notes – Page 9 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

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...

Feb172021 by Terrier Spirit12 Comments

A good start, the capitulation, young guns & a death spiral – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost again last night to extend their 2021 winless run to nine games. Despite taking an early lead Town capitulated and Middlesbrough deserved to win despite a late fightback from Town, led by substitutes Rowe and Phillips. A good start Town flew out of the blocks and completely dominated Middlesbrough in the opening exchanges. We repeatedly carved them open with intense and fluent passing and moving in the final third. Pritchard, Holmes and Bacuna interchanged and popped up all over the places making it hard for them to track the threat. O'Brien bombed down the sides and found space to exploit. The end of this period of dominance came when Mbenza scored a lovely free kick. It seemed like going ahead destroyed our confidence and energy which ga...

Jan182021 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

The mistake, the assault, tedious tactics, murderball, commentary and transfer rumours – Notes on Watford away

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were beaten 2-0 by Watford on Saturday in a game that turned on a silly mistake by Ryan Schofield. The opener came at an unfortunate moment in the game and gave Town a mountain to climb against a Watford team full of quality players. It’s one of those games that you can find negatives or positives, depending on your disposition. Some fans will despair at Town’s lack of attacking threat and inability to put pressure on the Watford goal. Other fans, the dangerously optimistic ones, would point to how Town mostly held their own against one of the league's strongest teams despite having to field a team full of untested backup players. The mistake This was a game that was light on incident or drama, so the first thing to talk about is Schofield’s nightmare moment w...

Dec312020 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Loose passes, a late winner, a weak bench and looking up the table – Notes on Town’s 2-1 victory over Blackburn

Matches

It's a bit late, but here are a few of my thoughts of Tuesday night's 2-1 win against Blackburn. Schofield makes another big contribution Ryan Schofield is giving fans a look at why he's been so highly rated within the club for years and it's a delight to see. For the second game in a row he pulled out a save that stopped what looked like a certain goal. These reflex saves that he seems to specialise in have kept us in games and almost certainly meant we've got more points that we would have done with either of our other two other keepers in nets. Matt Glennon, the former Town goalkeeper and current Radio Leeds summariser, was glowing in his praise for Schofield after the match but suggested he may need to work on being a more vocal presence on the pitch. I think he's got a poi...

Dec202020 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

The dark arts, hard graft, the table & an Mbenza masterclass – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win over Watford

Matches, Opinion

If I told you that Huddersfield Town featured in a game were a goalkeeper mistake and a spectacular own goal decided the game you would be forgiven for thinking Town had another error-riddled outing. Thankfully it was Watford who made these mistakes and we had the tenacity and team-spirit to cling onto a two-goal lead that was so generously gifted to us in our final game before Christmas. There was a lot more than just good fortune that contributed to Huddersfield Town running out victors over a team that clearly had superior individuals but couldn’t quite come together to produce a convincing attacking display. In no particular order, here are a few of my thoughts on the game... A hard grafting performance The Carlos Corberán era has seen Town trying to play attacking and attractive f...

Dec22020 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Lucky chinos, playing out from the back, team changes and miserable Tuesday nights – Notes on Cardiff away

Matches

Huddersfield Town lost 3-0 to Cardiff last night in a game where the Terriers regularly shot themselves in the foot by making silly defensive errors. The attacking side of our game was almost as bad, as wave after wave of attack harmlessly came to nothing and Cardiff managed to dominate the game despite having very little possession. Despite there being five changes to the starting lineup, there was a familiar feel to this game. As we messed around with the ball in our own defensive third, struggled to find openings in the final third and lost too many battles in the middle of the park. Here are a few of my thoughts on the game. Too many changes to the starting eleven Trying to second guess Carlos Corberán's team selection is a fool's errand, as I've found with my predicted lineups thi...

Oct302020 by Terrier Spirit13 Comments

Diakhaby’s critics, anti-football, Pipa as a winger & not time to panic – Notes on the defeat to Birmingham

Matches

Here are a few of my thoughts about the Birmingham game, not in any order and a bit too late to be relevant. I’ve written it now though, so I thought I might as well put it out there. Birmingham were awful to watch but did their job effectively Birmingham were incredibly negative in their approach on Wednesday night and it was dire to watch. Once they scored they rarely even bothered trying to break against us and instead just sat back and kept things tight at the back. Playing this way will most likely be enough to keep them up this season but you have to wonder if it’s worth it. Is surviving enough to justify playing dreadful football all the time? Birmingham had a better team than us on paper, so it's a bit depressing for their fans that they set up like we were Liverpool or Man City...

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...

Oct192020 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

Carlos’ lucky chinos, imaginative strategies, yapping dogs, a niggly ref & maximum effort – notes on the Swansea win

Matches, Tactics

Huddersfield Town beat Swansea 2-1 in a hard fought encounter in South Wales yesterday. It wasn't the purest form of Carlosball we’ve seen so far but it was the most impressive win under Corberán in my view. Swansea are a good team that have started the season well but we came with a gameplan which, with a bit of luck, paid off. Here are a few of my unassociated ramblings about the game... Getting the tactics right We didn’t start this game particularly well and seemed to invite a lot of pressure onto ourselves which led to several good chances for Swansea in the opening exchanges. Thankfully Jamal Lowe spurned the best of these and injured himself in the process, which diminished his influence for the rest of the game. Town didn’t sparkle in the first half but there was a steady impro...