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Tag: talking points

Kane’s attempted street fight, fan reaction to Lee Grant, Darren Moore’s return and finding form – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Port Vale

Kane’s attempted street fight, fan reaction to Lee Grant, Darren Moore’s return and finding form – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Port Vale

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town host Port Vale on Boxing Day with Town hoping that they can build on their emphatic win against Rotherham last weekend. But "the group" will be equally aware of how quickly the crowd will turn if they revert back to the football that saw them draw 3-3 against a poor Wigan team in their last home outing. Port Vale come to the game in poor form with Darren Moore under pressure for his job. While his time at Town ended in failure, he always came across as a decent guy and it's a shame he's struggled to establish Port Vale in League One after securing promotion for them last season. I always love going to a Town home game on Boxing Day, so this game will feel like a festive treat regardless of the outcome but there is a fair amount riding on this fixture. Town will want to...
Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Luton & pre-match talking points

Predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Luton & pre-match talking points

Matches, Predicted lineups, Talking points
Huddersfield Town are in Luton tonight to try and extend their winning run to four games. Luton Town were in the Premier League just a few seasons ago but are a completely different proposition at the moment, with their last outing being a 5-0 thumping from Barnsley.  It’s a sad state of affairs that both Luton Town and Huddersfield Town are coming into this game as mid-table League One teams when it wasn’t that long ago that we knocked them out of the Championship playoff semi-finals thanks to a Jordan Rhodes goal. Both teams find themselves in reduced circumstances but my impression is that Luton are roughly were Town were last season and haven’t hit their rock bottom yet. My hope is that Town’s limp finish to last season was their rock bottom and this season will be the one wher...
“We shouldn’t be losing to teams like Mansfield”, pressure on Grant, striker choices and 4-4-2 vs 4-2-3-1 – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town’s trip to Mansfield

“We shouldn’t be losing to teams like Mansfield”, pressure on Grant, striker choices and 4-4-2 vs 4-2-3-1 – 4 talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town’s trip to Mansfield

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town return from the international break on Saturday with an away game against Mansfield. This should give us a chance to see if the two wins we saw just before the break were the start of a turning point for the team, or if it was just a blip and we'll return to the downward spiral we'd seen before that. It feels like international breaks don't always suit Town, and we often struggle in the first game back. However, with the team ravaged by injuries prior to the break, these couple of weeks to recover a few players should mean we travel to Mansfield with more options and a stronger lineup. There's also been a few weeks of time on the training pitch without matches to prepare for, so Lee Grant has had more time to get his ideas over. While there are still fans who doubt Lee...
Duff’s revenge, learning not winning, May headache & predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Wycombe

Duff’s revenge, learning not winning, May headache & predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Wycombe

Matches, Predicted lineups, Talking points
Huddersfield Town head to Wycombe this afternoon in a game that will see Town reunited with their former manager, Michael Duff. While Wycombe had a dodgy start to the season, they've picked up since Duff's arrival and he's been able to make them competitive in most games.  Town come into the game in poor form, and Lee Grant is under pressure after a run of lacklustre and tactically naive displays. A win might quiet some of those doubting voices, and a defeat would increase the speculation about his ability to lead “The Group”. Will this be Duff's revenge? Michael Duff spoke about his exit from Huddersfield Town in his press conference for this game. He was discreet enough not to start getting into specifics but he did make it clear he felt badly done to by Town and his exit w...
Fans on the turn, a helpful break, Bolton’s awful away form & playoff hopes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Bolton

Fans on the turn, a helpful break, Bolton’s awful away form & playoff hopes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Bolton

Matches, Talking points
Thursdays must be the least likely time to play a game of League One football but for whatever reason (bending over backwards for TV money), Huddersfield Town entertain Bolton on Thursday night in front of the Sky cameras. I suppose it means we get a Town game to watch earlier than usual after an international break and, from a pessimistic point of view, playing a few days earlier means that Town aren’t going to ruin another weekend for fans.  Trying to predict what’s going to happen in this game is a fool’s errand because both teams come into it with very erratic form. Town have had some respectable results so far this season but they have also had some punishing defeats, so it’s hard to have any expectations either way. Bolton are in a similar position and have found away games p...
Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Stockport

Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Stockport

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town take on Stockport County at the Accu Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It’s the first home game since the club announced taking full ownership of the stadium, so it’s being billed as a housewarming party. Hopefully Stockport won’t do anything to spoil the party atmosphere and we can prove ourselves against one of League One’s more fancied teams (and last season’s defeated playoff finalists). Before I get into the talking points, I should also apologise for my lack of posts in the last few weeks. I’ve been under the weather but am feeling better now, so normal service should be resumed. I'll be doing the usual predicted lineup, player ratings and post-game notes for this match as well as some slightly different bits during the international break.  Here are the pre...
Predicted starting XI and pregame talking points for Huddersfield Town v Manchester City in the Carabao Cup

Predicted starting XI and pregame talking points for Huddersfield Town v Manchester City in the Carabao Cup

Matches, Predicted lineups, Talking points
It wasn’t long ago that Huddersfield Town were in the same league as Manchester City and we even managed to get a vital point away at the Etihad at the end of our first season in the Premier League, which set up the heroics we saw at Chelsea shortly after. So it’s a mixture of emotions that comes as we host Manchester City in the League Cup tonight. OK, it’s nice to see Town play against one of the big boys but it’s sad that we’re now so far from meeting them in league competition. Lee Grant will have to decide whether to field a strong team in this match or whether he’ll preserve his best players for the less glamorous but more important game against Exeter on Saturday.  Here’s my predicted lineup and pre-game talking points for this match… Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup...
The brink of crisis, Burton expectations, bouncing back and first half woes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Burton Albion

The brink of crisis, Burton expectations, bouncing back and first half woes – Talking points ahead of Huddersfield Town v Burton Albion

Matches, Talking points
After Town fell to a punishing loss to local rivals, Bradford City, last weekend, we’ve now got to pick ourselves up and go again this weekend against Burton Albion. While the defeat to Bradford will leave a sour taste for a long time, this weekend’s game is a first opportunity to put things right on the pitch and to show how serious we are about achieving promotion this season.  Burton look like they shouldn’t be too difficult an opponent on paper but they took four points from us last season, including a 3-0 beating back in the dark days of April, when Town were in freefall. Hopefully we’re a better team this season but this is the kind of game that could easily catch us out. They’ve a canny manager in Gary Bowyer and aren’t likely to roll over and let us tickle their tummy in th...
Cringey social media, first half issues, Grant’s selection headaches and a feisty match – Talking points for Huddersfield Town’s game against Bradford City

Cringey social media, first half issues, Grant’s selection headaches and a feisty match – Talking points for Huddersfield Town’s game against Bradford City

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town make the short trip to Valley Parade to take on Bradford City on Saturday lunchtime to renew their local rivalry. These two teams haven’t played against each other in 12 years and it’s 17 years since we played in the same league as them. Bradford City have spent a long time in the doldrums and as a result there are a generation of Huddersfield Town fans that haven’t seen these two rivals on the pitch together. Both teams find themselves at the upper end of the table after each has had a decent start to the season. Town are a point ahead of Bradford as it stands, so whoever wins this game will be above the other in the table as well as having local bragging rights.  Here are a few of the talking points ahead of this game… Will it be a feisty encounter? ...
A festering rivalry, new player availability, Nicholls’ big chance and woeful Posh – Talking points for Huddersfield Town v Peterborough

A festering rivalry, new player availability, Nicholls’ big chance and woeful Posh – Talking points for Huddersfield Town v Peterborough

Matches, Talking points
Huddersfield Town are hosting Peterborough United on Saturday afternoon. With the away side in horrendous form, it looks like a good opportunity for Town to bounce back from their defeat to Barnsley last weekend. Past history tells us that we always struggle against teams we expect to beat, so don't count your chickens just yet! We're still working out what kind of a team this new-look Town actually are this season, so maybe we're not that team that gives other clubs a chance to recover from bad runs. Maybe that's the old Town and we're now ruthlessly efficient at dispatching poor teams in bad form. It's possible. Here are my pre-Peterborough (Preterborough?) talking points. Could this be an easy win? The bookies aren't giving Peterborough much of a chance of winning this, with...