Predicted lineup and preview for Huddersfield Town’s trip to Blackburn

Huddersfield Town’s hectic pre-World Cup fixture run continues later today when they take the short journey over the Pennines to play near-neighbours, Blackburn. This War of the Roses clash sees our Lancastrian foes come into the game in better form than Town, sitting in second in the table compared to our bottom position. Add to that the fact that Town are currently ravaged by injuries and it’s hard to be too optimistic for this game. But there were still glimmers of hope in Town’s defeat to Sunderland on Wednesday night. Despite still lacking cutting edge in front of goal, Town fought hard and had spells where they played some nice football. The youngsters that stepped up to fill the gaps created by injured senior players also did well too. Sadly, the games key moments were really decided by senior members of the team such as Holmes, Rhodes, Boyle and Ruffels failing to finish presentable chances. 

Here’s my look ahead to today’s game…

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI for today’s game

Tom Lees has Covid, so will be out for this game and most likely won’t return until after the World Cup break. That leaves a conundrum in central defence. On Wednesday, Fotheringham chose to move Ruffels infield to play as a makeshift central defender rather than play Boyle or Mbete there, who were both available on the bench. Fotheringham defended this decision in his press conference yesterday, explaining that Mbete had made mistakes in his last outing and Boyle is returning from injury. Presumably the same reasoning will apply this afternoon and he’ll prefer Ruffels to either Boyle or Mbete. I’d feel better with Boyle there but then again, I get the impression he’s not done as well as expected since he arrived in the summer.

While it was terrible news about Nakayama’s injury and he will not be back until next season, Ben Jackson’s injury was just a cut and he’s fit to play today. That makes life a lot easier, as he can play left back and Brodie Spencer can continue at right back. Kesler-Heyden continues to be nowhere near the squad, so it seems like he may have been bombed out by Fotheringham as a warning to others in case they don’t train hard enough. Or he may be injured, there’s not been an update on him for a while. It seems strange to have taken him on loan and for him to not even be close to our squad when Villa were giving him minutes in their first team during preseason.

Moving on to midfield, I think we’ll continue with the trio of Camara, Rudoni and Kasumu in the middle with Holmes on one wing and Thomas on the other. We badly missed Sorba Thomas on Wednesday night, so it will be a relief to have his pace, creativity and dead ball ability back in the team. 

Up front you can more or less toss a coin for whether it will be Ward or Rhodes as neither is really firing at the moment. Rhodes missed a chance that would have been meat and drink for 2010-era Rhodes but his turn and shot went over the bar. The xG for the opportunity suggested it had around one-in-three chance of going in but knowing the kind of predator Rhodes is, he will be livid he didn’t finish it. I think, just to keep things fresh, it might be worth going with Ward today, as he’ll be the least tired of the two, having only played half an hour against Sunderland.

Goalkeeper: Nicholls

Defence: Spencer, Helik, Ruffels, Jackson

Midfield: Thomas, Kasumu, Camara, Rudoni, Holmes

Attack: Ward

Will Town find their cutting edge against Blackburn?

The one thing I’ve found to be consistent about Town for the last five or six seasons has been our inability to score goals when we’re in commanding situations. Fotheringham, Schofield, Corberan, Cowley, Siewert and Wagner have all struggled to convert periods of dominance in matches into goals. In fact, the managers we had before that weren’t any better. 

I’d say the last time I felt confident in Town’s ability to score the chances that came their way would probably have been when Rhodes and Novak were the main strike partnership (with Alan Lee on the bench if the opposition needed roughing up a bit). So you’re talking about 12 years since I was last happy with Town’s goal scoring prowess. Still, there’s always Tyreece Simpson, he might be the answer to all our prayers!

There is actually a player that’s currently fit and in a good vein of form right now that could give us a bit of hope. That’s Jack Rudoni. He scored plenty for Wimbledon last season and despite not notching a goal for Town yet, he’s getting closer and closer with each passing game. His confidence in front of goal looks low but his movements and his skill is there for all to see and once he can make the initial breakthrough, I think he might be a regular source of goals. Fotheringham made a similar remark in his press conference yesterday.

Brahima Diarra is another young talent that could help with goals. He looked like a breath of fresh air at times on Wednesday night with his direct running and tendency to go for goal when the opportunity was there. Because he’s a raw talent, there’s also the potential for frustration with him too as not everything he tries comes off but it’s another exciting player coming through.

Against Blackburn today we may be limited to few chances in front of goal, so I hope we take those chances and are able to score some goals. 

What to expect from Blackburn

It will come as no surprise to most people that Ben Brereton (I’m not sure if the Diaz is addded on the end just for special occasions or not) is Blackburn’s current top-scorer with 8 goals this season. He banged in 22 last season and has also made a name for himself in South America after playing for the Chilean national team. He’s one of the best players in the Championship and will most likely be licking his lips at the prospect of taking advantage of our weakened backline. 

According to stats website, WhoScored.com, Blackburn’s best rated player is Daniel Ayala, their experienced central defender. He rarely misses a pass, wins everything in the air, clears more balls than anyone else on their team and is an organising presence at the back for them.

In terms of recent form, Blackburn lost 1-0 to Coventry on Tuesday night but prior to that they had won their previous four games. So apart from their most recent game, they’re in pretty decent form. Either we may be catching them just as they’re going off the boil or they’ll be desperate to show Tuesday was a blip and be chomping at the bit today. 

One peculiar thing about Blackburn’s record this season is their complete absence of draws. They have played 19, won 11 and lost eight. No draws. That seems completely implausible but somehow they’ve managed to come away with either three points or none in all of their games. So despite being second in the table they’ve lost eight games, compared to Town who sit bottom and have lost ten. How odd.

Score prediction – Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Huddersfield Town

Despite my big talk above about the prospects of some of our younger players stepping up and taking on goalscoring responsibility, I’m not sure I can see us scoring many goals today. But, I also think we can set ourselves up to be tough to play against and make it a tough afternoon for Blackburn too.

I think our league position dictates we have to scrap for every point we can, so playing away against second in the table with an injury ravaged squad means you sometimes have to sacrifice beautiful football for the sake of getting results. So I’d play percentage football, battle hard, and try and nick a goal on the break or from a set piece. It might not be pretty but we need all the points we can get. A battling nil-nil would be a decent outcome, and it’s about time Blackburn drew a game!