Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Peterborough United

Technically speaking, there wasn’t a break in the football this summer, as the Euros conveniently overlapped with the start of Huddersfield Town’s preseason friendlies. But even so, international tournaments and preseason friendlies are really only the equivalent of methadone to the proper football fix that club football brings, or at least that’s how I feel. So it feels like it’s been forever since Town left the Championship with a whimper and hopefully between the start of May and the middle of August, Town had changed from a dreadful Championship team to a top League One team. We don’t know if that’s the case yet but the beauty of being a football fan is that a few weeks away from watching games washes away the weariness of a relegation season and a new sense of optimism can seep in. 

The first proper test of that optimism comes when Town face Peterborough in their season opener. It’s Michael Duff’s first competitive game in charge and he’ll be hoping to get off to a positive start despite it being a tricky away fixture against one of Town’s traditional bogey teams. Getting the team selection right for this game will be essential and based on the recent friendly games, I think there are some tricky decisions for Duff to make. Here’s how I think Town will lineup:

Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls

The minutes in friendlies were fairly evenly distributed between Lee Nicholls and Chris Maxwell, suggesting Duff was hedging his bets in case the club received an offer they couldn’t refuse for Nicholls. As yet, it seems that our valuation hasn’t been met for the stopper and if that stays the same, we must surely have the best goalkeeper in League One. Otherwise, we have Chris Maxwell, who is perfectly capable of doing a job at this level. The thing that Nicholls may find hard in this new Michael Duff system is the importance of the keeper in building play from the back. Duff talked in his first interview when he was announced about how he likes to play out from the back but isn’t completely wedded to that idea, so Nicholls will be the one to decide when the short pass is on and when to boot it down field. Against Sheffield United his kicking put us in hot water a couple of times when Sheffield United were pressing us but equally, with Healey and Koroma up front, all his long kicks gifted possession away to the opposition. 

Defence: Lees, Helik, Spencer

You could toss a coin for whether to play Lees or Pearson on the right side of central defence, both offer defensive stability but lack in speed and ball-playing skill. I would personally prefer Lees because he’s better on the ball (Pearson has a tendency to punt the ball long down field in almost every situation) and is generally a bit steadier. He is, however, still coming back from a ligament injury, so Pearson could be a better option. 

Helik has to play if he’s available and we’ve not accepted any bids for him. He’s been one of the best defenders in the Championship for the last three seasons, so should find stepping down to this level a breeze. Given he has hopes to feature in the Polish international set up in the future and those consistently good stats (not to mention the impressive goal return last season) it’ll be a real fight to keep hold of him. 

Brodie Spencer’s inclusion in the back three is a strange thing. He’s really best suited to being a right-back in a standard back four but in this system that Duff has implemented, the left or right side of central defence is the nearest equivalent. It’s not a perfect fit though and he may need help from the taller and stronger defenders at times but, on the other hand, Spencer’s speed will also help the slower defenders out of their own problems too. So having a smaller, more mobile defender in the back three can provide a good balance. He’ll also be likely to step out of defence and join the attack from time to time, which will give us another dimension when we go forward.

Midfield: Sorensen, Evans, Kane, Wiles, Miller

I have a feeling that we’ll look back on Sorensen as the best signing we’ve made this summer. He’s looked very good in preseason and gives us both defensive solidity and dynamic attacking runs down the right side. His crossing is a bit hit and miss, as you’d expect from a wingback rather than a specialist winger but he gets into good positions regularly and I like how keeps things simple and does the basics well. It’s early days but I already think he’ll be very good for us.

I’m similarly excited about Antony Evans; he’s a battling kind of midfielder from what I’ve seen of him so far, covering lots of ground and getting stuck in but when he actually wins his battles and earns a bit of time on the ball he will then show his passing and shooting quality too. That’s something that makes him stand out in a Town shirt, as we’ve not had that for years. 

Herbie Kane is another new recruit with an eye for a pass, though against Sheffield United in last week’s friendly he was deployed in the slightly unfamiliar role to him as a defensive midfielder. He’s not a natural in this role but playing him in this position allows Duff to pick his best three midfielders in the middle of the park, even if one is slightly out of position. Kane showed against Sheffield United that he can mix it a bit, with a few tasty tackles but we did allow too many shots from around the edge of the box, which is the area you would expect the defensive midfielder to be patrolling and shutting things down. Hogg or Kasumu would be the more obvious choices for this particular position but my impression is that Duff doesn’t fancy either of them as the long-term solution to this position and is hoping for a new recruit to fill the gap and Kane could be a stop gap before eventually competing for one of the further forward slots in midfield.

