Huddersfield Town play Stoke at home on Saturday at three o’clock today. What a novelty to finally be playing a game of football when it should be played instead of being shunted about at the whims of Sky’s producers, the organisers of the Commonwealth games and the Rugby League fixtures.
Today’s game has a lot riding on it as Danny Schofield seeks his first victory as Huddersfield Town manager at the fourth time of asking and Stoke City will be doing everything they can to stop that from happening.
“Must win” is a term that gets used too often in football but with a daunting away trip to Norwich on Tuesday night (our last few trips there have been horror shows) Schofield will be hoping his dysfunctional Terriers will pull it together for this game. He probably isn’t going to get sacked if we lose but the pressure will certainly increase on Schofield if he doesn’t get something out of this game, particularly if the performances continue to be so poor.
With that in mind, it’s vital he gets the team selection right. Here’s what I think he will go with…
Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls
It was a shock to see Nicholls picked for the league cup on Tuesday night. Nearly every club uses the cups as a chance to give their backup keeper a run out and persisting with Nicholls suggests Schofield doesn’t have any faith in his reserve options. He’s probably not wrong, given the lack of experience available but the only way to gain experience is to play games, so it could be a mistake to have not blooded a youngster if Nicholls picks up an injury and we have throw in an untested youth player later in the season or risk damaging Ryan Schofield’s fragile confidence by putting him back in if he’s not ready for a return to the spotlight of the first team.
Defence: Turton, Edmonds-Green, Lees, Nakayama, Ruffels
We’ve started all our games with four at the back and we’ve started all our games poorly, so I think switching to a back five may be a way to try and shore things up at the back and make us a little bit harder to play through at the back of the park. It’s not a magic solution to Town’s dodgy defence but it should mean there are fewer wide open spaces to exploit and if the full backs get forward when we have the ball it doesn’t have to be overly negative.
Ollie Turton and Josh Ruffels haven’t set the world alight in their opening two league games but hopefully we can see a bit more from them in this game. Turton was one of our most consistent defenders last season and he hasn’t been the worst of our misfiring backline this season either. It might be tempting to throw in the new loanee from Villa, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, at right wingback but he only arrived yesterday and it wouldn’t be fair to throw him straight into a pressure cooker situation before he’s even had a training session with his new teammates.
As for Ruffels, he has been let down by the players in front of him not providing him enough cover, so today it’s important that the whole team defends as a unit and keeps things tight above all else. We shouldn’t be leaving him one on one too often or requiring him to make too many last-ditch tackles but at least in this system he would have Nakayama behind him to provide backup. A player of Nicholls experience and ability shouldn’t need protecting that much but while he’s not on the best form it would be better for his teammates to stay closer to him and not leave him isolated against his man too often.
Moving on to the back three, I think this set up would allow all three to counteract the others weaknesses. Lees provides leadership and aerial ability but is a bit slow. Edmonds-Green is strong and fairly quick but lacks experience at this level and positional awareness at times. Nakayama is decent on the ball and quick but is a bit on the short side for a centre back. As one whole unit it’s to be hoped that the three of them can divide up the work so that each does the jobs that best suit their abilities and we can start to look a bit more solid at the back.
Midfield: Thomas, Hogg, Rudoni, Anjorin
Town were absolutely awful against Preston on Tuesday night but they improved a lot when Holmes, Russell and Koroma were subbed off and Thomas, Anjorin and Rudoni were brought on. The three that left the field had collectively downed tools for long periods during their time on the pitch and struggled to get a touch. The players that came on to replace them brought more urgency, pace, creativity and passion which sparked, well, not a resurgence because we still lost but at least a little bit of fight.
Rudoni had previously played as a left winger but on Tuesday night he moved into central midfield and did a decent job. He still looked a bit like a winger in central midfield but he used his quick feet and dribbling ability to get himself out of tight spots and take the ball up field. I wouldn’t expect him to play right next to Hogg but more like an attacking midfielder who drops deep to collect the ball and then drives it up field to start off our attacks.
Similarly, I’ve listed Thomas and Anjorin as midfielders but they would play as wide attacking players in this 5-4-1 system I’m imagining Schofield might go with this afternoon, starting in the wide areas but trying to get upfield and supporting Ward where they can. I have a feeling that Thomas needs a longer rest that he had in the summer to get him back to his best levels but I don’t think we can afford to give him time off after we’ve struggled so much lately.
Forwards: Ward
Danny Ward didn’t even feature on the bench against Preston North End after apparently having a minor injury niggle. Danny Schofield has said he will be in contention for today’s game, which means he’s likely to start but it’s possible it could be more serious and Rhodes will get the nod. However, I doubt Rhodes would have been made to play the full 90 minutes against PNE on Tuesday night if he was expected to start the game against Stoke on Saturday, particularly when the cup game was over as a contest by half time.
If we play the system I’m suggesting it could be a long, lonely afternoon for Ward, particularly if the wingers get pushed back and have to defend and can’t get up to support him. He had plenty of time practicing playing the lone striker role so at least he knows what’s expected of him.
The most important players aren’t listed and unless they turn up we will lose again. In case you don’t know who they are…Confidence and Belief!
I like your team selection how strange for it is exactly the team I would have selected let’s hope the players put in maximum amount of effort to achieve our first win but now we wait for Danny schofield for his ideas of the actual starting eleven and tactics