Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Sunderland

Huddersfield Town take on Sunderland this evening and will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run to three games. Strangely, it is the first time we have played Sunderland in the league this century, with our only encounter this side of the millennium celebrations coming in a league cup encounter that Town won back in 2003 despite being several leagues below the Mackems at the time.

Tonight’s game should be a closely fought encounter with both sides finding themselves in the bottom half of the Championship. After Town’s decent display against Millwall at the weekend though, it’s possible to feel a bit more optimistic about our chances tonight. However, Sorba Thomas will miss the match through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season on Saturday (most have been for on-field temper tantrums) and Ollie Turton will be missing as he starts the long road to recovery after picking up a ligament injury against Millwall.

Here’s how I think Town will line up tonight:

Goalkeeper: Nicholls

After an afternoon of light duties on Saturday afternoon, hopefully he’ll have a quiet evening tonight too. Regardless, we know that he’ll be there if he’s called upon. And even if he doesn’t need to make saves, he’s good to have for organising the back line and letting the defence know if they’ve slipped in their duties. He absolutely roasted Ben Jackson on Saturday when he allowed his man to get in ahead of him to allow a chance to threaten our goal, quite rightly, and I think that helps to make sure the defence are on their toes.

Defence: Jackson, Lees, Helik, Nakayama

While I think Jackson’s preferred foot is his left, he’s shown he can score great goals with his right foot and ping precise long-range passes, so he genuinely is a two-footed player. This is something of a rarity in the modern game but it makes him very versatile and means he should be able to step in to cover Ollie Turton’s absence without too much bother and keeps consistency in the back line.

Speaking of consistency, the Lees and Helik partnership is one that I would hope can be kept together as much as possible. It may be tricky to get this pair to play every minute of the upcoming games but the more time they have together on the pitch the stronger the bond between the pair seems to grow and the more stable our back line looks.

Nakayama was hung out to dry by Fotheringham a few weeks ago, so it’s testament to his character that he’s not sulked or taken his bat home, instead he’s got on with his work and got another opportunity in the team. So far he looks much better as a left back and is doing a decent job. I worried about him getting bullied off the ball too easily as a central defender but it’s less of an issue at left back and his positional awareness doesn’t have to be quite so precise as he tended to sometimes go for a wander when in central defence. This switch in position allows him to show off his attacking skills and his one-on-one tackling abilities, both of which are very good for this level.

Midfield: Rudoni, Kasumi, Russell, Camara, Holmes

Sorba Thomas is probably the player that is hardest to replace in the squad at the moment, perhaps with the exception of Nicholls. Sorba is our creative outlet and even in games where he isn’t playing well, we still tend to rely on him as our main source of inspiration. Perhaps it will be a good thing for him to miss a game and force some of the other players to step up and try to create something for once. We will unquestionably miss his set pieces though.

I really struggled to work out who to bring in to replace him. Aaron Rowe or Connor Mahoney are the closest like-for-like replacements in the squad but neither have made recent matchday squads despite being fit, so presumably aren’t in good enough nick to be considered potential starters. For that reason, I’m guessing it would make more sense to shift Holmes over to the right and play Russell through the middle. Obviously, Russell has not covered himself in glory this season but he’s had a spell on the sidelines and has forced his way back into contention, so presumably has bucked his ideas up in training. Not to mention, I think he’ll look better with willing runners like Camara and Kasumu playing alongside him in a three-man midfield, particularly if he has a bit more license to push up and attack a bit more.

Holmes and Rudoni are both wingers that have a tendency to drift inside but I think that’s OK for where we are at the moment as that will help to keep things tight in the middle of the park and not allow too much space. While we obviously want to win tonight, we also don’t want to make it too easy for Sunderland to play through us either.

Striker: Rhodes

Both Ward and Rhodes have their limitations but I feel like Ward is probably off the boil at the moment, so it would make sense to give him time to freshen up and let Rhodes have a crack tonight. I think Ward gives you a bit more off the ball but Rhodes is more of a threat in the box, which is the thing we need more at the moment. Both would struggle to start games on their recent form if a better option were available but sadly we only have one or the other for now.

Tyreece Simpson’s return to fitness after the World Cup might provide the answer to our problems but that’s expecting a lot from a young player that’s never played a Championship game before and was most likely been signed with an eye on future seasons rather than making an immediate impact.