Huddersfield Town take on Preston North End later today in a game they hope will extend their unbeaten run to five games. PNE are a hard-working, well-disciplined and physical side that will provide a difficult test for Carlos Corberán’s men.
Town’s recent upturn in form means that confidence will be high going into the game but it is also the third game in a week, so there could be some tired legs. Here’s how I think Town will line up.
Goalkeeper: Hamer
The difficulty for goalkeepers is that they can do everything perfectly right for 89 minutes but the only thing people will talk about is the other minute where you got it wrong. That’s why I’m impressed with how Hamer has managed to go through these first six games without a major mistake after previously not being able to finish half a game without making a basic error.
The way Town play out from the back means that mistakes are inevitable, particularly as we play more and more teams that press high up the pitch. I find myself pleading at Hamer to just boot it when he’s being pressurised but his instructions are to pick out passes and play it short. The coaches know this will sometimes go wrong but it’s worth it to build play from the back and to draw out the opposition.
Defence: Pipa, Schindler, Sarr, Toffolo
Pipa picked up a knock on his hip against Derby but he was declared fit in the prematch press conference, so should feature.
Stearman started ahead of Schindler because there were concerns about the German’s injury-risk. Even though he came on in the second half, Schindler is the fresher of the two so I think Corberán will go with him over Stearman.
Sarr had a few shaky moments towards the start of the Derby game where his passing became very erratic. He improved as the game went on and was a real threat at set pieces. Crichlow may be considered if Sarr isn’t deemed fit for this match but I think we’ll see Sarr continue on the left of central defence.
Toffolo is enjoying a purple patch right now, where he’s picking up Man of the Match awards in nearly every game. He looks to be really enjoying his football too, so I would expect to see him start again today.
Midfield: Hogg, Eiting, Bacuna
I don’t think a player like Hogg is ideal for the purest interpretation of how Carlos wants to play but in a combative league like the Championship you need players that can do the dirty work as well as ones that can play beautiful football. Hogg gives the team something that isn’t always obvious but we miss when he’s not there.
Corberán talked about the need to manage Eiting’s minutes on the pitch because of his knee injury that kept him out of the Ajax team for long periods. So I expect he’ll not play the full game and O’Brien will take his place. Its possible that Eiting could go to the bench and O’Brien will start, either way I think we’ll see both players but neither for 90 minutes.
I’ve been critical of Bacuna this season but he had a good game against Derby. Obviously his running and finish for the goal was superb but his all round game was more disciplined than before and he did a lot of running both in attack and defence. Pritchard is ready to take his spot if required but I wouldn’t want to drop a player at the point he’s finding some form.
Attackers: Diakhaby, Campbell, Koroma
Mbenza had a bit of a strop when he was an early substitute in our last game according to the Radio Leeds commentary and Examiner coverage. This added to his lack of impact on the game on Tuesday makes me think he may drop to the bench and Diakhaby will be given a run.
Frazier Campbell has finished 90 minutes once this week, so I don’t expect him to do it again today but I would still start him because we’re so short of other options while Ward is injured. If Mbenza is benched then he can come on and play as a makeshift striker for the closing stages or one of the academy kids could be given a chance.
Josh Koroma is probably the second name on the team sheet right now after Harry Toffolo which is incredible given how he was deemed surplus and farmed out on loan last season. I admired his perseverance against Derby, where he kept running at them even when it wasn’t coming off for him. Like Campbell, he doesn’t have a lot of competition for his position, so even if he’s a bit jaded from the recent games he would still be my pick.
How did I do with my Derby predictions?
Carlos Corberán likes to tinker with his team and it can be very hard to know what he will change before a game. For Derby he dropped Schindler and brought Campbell back in the spearhead the attack. I had expected him to keep the 3-4-3 system used against Swansea and thought O’Brien would come in to replace Hogg, both of these assumptions was wrongl.
So I got 9 out of 11 correct, which is poor given there was only one change to the previous team. The concentration of fixtures currently and the variations of Carlos’ tactics mean there is likely to be more changes to the starting eleven in the upcoming games but I think today we’ll see a fairly settled selection with only minor tweaks.