predicting that Lee Nicholls will be our keeper today. He played against Newcastle Under 21s on Tuesday night and showed a new willingness to make Goodman-esque short passes in tight spaces. He did a good job with this too and it reduced the times we booted the ball long to a tiny striker to compete against a giant central defender. Jacob Chapman’s injury means that academy keeper, Francis Hurl is likely to be our sub keeper. Unless Grant takes the bold decision to pick himself for the bench! Unlikely but it would be funny (I looked it up, and the deadline for squad lists to go in was a few days ago, so it’s impossible for Grant to play. Shame.). 

Defence: Lynden Gooch, Josh Feeney, Joe Low, Sean Roughan

I consistently predict the wrong right-back in these team prediction articles as Sorensen and Gooch have swapped places frequently. I think Gooch is the safer pair of hands, and with next week being the first gameless midweek in many weeks, he will get a rest next week so rotation doesn’t need to be such a concern.

Jack Whatmough continues to play well when he gets chances in the cup, including a goal on Tuesday night, but it seems like Feeney is the current favourite partner for Joe Low. I like both and could make an argument for either to be picked as Lows partner. If this is a game where we expect to have a lot of the ball, Feeney makes more sense as he’s a better passer and looks more comfortable on the ball. His pace also means we can keep a higher line without worrying so much about being caught on the break.

The left back position is a bit like right back, where there’s one player that’s obviously better than another but they are still frequently rotated around. Sean Roughan and Murray Wallace are both decent options but Roughan has been subdued in his last couple of games and Wallace struggles with pace down his flank. I expect we’ll see Roughan given the nod, as he has been the better of the two overall, even if he’s dipped a little bit lately.

Midfield: Ryan Ledson, Herbie Kane

When I write these articles, I try to pick the team I think Lee Grant will go with, not the one I would personally pick. Usually there’s not a lot of difference but right now, I’d consider putting David Kasumu in for one of Ledson or Kane but I don’t think Grant is of the same opinion. Despite Kasumu making driving runs forward and being a workhorse with his running, I don’t think he’s good enough with his passing to push his way into Grant’s affections. So I think we’ll see the Ledson-Kane partnership continue but after both were below par last weekend, there’s pressure on them from Kasumu, after the latter has put in some admirable performances in the cups.

Attackers: Marcus Harness, Ben Wiles, Will Alves

Harness scored his first competitive goal for Town on Tuesday night, though he was a bit sheepish about it in the media interviews this week. Scoring a penalty against a youth team isn’t the most auspicious type of goal but it is still counts as a goal in a competitive game. I’ve really liked watching Harness in a Town shirt so far and he deserved his goal. The next target will be to get another but this time from open play. His movement and skill suggest he’s got potential to be a regular source of goals, he just needs to start putting it in the net.

Leo Castledine is putting major pressure on Ben Wiles, after being our best player on Tuesday night in the Vertu Trophy. Yet, Ben Wiles hasn’t been too bad this season either, so it’s another position where there’s pressure to perform well or someone will take your place. Wiles is the kind of player that’s often liked by managers more than he is by fans, because he does a lot of work that isn’t always obvious, making dummy runs to draw defenders out of position or closing down defenders. So I think Wiles will keep his place for now but maybe not for long if he has too many more quiet games.

Ruben Roosken has had little competition for his place since Mickel Miller’s injury but now that we’ve brought in a few more attacking options, I think he’s likely to lose his spot. He shows a lot of promise but looks like a fullback playing out of position too often. Leicester loanee, Will Alves (pronounced like it rhymes with valves) might not have had too many training sessions with the team yet but I’d still throw him into the team. He looked lively in his brief cameo from the bench on Tuesday and I think we really need a bit of spark in his area of the pitch. He’s a bit raw but has that quality some wingers possess of making you sit forward when he gets on the ball. We’ve lacked that since Sorba Thomas left but I’m hopeful that Alves and Richmond will give us that X factor again. 

Striker: Taylor

I was really impressed with Taylor on Tuesday night, where he scored two and set up another, so I think he deserves a start. Particularly as May has missed some training this week after getting a painful stamp on his foot against Barnsley. Peterborough have Tom Lees in defence, so it would seem sensible to have a pacey striker on the pitch, as that was the type of challenge he struggled with when he was with us.

Having Alfie May and not playing him from the start sounds a bit bonkers but if he’s not 100% it might be better to save him for the last half hour, when Town tend to be strongest and defences are starting to tire. No team wants to see one of this league’s most prolific strikers entering the game from the bench, so he could be very useful in this role. 

Who do you think will start for Town today? Put your predictions in the comments.