notes – Page 3 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Oct302023 by Terrier Spirit16 Comments

“Absolutely eviscerated” – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 4-1 defeat to Leeds

Matches

Huddersfield Town were completely blown off the park by their noisy neighbours at Elland Road on Saturday lunchtime. While it would be nice to reach for some sort of excuse to try to disguise the pain of being beaten by our near-by rivals, we were comprehensively outplayed by the better team. I'd even go as far as to say Leeds weren't even the better team on the day but quite obviously a higher quality team and would beat the team Town put out on almost any day. You could potentially reach for the consolation that Town won the second half, as Helik scored and Leeds failed to add to the four goals they put past Nicholls in the first half but you'd be kidding yourself if you thought that meant anything. While Town showed slightly better organisation and weren't quite so wide open i...

Oct232023 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Can you have a bad win?, Rudoni & Helik keep improving, QPR self-sabotage, nerdy keeper stats, square pegs-round holes – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 victory over QPR

Matches

Darren Moore notched his first win of his Huddersfield Town tenure on Saturday by overcoming a spirited but misfiring QPR team. It was mostly thanks to a very good opening spell, some desperate defending and QPR's own problems that Town came away with a win when their performance was probably a long way short of other games this season where we've either lost or drawn. For example, the previous game against Ipswich was a far better performance despite Town only getting a point. But points are the thing that keep you in the division, not pretty football, so maybe this was the kind of game Town needed to get Darren Moore's time at Town properly started. Or perhaps this win was a false dawn and there are warning signs we should be taking heed of before things get any worse. We won't know ...

Oct22023 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

“The next Thierry Henry” (but not really) – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Ipswich

Matches

After coming from behind to snatch a point against Coventry on Monday night, Huddersfield Town had a taste of their own medicine when Ipswich came to town as the Tractor Boys leveled the scores late on and took away a point. It was probably a fair result but it's hard not to feel aggrieved when Town had opportunities to put the game to bed before the equaliser. On the bright side, Ipswich finished Saturday at the top of the Championship table and we came away feeling like we did enough to beat them, so there's something to be said about that. For all the fears I've had about the quality of the Town squad, we've come up against one of the form teams in the division and been more than a match for them. Maybe this Town team are pretty good after all and Neil Warnock's parting remarks abou...

Sep222023 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Shuffling the pack, was it fair?, testing the depth, Warnock Way suggestion, and more – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s draw with Stoke

Matches

Huddersfield Town were forced to share the spoils with Stoke on Wednesday night in Neil Warnock's final game as Huddersfield Town manager. (it was actually his third "final" game but this time he really means it!) In this article I'll talk about how I think a draw was probably just about fair, pay some backhanded compliments to Stoke, consider how the fringe players fared when given a chance in this game, reflect for a moment on Warnock and Jepson's time at Town through misty eyes and then look ahead to what's coming next now we know Darren Moore is taking over… Draw a fair result At half time I would have snatched your hand off if you offered me a draw, as Stoke had bossed the game and could easily have been ahead by a couple of goals by that stage. But a decent set piece goal h...

Aug312023 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Boo-boys, bad goals, Wagner tactics, man marking exploited, depth of a puddle and effort concerns – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Norwich

Matches

Huddersfield Town were beaten 4-0 by Norwich on Saturday in a game which saw Town repeatedly scupper their chances of success by conceding soft goals to a team that didn't need any extra help in getting the better of the Terriers. As the scoreline suggests, Norwich were the better team on the day by a distance. The scoreline is perhaps more emphatic than the balance of play might have suggested but then again, if you fail to take your chances and your opponent is clinical with theirs, these are the kind of scorelines you end up with. Here are some of my thoughts on the game. (Apologies it's taken a while to get them out to you.) Bad goals I won’t go into forensic detail of each goal, but they each had elements of self-sabotage to them. The opener was particularly painful to watch...

Aug222023 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

A meandering ramble about Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough

Matches

Huddersfield Town came away from their trip to Teesside last weekend with a point, which is two fewer than they might have had if they'd have taken all their chances and defended a bit better but is a point more than they should have had, given the golden chance Boro spurned in the dying minutes of the game. If you're sensitive to footballing clichés, you may want to reach for the sick bag now as this game was "a good advert for the Championship" as both sides “went at it hammer and tongs” and pushed for the win. The players “left it all out on the pitch”, “gave 110%”, and in a “game of two halves”, “football was the winner”. While it was a broadly positive away trip for Town, there were some obvious issues that still persist and a few new ones that popped up too. On the other hand,...

Aug162023 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Diarra’s influence, happy in defeat?, front foot Terriers, Leicester not at their best, signings please! – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Leicester

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost to Leicester at the weekend but despite not picking up any points, it was a decent performance from the Terriers and most fans came away happy (some are never happy!). The slight concern is that we had a few chances that we failed to take and the goal we conceded was slightly soft, as it’s one Nicholls probably shouldn’t have let through his legs. But after being written off before the game, Town got up in Leicester’s face and didn’t allow them to settle. Here are my thoughts on the game… A good defeat? How good can a defeat really be? Neil Warnock said after the game that any fans that weren’t happy after that game needed their heads checking. I can see his point too. It was a really entertaining match, with lots of action at both ends of the p...

Aug72023 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Avoidable goals, missed opportunities, concerns: old & new, and a few positives if you looked hard enough – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Plymouth

Matches

It was a disappointing start to the season for Huddersfield Town, with them making the long trip down to Plymouth and coming away with no points after conceding three sloppy goals. There were a mixture of positives and negatives to take away from the game and it’s difficult at this early stage of the season to know how concerned fans should be by this result. Because there are no other recent competitive games to give context to the result, the first game of the season always has an outsized importance to fans. So a defeat like this was always going to be hard to swallow but rather than running around like the sky is falling in, I’ll try and take a more measured reaction. I’ll wait at least two more games before I start acting like the sky is falling in. All three ...

Jul232023 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

Glorious goals, captain Sorba, same old problems, Rhodes spite, special teams subs – Notes on the Stockport friendly

Matches

Huddersfield Town traveled to Stockport yesterday for a friendly and came away with a 4-0 victory. While it’s important not to get too carried away with preseason games, particularly when they’re against a team from further down the divisions, there were some positive signs on display alongside the important fitness test for the Terriers. The game was played at a fairly good tempo for a friendly game, I don’t think Neil Warnock would allow any team of his to drop their standards for even a meaningless game like this. While it wasn’t anything like a proper league game, there were some full-blooded tackles and there weren't those horrible lulls you sometimes get in friendlies, where the players almost stand on the ball to get their breath back. Both teams went for it and had a go. And w...

Apr162023 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Both teams too timid, flight regrets, spark missing, lack of depth – notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Swansea

Matches

Huddersfield Town fell to a 1-0 defeat to Swansea yesterday, in a game where they saw little of the ball but managed to mostly frustrate our opponents and the game’s only goal was only conceded thanks to an unkind deflection that took it away from Vaclik. It sounds like sour grapes to whinge about losing a game where your team only had 25% possession but this was Town’s first defeat in six games and they’ve had similar stats in most of those games too. I don’t think Town’s game plan was to blame for their defeat in this game, it was the execution of it that fell short, as they struggled to cause Swansea enough problems despite having opportunities. Thankfully, results elsewhere were kind to Town and we’re still above the relegation zone but our position is precarious. With four ga...