The reason I’ve not picked Kane to start in attacking midfield is because Ben Wiles has had a great summer. The ugly duckling of Town’s midfield has blossomed into a swan over the post-season break, and is now both physically and mentally in better shape than the player we saw last season. Maybe it’s too early to be making such bold statements given the season hasn’t started yet but he’s shown the kind of form in recent friendlies that explains why Burnley were interested in bidding four or five million for him a few seasons ago. I’m not sure what has caused the transformation but I think a few factors are at play, firstly I think he’s in better physical shape after struggling with niggling injuries much of last season, he’s also mentally fresher after being in and out of the team last season and never finding any form and I also think Michael Duff implementing a clear system where Wiles has a clearly defined attacking midfield role plays into his skillset well and helps him to know exactly what he should be doing. It’s pretty common for new managers to light a spark in a few players and bring them on, I think Wiles may be one of Duff’s success stories, even though it’s obviously far too early to know for sure.

Mickel Miller has settled very quickly into Town’s left wingback slot. I think the only real risk for him is his own fitness, as he’s struggled to put together full seasons of match fitness in the past. I get the impression Headley is his understudy and to reduce the risk of injury to Miller, it’s likely Headley will come on in the later stages of matches and start the odd match when we have double game weeks. But Miller looks the more accomplished of the two, with his pace, direct running and dribbling ability. I’m less convinced about his crossing, which he tends to blast so hard it is tricky for defences  to deal with but equally tough for our players to do anything with either. 

Attack: Ward & Healey

I can already sense a backlash to my selection of Ward up front to partner Healey but I have my reasons! Against Sheffield United we played Koroma as Healey’s partner and neither striker was able to get on the ball very often because there wasn’t anyone at the top of the pitch doing the dirty work of winning the headers and pushing around the central defenders. Ward isn’t really a target man as such but he’s better at this job than Josh Koroma, and while we still wait patiently (or impatiently, take your pick) for new striking recruits, we don’t have a great deal of options up front. Ward can do the donkey work, as he has done in seasons past, and playing alongside a strike partner may also mean he gets a few more chances himself if he can build up a partnership with Healey. While Ward wasn’t prolific last season, with a full preseason behind him and dropping down a level, it may be that he’s able to have a good season or at least can do a job here and there for us.

Rhys Healey has looked sharp in preseason and could be the goalscorer we’ve been crying out for. When he’s fit he scores around every other game, looking at his stats. So I think the biggest danger for him is his own body. If he can avoid injury in the rough and tumble world of League One then I think he’ll find enough opportunities to score regularly this season. Particularly with the way Duff intends to play, with more balls coming into the box and plenty of opportunities for strikers to score (in theory at least). 

For anyone wondering what happened to Bojan Radulovic, his preseason has been a bit of a disaster. After needing to have a good few weeks where he built up strength and fitness so he could hit the ground running this season, he barely played in the early friendlies, presumably because he was far down the pecking order, then missed out on the Austria trip because of a minor knock, then returned from injury in a second-string game last week where he scored a hattrick in under half an hour before pulling a muscle and is now out for six weeks. So that’s what happened to him. I don’t know if it’s bad luck or if he’s just really struggling. We’ll find out in time, because bad luck changes eventually and he’ll get fit and we’ll have a prolific striker on our hands, otherwise we can add him to the long list of strikers that didn’t work out for us. (Kyle Hudlin is another member of this list by the looks of it, as he’s currently playing in the B Team and it’s increasingly hard to understand what Neil Warnock saw in him last preseason that made him strongly recommend a new contract for him to the board.)

Subs: Maxwell, Headley, Kasumu, Hogg, Pearson, Koroma, Harratt Marshall

I don’t usually attempt to predict the subs bench (I struggle enough to guess the starting eleven!), but in League One the task of naming the right bench is trickier as teams can still make five changes but are limited to a bench of seven named substitutes compared to nine that are allowed in the Championship.

When you consider one slot on the bench will always be given over to the spare keeper, it means there’s potential to use all but one of the outfield subs if the maximum number of changes are made.

For balance, I think Duff will name Maxwell, Headley, Kasumu, Hogg, Pearson, Koroma and Harratt on his bench. This will mean he has a replacement for each area of the pitch. 

Youngsters Tom Iorpends and Pat Jones are perhaps the biggest victims of having to name a smaller bench as they would be good options to have if we could name more players. But with relatively few players injured at the moment, it makes sense to name the most experienced bench possible. 

UPDATE: Since publishing this article, Town have signed Callum Marshall on a season-long loan from West Ham. The deal was announced around three o’clock but if the player was registered with the league before noon then he will be eligible to play in the Peterborough game. I doubt he’ll be ready to start but chucking him on the bench and giving him a few minutes at the end of the game seems like a possibility if he’s match fit.