Huddersfield Town will hope to make it back-to-back wins when they take on Sheffield Wednesday tonight. The relegation-threatened South Yorkshire side come into the game on the back of a losing run of games but will be hoping the new manager bounce might finally start to kick in after Darren Moore has seen his new side lose the first few games of his tenure.
Carlos goes into the game with a few interesting selection decisions, thankfully for the right reasons and we can enjoy seeing how he juggles his available players to come up with a plan to beat the “Massive” club. Unfortunately Colin Quaner won’t be available for Carlos as he now plays up in Scotland, so he’ll have to find his own Hilsborough Hero out of our current crop of players.
With the international break coming after this game there is less need to worry about fatigue when making this selection as all but the few internationals on our books should have chance to rest (though it wouldn’t surprise me if Carlos wears them down with murderball instead of giving them time off). So putting fitness issues aside and looking purely at the best available team to put out in this game, I’d make just two changes: Mbenza and Rowe out, Duhaney and Sanogo in.
Goalkeeper: Schofield
Schofield seems to be on an upward trajectory again after riding out the dip in confidence he seemed to suffer. I’m pleased it’s worked out this way but it could have gone the other way and I feel like we’ve got away with one here. Next season we need at least one other goalkeeper that’s capable of competing at this level. While there’s limited evidence to work on, Pereira and Leutwiler don’t seem to be likely to be good enough given Schofield continued to be selected instead of them despite his confidence being in tatters a few weeks ago.
Defence: Edmonds-Green, Keogh, Sarr
The back three should remain unchanged after consecutive clean sheets. While all three of the central defenders have flaws, each compensates for the other and the combination seems to work. Stearman could step in for any of them but I’d make him wait for now and keep things settled.
I thought that Keogh was only fit for the glue factory when his signing was announced, so I’m happy to eat humble pie and accept that he’s come in and done a decent job for the team. I’m not sure I’d see him as a long-term option but he’s played a part in stabalising a shaky back line with his experience.
Edmond-Green is at the other end of his football career and as a result doesn’t have a depth of experience at this level but that is made up for with his speed and youthful energy. I’m not sure he’s as good in a three at the back system as he in the middle of a back four but he has been solid and dependable since coming back in.
Naby Sarr seems to be benefiting from our recent move away from messing about with the ball at the back. Despite the fact he’s billed as a ball-playing central defender, the chances of him making a clumsy mistake are too high when we play out from the back all the time and he seems to be thriving now he’s allowed to cow it downfield if the situation warrants it.
Midfield: Duhaney, Bacuna, Hogg, O’Brien, Pipa
Rowe has unexpectedly established himself as a genuine contender for the first team in recent weeks and I really enjoy watching him play but I’d rest him for this game. Duhaney is an unexciting alternative but gives more defensive solidity. While I find him to be a boring option, that’s probably what we need at this point in the season and in tight games it’s better to choose players that won’t let you down rather than wildcard players that could either win or lose you the game.
I was cursing my laptop screen whenever Bacuna was on the ball during the first half on Saturday but then he popped up with the goal and subsequently became one of our best players on the pitch for the closing stages. You never know which version of Bacuna you’re going to get in any given game but his ability to produce special moments means he’s likely to continue to be selected.
Jonathan Hogg has displaced Vallejo in the defensive midfield role and barring injury this is likely to continue. I vaguely recall him taking a knock against QPR towards the end but Corberán didn’t list him as a concern in the pre-match press conference, so presumably we’ll see him start again and he’ll continue to pull the strings for the team.
It’s been a very up and down season for Lewis O’Brien but he has recently seen an uptick in form which has followed the improvement of the team more broadly in the last few matches. Steven Chicken pointed out in the Examiner that he may be benefiting from not having Toffolo playing alongside him on the left as he’s having to take on more responsibility himself when going forward.
When things aren’t going well for Town it’s common for fans to bemoan the team selection involving square pegs in rounds holes. Yet Pipa has looked better on the left than on the right in many of our recent games. As Jaden Brown doesn’t seem to be able to recapture his form from last season, I would continue with Pipa on the left wingback role even if it isn’t his natural position. (Though I would tell him to not cut inside onto his right foot quite so often.)
Attack: Campbell, Sanogo
Whether Isaac Mbenza is out of form or carrying a knock is hard to know but he’s been off the boil since he came back from injury. So I’d drop him and play a front two of Campbell and Sanogo. We’ll miss Mbenza’s threat from set pieces but gain a physical presence at the top end of the pitch.
If we play this suggested front pairing it allows Campbell to play a slightly different game, with more freedom to drop deep and into the channels rather than playing as an out and out striker. Campbell’s industry means Sanogo doesn’t need to run about as much and can instead concentrate on winning his battles against the centre backs.
I think before we can predict the team we need to predict the game plan. Will we start with Plan A (Mbenza) or Plan B (Sanogo). Mbenza appears to have less impact from the bench than Sanogo does, so for that reason I would start with Plan A/Mbenza. Sheffield Wednesday will think they can win this one so may take the bull by the horns, so I agree we need square pegs in square holes as much as possible, and have defenders playing in defence. If we can keep it tight at the back as Wednesday play on the front foot then we have every chance of punishing the space they leave at the back. My prediction is Huddersfield will not lose.
As it has turned out only one different from TS’s forecast. It seems we are going for plan C with Holmes at No 10. If it doesn’t work there’s plenty of options on the bench. Town should win by a couple of goals.
Plan C didn’t work. Holmes was garabage and I’m not sure that Duhaney added anything on the right, and Pipa didn’t add anything on the left either. Grrrrr frustrating, but if you don’t win…make sure you don’t lose.
How do you go from “catch us if you can” in London, to “dear god please dont let us lose” in Sheffield, Town did what they have done a dozen times and let a lower team dictate and dominate, we should have won by three or four, we fell for the three card trick and let them lower us to their level which was awful, the two changes got us nothing, obviously the old adage of “never change a winning team” means nowt to our so called phsycologists,
in the end a point was all we deserved, it was as if it was two different clubs from saturday to wednesday, if they go down we should immediatly put in a bid for Barry Bannen, and let Jordan Rhodes go down with them, but no doubt he will be the first to want away, as Ian said plan C did not work the sooner we get back to plan A as at QPR the better and sooner we are safe, UTT.