Reading – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

Sep302024 by Terrier Spirit15 Comments

Huddersfield Town sabotage themselves again – Notes on 2-1 defeat to Reading

Matches

Can you imagine having a haircut and saying it was mostly fine but the hairdresser got distracted with the clippers and shaved a chunk out of your ear? Or being really pleased with how an actor has performed in a play apart from the bit where they left that stage to take a personal phone call? Or enjoyed a meal out that was excellent but for the scabby plaster floating in the soup? Can you see where this is going? Huddersfield Town at Reading were much improved compared to recent outings but it counted for nothing because they still, at key moments, couldn't shake the habit of sabotaging themselves. So I'm not in the mood for handing out participation trophies for players that put in a decent shift but let themselves down at crucial moments. As we've seen so much in recent games,...

May82023 by Terrier Spirit14 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup, Reading relegation hangover, goodbyes & a big hello – PREVIEW

Matches

What a treat today’s game is going to be. After an absolutely miserable season, we’ve managed to drag ourselves over the line to safety with a game to spare thanks to a remarkable and completely implausible turnaround due, mostly, to Neil Warnock’s excellent management. So instead of a nervy, do-or-die final day nail-biter, we can sit back and relax for today’s game and see it instead as a survival party where we can give Neil Warnock and Dean Hoyle a proper send off, say hello to our new owner and, hopefully, pick up a final win against Reading too. The 90 minutes of football may not be the main focus of the events at the stadium this afternoon, with the prospect of so many goodbyes and a significant taking place, it’s likely that the game won’t produce the same drama as we’ll see aft...

Oct32022 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

Soft goals, Sorba’s cupped ear, Russell’s aimless wandering, a collective failure and nursing fragile confidence – notes on a bruising defeat to Reading

Matches

Mark Fotheringham became the eighth consecutive permanent new Town boss to lose their first game in charge when he lost 3-1 to Reading on Saturday. It was an abject performance from the Terriers which highlighted many of the issues that have plagued the team since the start of the season. Despite some strangely upbeat post match comments, Mark Fotheringham must be deeply concerned about some of the things he saw on Saturday as Reading barely had to get out of second gear to brush aside a Town team that looked completely inept at times. Here are some of my thoughts on the game in more detail… Three soft goal give Reading an easy afternoon's work The first goal Town conceded was the most forgivable, with Rudoni being out jumped on a corner but then again, it wasn't a clever p...

Oct12022 by Terrier Spirit3 Comments

Predicted lineup, style of play, touchline behaviour, ex-players returning – Huddersfield Town v Reading preview

Matches

Mark Fotheringham takes charge of his first Huddersfield Town game this afternoon, away at Reading. The Royals were widely tipped for relegation at the start of this season by many (including this blog) but a fine start to the season sees them sat third in the table and they represent a tough first challenge for Fotheringham (I keep wanting to shorten his name to Fozzy bear but I suspect he's too serious for nicknames). In advance of this afternoon's action, I'm going to take a look at some of the main talking points to watch out for in the game… Predicted lineup Fotheringham said he had a clean bill of health heading into this game but the club's training video they released a few days ago didn't show Jonathan Hogg training, so I suspect he's still either injured or at best only...

Jan242022 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Wembley hotel booking, our hat-trick hero, unleashing the attack, Reading relegation fodder and a leaky defence – Notes on Reading away

Matches

Huddersfield Town came away victorious from a seven-goal thriller against Reading at the weekend. The game was a hodge podge of great attacking football, woeful defending and a wide range of tactics and formations for each unique part of the game. There are some games where it’s a struggle to think of talking points to fill a blogpost but the opposite is true of this game. There are almost too many things to talk about. So rather than waste time on these introductory paragraphs that most people skip over, I’ll get straight into it. Hat-trick hero The only possible candidate for Man of the Match is Danny Ward, his three goals and incredible graft made this the high point of his return to Town after some fairly dark days in the not-too-distant past. Almost no T...

Jan232022 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

“Could be the missing piece of the puzzle” Player ratings from Town’s 4-3 win over Reading

Matches

Huddersfield Town came away victorious from a thrilling 4-3 encounter with Reading yesterday afternoon. The quality of football was mixed but the amount of action more than made up for occasional defensive lapses. Town gave away some truly horrendous goals but equally they attacked with verve and deserved to win despite frequent sloppiness at the back. I think this game was a bit of a one off, with the circumstances of the game lending themselves for Town taking an unusually bold, swashbuckling approach to the game. This season has been typified by a more cautious and defensive mindset but our recent inability to hold on to a lead and Reading’s obvious vulnerability meant it was sensible to have a really good go at them even though gifting them a way back into the game so frequently cl...

Jan222022 by Terrier Spirit1 Comment

Teacher’s pet to start – Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Reading

Matches

Huddersfield Town are in Reading today to try to extend their eight-game unbeaten run against a team that are really struggling for form. While we’re regularly reminded that there are no easy games in the Championship, this fixture represents one of the less tricky ones. Though the last time I thought that was when we played Nottingham Forest during their abysmal run and they played us off the park. Town weren’t at their best against Swansea last weekend but managed to cling on for a point against a team that played better than us on the day. Today’s game represents an opportunity for Town to have more of the ball and hopefully to give our attackers a platform to try and win the game. Here’s how I think Town will lineup today: Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls I thought having on...

Aug292021 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

“Unplayable” Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 4-0 win over Reading

Matches

After a decent performance in the midweek defeat to Everton, I went into this game feeling positive about Town’s prospects but I didn’t see this result coming at all. Town dominated an admittedly poor Reading team from start to finish and fully deserved their emphatic victory. While Sorba Thomas stood out as the star man on the day, several other players were very good too and I can’t think of a single Town player that was under par. With that in mind, expect some high scores to follow… Lee Nicholls - 7 out of 10 Had very little work to do in terms of saving shots, with Reading limited to potshots from outside the box. However, he did come off his line confidently on several occasions, once cutting out a threatening attack with a clever header when he was outside his area. Calm a...

Aug282021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Reading

Matches

Town are back in action again this afternoon when they face Reading. Unusually for Town, we go into this game feeling pretty positive after back-to-back wins in the league followed by a respectable 2-1 defeat to Everton where we were unlucky to not at least go to penalties. I wasn’t able to find time to write a full article about the Everton game but it was unusual to enjoy a game involving Town so much. Maybe it was the freedom that comes with playing in a relatively unimportant cup fixture but the players seemed to express themselves more going forward and it was the best Town have played in a long time despite fielding a supposedly weakened team. The players that came into the starting lineup on Tuesday have now given Carlos a few selection headaches for this afternoon. Here’s ho...

Jan32021 by Terrier Spirit8 Comments

“He didn’t do well enough in key moments” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 defeat to Reading

Matches

Despite taking an early lead, Huddersfield Town were defeated by Reading yesterday in a game that saw Town play OK but far from their best. Reading looked like the livelier attacking force and on the day were able to produce two moments of quality that won them the game. Overall, I’m not too disappointed by this result and as Town have already amassed a decent number of points we can chalk this game down as fair enough and move on. Next week’s game against Plymouth should see the novelty of some of the squad players getting a run out and many of today’s first eleven getting a long-overdue rest after being worked very hard over the last few months. Here are my ratings for each player: Ryan Schofield - 7 out of 10 Made an amazing, point-blank save just before half time that pres...