Huddersfield Town kick off their season on Saturday afternoon with a Carabao Cup game against Preston North End. Ground improvement works at Deepdale mean that the fixture is being played at Goodison Park instead. The Everton men’ s team no longer play there since moving to their new stadium but it has continued to be used by the Everton women’s team, albeit with a number of the areas of the historic ground no longer in use.
Typically, Carabao Cup games mean playing a second-string team to preserve the best players for league games but with this season’s opening round falling on a weekend and seven days from the League One opener, I expect Martin Drury will field his strongest possible lineup for this match. Martin Drury’s strongest starting eleven is still unknown and probably won’t be close to being settled until the transfer window closes at the end of the month. But it’s fun to try and guess his thinking anyway. With that in mind, here’s my prediction of who will line up for Town on Saturday afternoon…
(NB – At the time of writing Martin Drury hasn’t done a press conference, so there may be team news that comes out later which makes some of the following incorrect. I’ll try to update my prediction if there’s any fresh injury news.)
Formation – 3-4-2-1
I know formation talk is an instant turn-off for many fans, so skip ahead if that’s you. But I for one am quite curious about the formation Town will use for this game. Drury has chopped and changed quite a bit this preseason, with 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 5-4-1 and 3-4-2-1 all being used at different times. Given that we are lacking in wide areas and overstocked in central areas, I have a feeling we’ll play a back three, with wingbacks with two tucked in attacking midfielders playing behind the main striker. Honestly, I’m a bit fed up with wingback systems and was hoping we’d play a more attacking formation but given the make up of our squad and the way we’ve lined up in preseason, I’m guessing we’ll play with wingbacks fairly often.
Goalkeeper: Matty Young
The young Sunderland stopper has arrived with high praise but I’ll feel better once I’ve seen him perform well in a Town shirt. There’s been the odd wobble in preseason from him and a few stray passes but otherwise he’s seemed decent enough. I’ll be curious to see what he does when he’s in possession, will he be instructed to play it short most of the time or will he have licence to “gerr’ it forrad” when required?
Defence: Balker, Low, Roughan
Radinio Balker has always looked most comfortable on the right of a back three, it gives him the cover to burst forward, space to get on the ball more and chance to pass more physical players on to the central one of the back three. After an injury blighted few seasons, Balker played pretty consistently towards the end of last season and unsurprisingly, he got better the more he played. Hopefully he keeps himself fit this season and kicks on from here.
Jack Whatmough, Murray Wallace or Joe Low could all do a job in the middle of a back three. Personally, I’d prefer Low of that trio as his imposing physical presence helps for set pieces at both ends of the pitch. Whatmough may get the nod, he did in the friendly against Blackburn, but I’d prefer to see Low given a run of games.
Roughan might not be a natural central defender but he’s a defensive minded leftback that can do a job on the left of a back three but can easily be shunted out to leftback if we need to change the shape of the back line. I suspect Bowat may become the preferred option for this role in the longer term but with him only arriving at Town this week, it feels unlikely he’ll go straight into the starting lineup.
Midfield: Bronkhorst, Ledson, Brierley, Mumba
Ilias Bronkhorst arrived on a free after running down his contract at Excelsior in the Netherlands, the same team we bought Fernandes from. He looked excellent against Blackburn in last weekend’s friendly, making a goal-saving sliding tackle at one end and putting in some decent crosses at the other. Add to that his decent long throw and his dreamy eyes and he seems like a decent acquisition. I believe he’s more of an orthodox fullback rather than a wingback but looks capable of playing either role.
It was nice to see Ryan Ledson take the preseason friendlies far too seriously and fly into tackles like it was the FA Cup final at stake. I presume he will retain his role as captain this season and build on the decent run of form he had towards the end of last season.
I’m not certain who will be Ledson’s partner in midfield. Marcus McGuane and David Kasumu would be decent options that bring a particular set of skills to the table, a set of skills that could be a nightmare for Preston North End. Still, Ethan Brierley has looked to have a bit of class about him in our friendly games, so I’d like to see what he can do. In my negative season preview, I expressed concern about him being a bit lightweight but in a pairing with Ledson, he’ll most likely be the more forward thinking of the two.
Gooch and Mumba are our obvious candidates for left wingback despite both being right footed. It was Gooch that was the preferred option against Blackburn last weekend, and while he did have one excellent run where he dribbled his way through on goal, I felt like he also left too much space behind him that was often exploited by Blackburn. Mumba has looked bright during preseason and has potential to play as an out and out winger if the situation calls for it. This may sound like last season’s failed experiment to convert Roosken to a winger but Mumba has played as an out and out winger plenty before in his career and looks to have the right skillset for that role.
Attack: Fernandes, Fletcher, Harness
By far the most exciting signing of the summer has been Fernandes coming from Excelsior, and hopefully he’ll make his competitive debut in this game. Playing on the right of a front three should suit him, as he’s a left footer that likes to cut in from the right. Players coming to England from the Netherlands often have an adjustment period while they get used to the physicality of our game, it’ll be interesting to see how DSF responds to rough treatment. While nobody likes being kicked and shoved, my hope is that he responds by showcasing his skills even more rather than shrinking away from a physical challenge.
Someone that will have no problems with a physical challenge is Ashley Fletcher. In fact, Fletcher is the one that will be making opposition players nervous with his physicality. I’ve been wanging on about needing a big physical striker for about as long as this blog has existed, so I’m delighted by Fletcher’s arrival. Joe Taylor may be an alternative option up front but I think we need someone who can hold the ball up and feed the ball to the other players around him. That’s not Taylor’s game but it is Fletcher’s.
I don’t particularly think Harness is a great option on the left wing, he lacks the pace to beat a man and looks better when he’s feeding the ball to runners rather than being the runner himself. However, with Cameron Ashia seemingly injured, he’s the only viable option apart from Iorpenda who also doesn’t seem like a natural for this role. The truth is we need to sign at least one or maybe two more wingers but until then I think Harness can do a job in this role. He was probably the pick of last summer’s signings (I didn’t say the best of a bad bunch) and is a useful player to have on the pitch even if he’s not in his best position.
