Predicted Huddersfield Town XI, Warnock:  defeatism or dark arts?, one to watch & score prediction against Norwich

It’s never nice to see your ex with a new partner. And while the feelings aren’t exactly the same, I’ve more affection towards David Wagner than I have many ex partners, so it’ll be weird to see him in the dugout wearing another team’s tracksuit this afternoon. Of course, he’s done it already last season with Norwich and it was pretty strange then too, but we were so bogged down in our own relegation troubles it wasn’t so much of a focus. 

It’s not like Town can even claim we’ve moved on to better things since leaving David Wagner either. There were a string of bad relationships after him before we had a brief fling with someone that we thought was going to go somewhere (the Premier League), but that ended in tears when he left us for a better offer in Greece. Now we’ve sought comfort in the arms of someone we’ve got history with, even though we know it can’t last for that long. 

OK, this introduction taken a weird turn. The good thing is that most people don’t read this bit and skip straight down to the next section, so I’ll just move on to my predicted lineup. But, yeah, Wagner’s coming back and I’m not afraid to admit that I miss him and I’d have him back at Town in a heartbeat.

Predicted lineup: stick or twist?

I have a feeling that Neil Warnock will be tempted to stick with the lineup that has performed well over the last two games, against Leicester and Middlesbrough. However, Ben Wiles arrived in the building from Rotherham yesterday afternoon and while many managers like to ease new recruits in gently, I have a feeling Warnock will throw him straight in at the deep end. He didn’t play for Rotherham last weekend due to a slight hip issue, so he could be an injury doubt but if he’s fit I think Warnock, like us fans, will want to see what our new signing can do.

Judging from how Wiles described himself in his interview and his highlights video, the most similar player to him in the Town team is Jack Rudoni. However, I don’t think Wiles will replace him, instead I think Diarra will make way and Rudoni will be allowed to take on the more attacking midfield role. Or both Wiles and Rudoni could take it in turns to bomb forward and support the striker, which is an exciting prospect if they can build a partnership together with Hogg sat deeper mopping up. 

I think there is potential for changes further up the pitch too but I’m not certain. I think the fear in swapping out either Ward or Koroma for their understudies from last weekend would be whether Harratt and Burgzorg will get through the same amount of defensive work. The way we’re currently playing requires all ten outfield players to be almost perfect off the ball to not leave any gaps for the opposition to exploit. There’s a risk of changing a team that’s performing relatively well and making it weaker.

I’d guess that Ward will start ahead of Harratt (or Hudlin for that matter) as it’s obvious that Warnock has a lot of faith in his senior striker and is waiting to be convinced about the youngsters. Hudlin and Harratt both played in the B Team in midweek, which shows they weren’t being kept fresh for the weekend. However, Burgzorg wasn’t involved, so he may have a larger part to play in today’s game. 

I think Josh Koroma’s improvement under Neil Warnock has been remarkable, because he was dire for us for a long time, went to Portsmouth and wasn’t much better and then came back and was just as bad back in Huddersfield until Fotheringham was sacked. It was only Neil Warnock that seemed to be able to get a tune out of him. His all-round play is vastly better now, to the point where his lack of goal threat this season has been masked by the fact he’s helped the team defensively so much. However, I think it may be beneficial for him and the team to bench him for this game and bring him on later as an impact sub. It also gives Burgzorg a chance to have a proper run out in his preferred position on the left side of attack. I don’t know if he’s an improvement on Koroma or not but changing things a bit will freshen up our attack and Koroma can still have a run out from the bench, where he’ll have the benefit of having fresh legs up against tiring defenders.

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI: Nicholls, Ruffels, Helik, Pearson, Edwards, Hogg, Rudoni, Wiles, Burgzorg, Ward, Thomas

Warnock: deafeatism or dark arts?

I noticed in the press conference for this match that Neil Warnock was the most downbeat about our prospects in this game than he’s been since we played Burnley away last February and got whalloped 4-0. Prior to that game, he was quite blunt in his pre-match comments and made it clear he expected us to get beaten unless there was a miracle. While Warnock wasn’t quite so negative about our prospects in this game, he was pretty glowing in his praise for Norwich’s performances so far this season and wasn’t far from writing off our chances of victory.

It’s possible that this was just a wiley old fox like Warnock, using his media skills to lower the expectations on his team, so it’ll be all the more impressive if we pull off the victory that he, secretly, expects us to achieve. On the otherhand, I thought he was doing something similar in the game against Burnely but in actual fact he pretty much threw in the towel before the kick off, playing a weakened team to keep key players fresh to the easier games we had coming up.  That defeat looked so much worse in retrospect when Burnely subsequently dropped points to many of our relegation rivals in the weeks after that game – admittedly when they were in a much more secure position at the top of the table but it still showed we waved the white flag too readily. 

I have a feeling that the tone Neil Warnock had in the press room will be different to the one he’ll have in the dressing room before the game today though. While he’s relaxed enough in front of journalists to speak his mind about the strengths of other teams and what he thinks of their players, I’m sure he’ll also be telling our lads they can get the better of Norwich and will have a plan to win the game. At least I hope so. 

Norwich player to watch: Jonathan Rowe

With three goals in three games so far, Norwich’s 20-year-old left winger will be worth keeping an eye on this afternoon. After Norwich cleared out a few players in the summer, he’s been given an opportunity to step up and has taken it with both hands so far. 

I’m particularly concerned about Norwhich having a threat down that side, as it will be Edwards who will be in charge of keeping him under wraps and I was, quietly, a bit concerned with his performance last weekend. While nothing Edwards did against Middlesbrough costs us too badly, I felt like he looked a bit sluggish at times and several of his tackles didn’t land and he needed Matty Pearson to bail him out a few times. With Rowe apparently having electrifying pace as well as decent skill on the ball, Edwards will have to be careful not to get caught out. 

Score prediction: Huddersfield Town 2 – 2 Norwich City

While we really need a win, I’m not convinced this will be the game where we’ll get it. When the fixtures came out it looked like a cruel start for Town but now the season is under way it looks even harder. That will relent after the international break but for now, we’ve just got to play the team in front of us and get what we can. In this case, I think we’re up against one of the best teams in the league, who are currently in excellent form and are scoring goals for fun. 

I suppose I should be predicting defeat but even though Town have just a single point from their first three games, I think we’re actually playing pretty well and I can see us getting a draw from this game. Both teams are going to have a go at this game and I think the home advantage could mean a lot for Town. Last season’s home game against Norwich was a remarkable turning point in Town’s season, we looked down and out in the first half and were played off the park but the second half performance was a completely different story and we turned it around to draw 1-1.

My expectation is that we’ll see a really good battle today and both sides will have plenty of chances. I think a high-scoring draw is a reasonable prediction as I don’t think we’ll be able to stop them scoring but I fancy us to be able to score a few goals, particularly if our new signings click into place quickly.