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Control vs Chaos, winning with kids, enjoying penalties and rival manager remarks – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s cup win against Leicester City

Control vs Chaos, winning with kids, enjoying penalties and rival manager remarks – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s cup win against Leicester City

Matches, Notes
Going to midweek cup games can be a real gamble with your time. It’s very easy to come away from these games feeling like you’ve wasted your evening, particularly if you get the impression that the players cared even less than you did. The fact the attendance was around a third of a typical league game tells you that many fans are not up for the cup. Thankfully, those fans that did turn up to watch Town play Leicester on Wednesday night were treated to an excellent evening’s entertainment. Town fought back from behind to draw the game 2-2 in normal time and then went straight to penalties and won 3-2 thanks to some heroics from Lee Nichols. While the competition might not be a priority, seeing a youthful Huddersfield Town team go toe to toe with one of the bigger Championship teams show...
A kamikaze keeper, winning moments, Ashia bursts onto the scene and passing problems – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win at Reading

A kamikaze keeper, winning moments, Ashia bursts onto the scene and passing problems – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win at Reading

Matches, Notes
Huddersfield Town kept their 100% win record on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Reading. The performance was not always fluent but the dedication and effort were consistent across the players involved. The scoreline hints at an easier victory than this game actually was but I think Town did enough to deserve all three points.  Town now sit top of the embryonic league table and are showing signs of being a strong team this season. It’s very early days but all the current indicators point towards huge potential. There will be tougher tests ahead for Town this season but I’m really pleased with how well they’ve navigated their two tricky opening games.  Here are some of my thoughts on this Reading win… A tight game, decided by 3 moments There are millions of variables that ...
Optimism, a penalty, partnerships, & the fan contribution – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

Optimism, a penalty, partnerships, & the fan contribution – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 win over Leyton Orient

Matches, Notes
Huddersfield Town opened their season with a 3-0 against Leyton Orient on Saturday in glorious sunshine and even scored a penalty. After finishing last season so pathetically, particularly in the final home game against Leyton Orient, this game went a long way to emphasise that we’re now in a new era at Huddersfield Town.  Lee Grant fielded eight debutants (not debutantes, as I spelled it in my last article, suggesting Grant was introducing young ladies to polite society) but against a Leyton Orient side that was also full of new blood, Town looked the more cohesive team of the two. It’s early days obviously, but there was a lot to like about this performance even if we still look to be gelling as a group.  How the game unfolded  The game started at a frenetic pace,...
Nastiness, The Radulovic Redemption, an injury crisis & transfer news – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Greuther Furth

Nastiness, The Radulovic Redemption, an injury crisis & transfer news – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Greuther Furth

Matches
Huddersfield Town were 1-0 winners against Greurther Furth on Saturday, in their final friendly of their Austrian tour. It was a scrappy, bad-tempered and low quality game of football but Town just about deserved the win against a team that is technically playing at a level above them (the German second tier).  Here are some of my thoughts about the game… Another rough and tumble encounter  The most memorable thing about this friendly game was how unfriendly it was. Just like against Young Boys of Berne, Town got right up in the faces of their opposition and made life difficult for them. The physical treatment we handed out was perhaps a bit over the top at times and Kasumu could have seen red for some of his challenges he put in while on a booking.  After seeing...
Pressing, passing and aggression – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with BSC Young Boys

Pressing, passing and aggression – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw with BSC Young Boys

Matches
Huddersfield Town put in their best performance of preseason on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw against the Young Boys of Berne, a Swiss team once managed by David Wagner and a regular competitor in European competition. Town were not intimidated by the step up in competition and dominated the early parts of the game thanks to an energetic press that stopped their opponent getting a foothold in the game. Young Boys finished the stronger of the two sides as Town's multiple changes meant we lost our rhythm and energy.  The game had some interesting and encouraging moments as well as some causes for mild concern. Yep, “encouraging moments” and “mild concerns” are about as hyperbolic as you can get about a friendly. Here are my thoughts in a bit more detail. A pressing matter This was the fir...
Huddersfield Town’s season ends with a whimper ahead of a summer of change

