derby – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Aug102021 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

5 interesting stats from Huddersfield Town’s draw with Derby

Matches

It’s perhaps too long after the weekend’s game to still be raking over the details, particularly as it was a fairly uneventful match aside from the off-the-field drama that surrounded Town’s encounter with Derby. But after the summer break from Huddersfield Town, it’s good to be back to having games to talk about, so I’ve decided to wring one last article out of this match. Stats in football are divisive among fans, some love them and many are bored to tears. I’m hopeful that those that have clicked on this article are in the former category and are as interested as me in the little stories that emerge when you dig into the numbers produced during Saturday’s match. Sorba Thomas' nine key passes It’s widely acknowledged that Sorba Thomas was the star of the show for Town on Satu...

Aug92021 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

My dad’s thoughts on the draw with Derby

Matches

In a first for the blog, this article is written by my dad. He's been a Town fan for 60 years and is the reason I'm a fan too. Here are his thoughts on the Derby draw: Bums on seats First of all let me say that it was really good to be back at a real football match at the tidy Pride Park with no crowd restrictions despite fewer bums on seats than might be expected for a season opener. The atmosphere and the noise in and around the stadium made me realise just how much I had missed it over the past 18 months. A patchy affair The match itself was a patchy affair with too many stoppages, especially in the first half, due to a plethora of petty and not so petty fouls and injuries. Both looked like teams that hadn't played together before with passes going astray and goal...

Aug82021 by Terrier Spirit10 Comments

“He just didn’t do enough” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw at Derby

Matches

It was a very strange start to the Championship season for Huddersfield Town. All the talk earlier this week was about how awful Derby would be and how they can’t put together a team, then it transpired that an unknown number of Town players would be ruled out of the game and we were the ones that might struggle to field a team. In reality, both first elevens were not far off Championship quality and once it kicked off it was a decent contest. Derby weren’t as bad as many expected but the weakened Town team did a reasonable job against them. There were good and bad elements to Town’s game and we’ll definitely face tougher opponents in the upcoming weeks but on balance I thought we did OK and a point is a fair reflection on the game. Here is what I made of each individual perfo...

Aug72021 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to play Derby amid covid testing uncertainty

Matches

I’d hoped that this season may feel a bit like a return to normal but even though fans will be able to watch Town play in the Championship for the first time in an age, the spectre of Coronavirus still looms over today’s match. This may not be the best game to try and pick the likely lineup, as rumours abound about the availability of Town’s first team players and even the coaching staff. Carlos Corberan made some vague statements in his press conference about uncertainty surrounding the results of covid tests that hadn’t been received yet. Perhaps inevitably, since then there have been several unconfirmed reports on Twitter of key players that are likely to miss out today due to having to isolate. I’m not going to repeat specific names of players that are suspected to be positive c...

Feb252021 by Terrier Spirit17 Comments

Carlos outfoxed, our vampire GK, low-block struggles & how to turn it around – Notes on HTAFC’s defeat to Derby

Matches

After the otherworldliness of the victory over Swansea, Town came back down to Earth with a bump against Derby. Just over 48 hours after a victory that had fans daring to dream this season could have a boring, midtable finish, Town were back to all the bad habits that had left them drifting down the table and towards the drop zone. If someone wanted to know what went wrong for Town this season they could watch this game to see just about every issue that's blighted Town’s play with predictable regularity. Throwing away a lead is the only square that went unmarked in Huddersfield Town 2021 Bingo. All the other favourites were there: silly mistakes at the back, tepid build up play, spurned chances, being out muscled at set pieces, persisting with failing tactics and injuries to key play...

Feb232021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Derby preview – Team news, predicted starting XI, tactics and score

Matches

Huddersfield Town head to Derby riding a wave of euphoria following their unexpected 4-1 dismantling of Swansea at the weekend. The game tonight has huge significance for Town’s season, a positive outcome will help fans to believe our awful recent run ended last Saturday but a defeat could leave us thinking Saturday was just a fever dream, a freak one-off and we’re still deep in trouble. The last time we played Derby they were in dreadful shape and we won the game despite not being all the great ourselves. Wayne Rooney’s managerial career started recently at Derby and he’s presided over an upturn in form that has pulled the Rams out of the relegation zone and returned them to winning ways (though I’ve got my reservations about Rooney as a manager, which you can read about at the end of...

Oct212020 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

Misfiring Town, anti-Carlosball, stropping subs, xG, dark arts and lifting pessimism – Notes on the Derby win

Matches

Huddersfield Town managed to grind out a one-nil victory against a poor Derby side that have now lost five of their opening six games of the season. While it’s obvious that Derby are having a rough time, it’s still impressive that Town managed to get a win against a team packed full of players that are, on paper, better than ours. This win means that Town have earned 10 points out of the last 12 available and are sat comfortably in the top half of the table. It's too early to be getting carried away about Town's prospects but there is unquestionably a good feeling around the team now and Carlos' new approach is already bearing fruit. Winning despite misfiring This wasn't a great performance from Town in my opinion. We struggled to play through Derby's high press for long periods and our...

Oct212020 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

“A mixed bag” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win against Derby

Matches

Last night, Huddersfield Town beat Derby one-nil in a game that didn’t see Town reach their fluent best but was enough to overcome an opponent that looked badly out of form. In a way, I was quite pleased to see us get a scrappy win over the line as we’re not going to play beautiful football every game this season. It’s quite hard to give scores for this kind of a game because we didn’t look great for long periods but did do enough to win the game. Some players had excellent games and others were nearly anonymous, so it was a mixed bag in terms of performances. Here’s what I made of each player last night. Ben Hamer - 7 out of 10 I felt sorry for Hamer when I saw the way Derby had chosen to target him at set pieces and when he was in possession. It was clear his former teammates from las...

Oct202020 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Derby

Matches

Huddersfield Town take on Derby tonight in a game that looked intimidating at the start of the season but seems less threatening given Derby have lost four of their opening five games and are without their potato shaped talisman, Wayne Rooney. They’re still a good team and will give Town a stern test but our unbeaten run of three games will give our players confidence and Derby won’t be relishing the prospect of playing us after our victory over Swansea at the weekend. Carlos Corberán will have to decide whether he wants to stick with the players that won the game on Saturday or freshen up the lineup after only two recovery days since Saturday’s game. I think he will mostly stick with a similar team but will tweak things in midfield a bit to suit playing with three central defenders. Go...

Aug82019 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

6 grumbles about Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Derby

Matches

Huddersfield Town were beaten 2-1 by Derby in their opening Championship fixture on Monday night. The defeat came about, in part, because of silly individual errors and poor defensive organisation. The confidence that had been painstakingly built over the course of preseason quickly evaporated. A change of approach at half-time spurred Town onto the front foot and made us more competitive, but it didn’t lead to the goals we were pushing for. Midfield confusion in the first half My impression of the first half was that our midfield was completely overrun by Derby and poor Jonathan Hogg was often left with the impossible job of tracking up to three players, while Mooy and Bacuna both seemed to be positioned far too high up the pitch. Town’s midfield looked almost non-existent at times a...