preseason – Page 4 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Aug102018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Have David Wagner’s signings solved Town’s biggest problem?

Matches

Huddersfield Town have invested heavily in three new wingers this close season. This has been a wise move from David Wagner, as our lack of goals last season seemed to stem from a lack of creativity in the final third, rather than a lack of goal-scoring talent. The hope is that these new boys (and VLP) are able cause problems to opposition defences in a way we didn’t often manage last season. While there was no lack of effort from our wingers in our first year in the Premier League, they didn’t contribute enough in terms of goals or assists, so it’s understandable that we’ll be seeing three new faces in this area. This article will look at whether Town's wingers will be able to add some creativity and attacking dynamism to the final third... Adama Diakhaby I’m very excited about th...

Aug62018 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Who’s going to get a chance in Huddersfield Town’s midfield this season?

Opinion, Player profiles

This is the third in a series of articles that takes a look at Town’s squad ahead of their Premier League season opener against Chelsea on Saturday. This one will focus on the midfield, follow the links to see the ones about our goalkeepers and defenders. Aaron Mooy I’ve said in the article about our defenders that Christopher Schindler was our best player last season, but Aaron Mooy has been the most influential player for Town over the last two years and has been a huge part of the success story we’ve experienced in getting into, and then staying in the Premier League. I find Aaron Mooy an absolute joy to watch, and when he plays well it elevates the whole team and tends to lead to good results. His passing is superb, his movement off the ball is also great, and over the past two ye...

Aug52018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

SQUAD REPORT 18/19: Defence – Can Wagner keep everyone happy?

Matches

Following Friday’s squad report about our goalkeeping talent, here’s a summary of how Town’s defence is looking ahead of the upcoming Premier League season. Terence Kongolo and Erik Durm are notable additions to a back line that was already pretty decent. Here’s the case for the defence… Right back - Flo set to keep Tommy Smith out of the starting XI Florent Hadergjonaj I’ve been really impressed with the 23-year-old Swiss right back since his arrival at Town last season. He had to be patient while he waited for his chance in the team, but when he’s been called upon he’s always done a good job. Flo’s most obvious asset is his speed, as he can motor up and down the touchline all game. This means he’s able to take up good positions and support attacks but will still bust a gut to get back ...

Aug42018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Five thoughts about Town’s 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig

Matches

Town turned in an impressive performance in their final friendly of preseason, beating RB Leipzig 3-0. Admittedly, our opposition had played a Europa League qualifier the night before and fielded a somewhat weakened team.But they still had Germany and Denmark’s first choice strikers from the World Cup up front, and a few multimillion Euro signings in their starting line up. Here are a few of my thoughts about the game… The 3-5-2 system worked well in its first outing of preseason This was the first time I’ve seen Town play with three central defenders for any length of time this preseason. It was a similar shape to the way we lined up towards the end of last season, and the system worked well. Everyone stuck to their task and there was no space for RB Leipzig to exploit. Zanka, Sch...

Aug32018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

2018/19 SQUAD REPORT – Goalkeepers at Huddersfield Town

Matches

In advance of the Premier League season starting next week, I thought I'd do a series of blogposts taking a look at Huddersfield Town's squad. This first post will look at the goalkeeping options in the club. Then it'll be defenders, midfielders, and finally attackers. Jonas Lössl When you consider Danny Ward went to Leicester for £12m it's stunning that we managed to buy Lössl for around £2.5m, given most Town fans wouldn't be willing to swap Lössl for Ward. The big Dane arrived at Huddersfield Town last summer with a reputation of being a liability, with the Examiner podcast saying he'd been descibed as "the worst goalkeeper in the Bundesliga", yet he had a fine first year at Town. There were a few occasions were errors led to conceding goals, but these moments were far outweighed b...

Aug12018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Five things I noticed in Town’s 2-1 win over Bologna

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town scored in the last second of their friendly with Bologna to win the game 2-1. It was a fairly tepid encounter but there were some glimpses of decent football and I think the team look close to being ready for the start of the season. Here are a few things I noticed from the game... Sobhi showed his strength Ramadan Sobhi is incredibly strong on the ball for a winger. There were a few occasions where a Bologna defender tried to musle him off the ball and he just swatted them away. His close control looked very good, and he looked surprisingly speedy when chasing down balls. I wasn’t all that impressed with Ramadan in the Lyon friendly, but saw plenty to like about him in this game. The real test will obviously come in the Premier League, but the signs are there tha...

Jul312018 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

5 reasons to believe Huddersfield Town will stay up this season

Opinion

A ball hasn’t yet been kicked in the 2018/19 Premier League season and Huddersfield Town have already been written off by many, including the bookies. You can’t blame them really given Town's lowly status, but I still think they’re wrong. Here are five good reasons Town could do better than expected this season. We’ve got David Wagner I genuinely wouldn’t swap Wagner for any other manager in the world right now. There might be better managers out there, but there aren't any better managers for Huddersfield Town. The way he’s turned the club’s fortunes around is incredible and I feel like he’s not yet finished the job yet with Town. He’s consistently managed to overcome expectations and he may just do the same again this coming season. I think David Wagner will perform even better i...

Jul302018 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

What’s going to happen to the four players that didn’t go on the Austria training camp?

Opinion, Transfers

The bulk of Town’s first-team squad are currently in Austria on a preseason training camp, but four members of the squad seem to have been left behind. I’ve not been able to find any official confirmation about why they didn’t make it onto the plane, so it’s possible they’ve stayed behind to arrange transfers away from Town. Here’s a quick look at some players that aren’t in any of the clubs’ videos and pictures from Austria and some thoughts on what lies in their future... Scott Malone Malone played in last week’s friendly win against Lyon and did a relatively decent job at left-back. There’s been no mention of injury, so his omission from the team suggests he may be looking to arrange a move. He had a patchy first season at Town, looking quick and dangerous as an attacking wingba...

Jul262018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town 3-1 Lyon – Second half player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town fielded two almost completely different lineups in their 3-1 victory against Lyon, so I’ve broken the player ratings up into two articles. Here’s my run down of the player ratings for the team that played in the second half. It's trickier to give an accurate assessment of the second half performances, as Lyon made a sequence of substitutions that completely unsettled the game. Town were actually fairly poor for the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the half, but after the substitutions we enjoyed our most dominant spell of the game. Was this because Town improved or Lyon got worse? It's hard to say. Ben Hamer - 8 out of 10 Deserved his man of the match award for his performance. In the second half he pulled off an incredible save, low down in the bottom corner. It l...

Jul262018 by Terrier SpiritNo Comments

Huddersfield Town 3-1 Lyon – First half player ratings

Matches

Huddersfield Town beat Lyon 3-1 in an encouraging performance at the John Smith’s Stadium. Ben Hamer was the only player to play for all 90 minutes, so I’ve decided to break the player ratings articles into two. This one looks at the players that featured in the first half. Ben Hamer - 8 out of 10 Looked very good in the first half and kept Town in the game with a couple of excellent saves. Came off his line well when Lyon had broken through our defensive line. His distribution looked good to me too, trying to pick out players rather than just launch it down the field. Florent Hadergjonaj - 7 out of 10 Was busy up and down the right flank, and linked up well with Diakhaby a couple of times. His crossing was mixed, a couple of loose ones but at least two excellent crosses nearly lead to...