Huddersfield Town have another chance to steer themselves clear of relegation worries against Sheffield Wednesday tonight. After the bitter disappointment of last Friday’s loss to Luton, it’s vital that Danny Cowley selects the right starting eleven.
Here is how I would have them lining up tonight if it were up to me.
Goalkeeper – Lössl
My personal opinion is that keepers should nearly always come out for balls in their 6 years box, so it was disappointing to see him stuck to his line when Luton scored their opener on Friday. While Schindler was most obviously to blame for that goal, the whole situation could have been avoided if Lössl had been more confident.
Having said that, we have few other viable options given how long it is since Coleman has played a game and I think Schofield is ineligible because he’s been out on loan (though I’m not certain on this point).
I hope this is an area of the pitch Town have already been looking at strengthening for next season. Given that Hamer chucked one into his own net last weekend for Derby, his return from loan isn’t likely to be the answer either.
Defence – RB: Chalobah CB: Stearman CB:Schindler LB: Toffolo
Chalobah has continued to do a decent job on the right side of defence, so I would stick with him. My only criticism is that he sometimes holds back in attack rather than looking to overlap but that could be of benefit against Wednesday, as it will help us keep our shape.
Stankovic hasn’t done a bad job since he’s come in but I expect Wednesday to be a physical team and he sometimes struggles against big and awkward players. Stearman has the experience and physical presence to cope better with this kind of threat.
Schindler and Toffolo both should keep their place, though Schindler’s form has been erratic lately. Both have played lots of minutes recently, so I suspect they could be earmarked for early substitution.
Midfield – Bacuna & O’Brien
Town have lots of potential combinations in this part of the field but I can’t think of one that’s perfect together. Hogg and O”Brien seems like the obvious choice but after Town looked so stale with the ball at their feet I would swap Hogg for Bacuna. Clearly this is a risk, given how unpredictable Bacuna can be but it gives Town a more dynamism and attacking threat.
Attackers – LW: Grant, No. 10: Smith Rowe RW: Quaner
Despite his recent poor form, I’d be very reluctant to drop Karlan Grant if he’s fit. He’s the most natural finisher at the club and with the right service will still score even when he’s not fully firing.
Smith Rowe was the only player that looked to be trying to make things happen against Luton, so I would stick with him. Alex Pritchard may be given the nod instead for this role but he has not looked nearly as dangerous.
I’ve already spent some time talking about why Collin Quaner should feature against Sheffield Wednesday, so I’ll not bang on about it here. But basically, he’s a gangly mess at times but has the potential to bumble his way into dangerous positions and cause a problem.
Striker: Mounié
Campbell didn’t look fully fit against Luton. Neither did Mounié, now I think about it. I suspect neither would be playing if we were safely midtable but given we’re fighting for our lives it has to be one of them, so I’d pick Mounié to start with clear instructions that he must close down the opposition defenders aggressively.
We’re not scoring enough goals at the moment, so it makes sense to me that we pick our most prolific of the two strikers. But we must play to Mounié’s strengths and give him something to work with. Either getting wide and delivering crosses for him to finish or packing attacking players around him when we play long to him. How many times has he delivered a perfect flick on with no Town player around to latch on to it? Too many to count.
Match prediction: Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Huddersfield Town
I think this is going to be a nervous game without a lot of goalmouth action. Town have to put in a better performance than they did against Luton but I’m not sure we’ll be playing fluent, freeflowing football. More likely we’ll be solid at the back and try to nick a goal.
Sheffield Wednesday had a good win at the weekend but they haven’t done much better that Town this season overrall, so they have weaknesses we can exploit. We’ve just got to be brave enough to go after them.
