BREAKING NEWS: Huddersfield Town have sacked Danny Cowley – read more by clicking here.
It was lovely to watch yesterday’s Championship results coming in knowing that Town had already secured enough points to be well clear of the relegation scrap. There was one result that does affect Town’s end of the season though.
Milwall’s defeat to QPR and other results going against them means that our opponents in the final game of the season can no longer reach the playoffs. With Town clear of the relegation zone and Millwall out of the hunt for promotion the game is now a dead rubber.
Maintaining the integrity of the competition
In previous press conferences, Danny Cowley has said that it’s important to maintain the integrity of the competition, meaning teams should field their strongest teams in games that could affect the outcome of the league. These comments were mostly aimed at other teams’ managers, out of concern they may select weakened teams against Town’s relegation rivals.
Had Millwall still been within grasping distances of the playoff positions then I think Danny Cowley would have been limited in the number of changes he could make to his starting eleven. If he were to make wholesale changes and that impacted the battle for playoff spots then we would have attracted some criticism.
In fact, I remember a similar situation in Town’s final game of the regular season before their 2017 playoff run. David Wagner fielded a significantly weakened team against Birmingham in a dismal away game I had the misfortune of being at. We lost, Birmingham’s 3 points lifted them out of relegation trouble and I think Blackburn fans still hate us because of it.
Dead rubber
Because the Championship has two automatic promotion places, four playoff spots and three relegation places, it’s rare that teams have nothing to play for. This is particularly true because the Championship is a very competitive league, where it’s rare to have runaway leaders or whipping boys.
So meaningless games are relatively rare in our league, compared to the Premier League where there are a clump of teams in the middle that are never going to challenge for the title but equally not likely to go down either. In fact, up until Town beat West Brom and secured Leeds’ promotion, there were only two teams in the Championhip that knew what league they would play in next season. That’s pretty impressive to say there were only two games remaining.
But now the league table is getting close to its final shape, both Town and Millwall know they will be returning for another season in the Championship. So the game on Wednesday night is a “dead rubber” where the outcome doesn’t have a great deal of consequence for either team involved outside of jockeying for final league placing.
(BORING ETYMOLOGY WARNING: Dead rubber comes from a card game called rubber bridge, where a big score in an earlier hand can lead to later hands being played despite them having no influence on the overall outcome of the game. I know this bit is boring, but someone out there might be interested, so I’m leaving it in. You were warned it would be dull.)
Who will Danny Cowley rest for the Millwall game?
I think it’s very likely that there will be a lot of changes to Town’s starting team on Wednesday now the game is a dead rubber. That could mean giving fringe players a start or it may even mean blooding a few youngsters. It’s hard to predict who will be coming in but it’s easier to predict who will be coming out.
Harry Toffolo – Town’s TikTok star has played every minute of our post-lockdown season and deserves a rest. His ability to keep running all game, despite the intense schedule, shows he’s in great shape but now the job is done it would be a good idea to rest him. (It may be coincidence but Toffolo is the only player in the squad that experienced a Cowley preseason and the only player to play all eight of our games so far.)
Jonathan Hogg – Hoggy isn’t the type of player that would ever shy away from a battle but I think he should be stood down for the next game. He does a lot of running and the recovery process takes longer the older you get. The breaks he’s been allowed have been limited, so I would give him the last day of the season off if I was Danny Cowley.
Lewis O’Brien – Another tireless runner who seems to have hidden reserves of fitness. He put an incredible shift in against West Brom and most likely needs a break.
Karlan Grant – Only made a brief cameo appearance on Friday night but otherwise has played quite a bit. If the plan is to cash in on our top goalscorer in the next transfer window then we would be silly to risk injury to him in a meaningless game.
Will the out of contract players get a chance?
There are several players in Town’s squad that are about to become unemployed. This game represents an opportunity for some of them to come into the team and make a last ditch attempt to impress the managers and owners of their value.
Collin Quaner, Elias Kachunga, Demeaco Duhaney, Rekeil Pyke and Joel Coleman are all out of contract this month and will most likely want to be given an opportunity to prove themselves.
Regular readers of this blog will know I have an unhealthy affection for Collin Quaner that is disproportionate to his footballing ability. So I’m very keen for him to be given one last chance to play for Town if he isn’t to be given a contract extension.
Considering these players have had to get themselves through a mini-preason to get up to fitness and then have barely played since the restart, it seems only fair to give them a swansong in a game where the stakes are low.
Will Town’s younger players be given a chance?
The silly rules about returning loan players not being able to play for their parent club (unless given special permission, which we were inexplicably refused) means many of our youngsters aren’t eligible for the Millwall game. However, it’s possible we’ll see a few of our younger players.
Dumeaco Duhaney – Already mentioned above as a player whose contract is expiring, he deserves a chance to show what he can do at right back. He’s not let the team down on the few occasions he’s been called upon but it would be nice to see a bit more of him.
Matty Daley – The academy product scored a memorable last-minute winner against Charlton in December but has seen his chances limited since the squad reinforcements arrived in January. I’d say he’s been unlucky and deserves a chance to show what he can do.
Jaden Brown – It’s strange to consider him a youngster, when he was our only recognised left back for the first half of the season but he is only 21 years old. He did a good job but hasn’t had a sniff of getting in since Toffolo arrived. I’m sure he’ll be keen to show he can do a job. (I’d be curious to see what our left side looked like with Toffolo playing in front of Brown, but that might be better suited to a preseason experiment.)
Rekeil Pyke – A player that has been in and around the first team for years without really breaking through. As his contract is also due to expire shortly and he’s now 22 years old, he’s drinking in the last chance saloon of his Town career. If he starts the game and scores a hattrick then he’ll surely have done enough to earn a new deal but otherwise he may need to go elsewhere to find game time.
What team is Cowley likely to pick?
I get the feeling that Danny Cowley is someone that hates losing, so I can’t see him picking a team that is weakened so much that it can’t possibly win. However, we have several players that are likely to be at risk of injury because of the number of minutes they’ve played in a short space of time, so some changes are inevitable.
I suspect we’ll see players like Schindler, Stearman and King kept in the squad for some experience and continuity. Then we’re likely to see a few fringe players given a run out and others, particularly the younger ones, given a chance from the bench. The five substitutes rule means that there is plenty of opportunity to change things around.
Who would you like to see play in the Millwall game? Put your thoughts in the comments section below.
BREAKING NEWS: Huddersfield Town have sacked Danny Cowley – read more by clicking here.