Huddersfield Town’s season ends with a whimper ahead of a summer of change

Matches
At least the weather was nice Huddersfield Town’s end-of-season collapse was brought to its conclusion on Saturday with a 4-1 defeat to Leyton Orient on Saturday. While Leyton Orient weren’t exactly world beaters, they were organised, fit and effective. They played like a team and actually cared about the outcome of the game. Town were the opposite. Despite having the better players on paper, there was only ever going to be one winner of this game. It’s a shame that Jonathan Hogg ended his Town career at this point, with this squad of players, after 12 years of loyal and dedicated service. The team on the pitch had very few of the attributes that Jonathan Hogg has displayed over his Town career, the passsion, work rate, aggression and discipline were absent from a team of players tha...
What is going wrong at Huddersfield Town? 7 areas where the club is failing

What is going wrong at Huddersfield Town? 7 areas where the club is failing

Opinion
I was going to do a write up about the 3-0 capitulation to Burton Albion on Saturday but the performance was so bad that it defies analysis. Burton is famous for brewing huge quantities of beer and the only plausible explanation for Town's performance would be them spending the morning getting sloshed in the nearby brewery. Only that doesn't seem plausible, as someone at the club have had to organise a booze up at a brewery - which based on recent evidence we are incapable of doing even this. Town were disgusting to watch, literally. I felt sickened by the half-hearted slop that the team collectively served up. If you have any doubts about how bad Town are right now, watch the second goal on the highlights below.  https://youtu.be/WP4wzBXFy3s?si=M2mtjsaP3h026xPZ Instead of ...
Never tell me the odds! Huddersfield Town’s playoff hopes dwindle after 1-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers

Never tell me the odds! Huddersfield Town’s playoff hopes dwindle after 1-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers

Matches
Huddersfield Town lost by a single goal to Wycombe on Tuesdays night, as Udoh’s goal was enough to separate the two teams. While the result was terrible for Town's promotion prospects, there were signs of improvement. Too little, too late, but it was still pleasing to see the team looking more coherent even if some familiar problems prevented us from getting anything from the game. With Town now four points and two league positions away from sixth place, it looks very hard for us to close this gap on the two teams above us. Particularly as both Bolton and Reading have relatively kind run-ins.  Mistakes and lack of cutting edge cost Town again Despite Wycombe being one of the best attacking teams in League One this season, the game was settled by a goal that came from a defens...
An unconvincing win – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 victory over Mansfield Town

An unconvincing win – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 victory over Mansfield Town

Matches
Huddersfield Town beat Mansfield on Saturday by two goals to one. After back-to-back away defeats against Charlton and Lincoln, it was good to get back to winning ways even if the performance was far from perfect. Mansfield could easily have taken something from this game if they had taken some fairly easy chances, but thankfully Town scored from their only two shots on goal all game and that was enough to get them over the line. The old adage goes that winning games where you’ve not played well is a hallmark of a successful team. It’s hard to see it that way for Town this season, as so many of our victories have come with disclaimers about some element of the performance. Playing well and winning is something we’ve not seen nearly enough and as a result we’ve had too many games like th...
A grumpy look at Huddersfield Town’s 4-0 capitulation to Charlton

A grumpy look at Huddersfield Town’s 4-0 capitulation to Charlton

Matches
Town hit the self-destruct button on Saturday afternoon with an abject performance that effectively gifted the game to Charlton. While the hosts played well, Town showed a complete inability to cope with any pressure and good saves from Lee Nichols are the only reason the scoreline wasn't worse than 4-0. While the defeat dumped Town out of the playoff places, they're still only a point away from Reading in sixth. However, this game left me not caring too much about whether Town can finish in the top six as it showed Town are way off the pace when compared to another likely playoff contender.  Was it really that bad? Yes! I can't remember many games as disappointing as this one. Previous pumpings have come during times when the team have been on a downward slide but this match...