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Friday 3 March 2017

Fog on The Kilner

Good morning, welcome to another crunch match day for Huddersfield Town. Today we welcome Newcastle United to The John Smith's stadium, who are fresh of the back of a morale boosting winning away at Brighton. Whilst we've our reserves have just been given a bit of a lesson by Manchester City. What effect will this have on the game? For us, zilch, nada, the only thing to have come out of the midweek trip to Manchester, is that our first-team players will be fit, refreshed and ready for today. Newcastle however, will surely be on a massive high. Let's start by analysing our opponents.

Newcastle United

Fresh from relegation, Mike Ashley secured a massive coup by somehow convincing Champions League winner Rafa Benitez that Rotherham and Burton are must-see destinations. He promised the Spaniard investment in a bid to book an immediate return to the greedy league, and boy, did he back him. Scottish international Matt Ritchie and Howard the Duck impersonator Dwight Gayle both joined for £10 million each. Ciaran Clark, Mo Diame and Grant Hanley came in at around £5 million a piece, and Newcastle finished their spending spree at a modest £54.74 million.

Then the season began and the #RafaRevolution was underway, kicking off with back to back defeats, away to Fulham and then at home against, you guessed it, us. What a fantastic day that was, "Jack Payne, bottom corner, f*ck off" as one of my friends repeated for a solid two hours on the way home. Since then however, Newcastle have galvanised and moved to where they really should be. On Monday night they leapfrogged Brighton into top spot and currently sit 8 points clear of us.

The last time they were in this division, they walked it, never once looking back and rising back to the Premier League with consummate ease. This year though, there seems to be a different narrative amongst fans and pundits with comments such as;


  • "They should be p*ssing this league with what they've spent"
  • "They're on a bit of a wobble at the moment"
Well firstly, they're well on course to finish with over 100 points this year and probably won't be too far off the total figure (102) they finished with almost seven years ago, not that bad, and they actually haven't spend as much money as say Aston Villa. Which, just on a sidenote, gives me the opportunity to say, isn't Steve Bruce an ugly man? Yes, he is, let's move on.

Secondly, if Newcastle are on a wobble, I'd love to see them in top form, for the past 10 games in the championship they're 2nd in the table, only behind ourselves. When you consider the teams they've played in the last 10 it's even more impressive: Brighton (A), Norwich (A), Derby(H).

They do present a very real threat to us today and probably should be considered favourites, all things included. Which reminds me, their away form...

Played 17, Won 12, Drawn 2, Lost 3....Ominous

Enough of the ominous stats and the fawning now, back to focusing on ourselves, something which the manager and the team have done very well this season. Maintaining our identity, the terrier spirit and sticking to our overall plan.

Christoph Schindler, Izzy Brown and Chris Lowe all look set to return to starting line-up this evening and perhaps even more importantly Jonathan Hogg could be set to start a match for the first time since his injury. If he does start the match I think it will be a massive boost to our chances of success in this game. The man is everywhere, he touches every blade of glass, mops up loose balls and cuts out attacks before they've even begun. For me he is our most important player and his work in the centre allows our flair players to monopolise the ball and work the opposition defence.

David Wagner has called on the crowd to make another special atmosphere in the stadium, akin to the one that we had last month when we beat the champions of Europe 2-1. A loud, rocking stadium, out singing the Geordies will enable us to get on the front foot as we've done in many big games this season. I believe the key to this game will be starting with a high intensity and ripping into Newcastle as soon as possible. We all know that Benitez is an astute tactician and will be instructing his team to continue their swift counter attacking game plan put to such great use at the AMEX.

But if we get into them quickly, unsettle them, get an early goal and muzzle Dwight Gayle the three points can be ours, cutting the gap to the leaders by 5 points with a game in hand and further putting the frighteners up Brighton. I fully expect us to do this, and can already hear Oggy screaming, "Ant and Dec, Paul Gascoigne, Gaz Beadle, youuurr boyyyss toook one hell of a beating!!"

Until next time, UTT

Wednesday 1 March 2017

FA Cup Dream Dies

Well that's that, the FA Cup dream died tonight away at Manchester City, and in truth, who really cares? I for one, certainly don't mind too much at all. With the team that City put out, and the team that we put out, there was only going to be one winner tonight.

Fantastic play by Billing in the first half ended with Harry Bunn sending a squirming shot through the legs of Claudio Bravo, that was six minutes in, and I must admit, it felt 'BUNN-tastic' (sorry, I couldn't help it!). I was dancing around the living room at this point, high on the drug that is the Wagner revolution. I dared to dream, to believe.

Within ten minutes however the reality set in, Manchester City are a fantastic team and after all this is our second string. Cranie looked shaken, caught out of position at times, Lolley looked clumsy, Stankovic, well the less said the better really.

The Citizens began to stamp their authority on the game, within eight crazy minutes a combination of terrible defending, lack of composure and quality play by the opposition had seen the scoreline change to 1-3, and then the game was over. It was a matter of damage limitation.

In the second half I was calling for the introduction of Hefele, but Wagner stuck to his plan and kept his team the same after the break. City slipped from fifth gear back into third, they held us at bay and controlled the game for 20 minutes. Yes there were chances, and Lolley should really have scored but the Citizens displayed some great game management.

Hogg, Smith and Van La Parra were all introduced as the second half wore on, largely to add some solidity to the team and try and keep the score down. There were two more goals for City and a glaring miss from Collin Quaner. As soon as the fifth went in, the referee rather kindly blew the full-time whistle, and the game finished 1-5.

Now, here's 4 things that we learnt from this evenings game;

1) Stankovic Isn't Ready

A rather unsurprising point if you follow me on twitter (@terrierblog btw). The 21 year-old Slovenian has given Town fans many hairy moments this season when he's played and tonight was no different. Miss-placed passes, poor positioning, weak challenges and silly decisions summed up his game. He was punished for nearly every mistake he made tonight. The one bonus is that for all of his misgivings tonight, they are avoidable and can be worked on, he has natural ability and with more time under Wagner he could well turn into a decent centre-back.

2) Billing Is Budding

Whilst Danny Murphy waxed lyrical about the Dane, to me, he confirmed something that he has been showing us all in the absence of Hogg. He is an excellent player, and he's maturing fantastically with his tactical awareness and positional play. Cutting out dangerous balls, mopping up loose passes and then, offensively playing defence-splitting passes. This boy is on his way to something very special, whether it is with us or not, he will play at the top-level.

3) Middling Quaner

I think we all want to love Collin Quaner and get thoroughly behind him, but whilst we do I think we also have to accept his limitations. Whilst he's energetic, powerful and a real presence, to me there are three key limitations to his game;

  • His Gait: Collin's running style, wide, limbering legs, hunched shoulder and head down really do limit his effectiveness, often leading him into blind alleys and meaning he falls short of a through ball.
  • His Composure: With almost every chance that has been presented to him in his short time with us, he has chosen the wrong option. Whether that's not hitting it first time against Leeds, taking an extra touch at Oakwell or getting under the ball tonight, he just doesn't seem to have that natural ability to adapt his finishing.
  • Hesistancy: No matter if it's a shooting chance, a pass or a chance to run at a defender, his brain seems to work one freeze frame behind the rest. The ball comes to him in the box rather than the other way round, a gap will appear and he'll race into it once it's gone.
Yes, these are things that can be learned and worked on, but it strikes me that he just misses that natural air and confidence to his game. He has something to bring to the team and can help us going forward, but he is some way of Wells.

4) The League Is All-Important

Whilst it's nice to be on the television and receive all the praise from the pundits and the media for pushing City all the way or pulling of an upset, it doesn't mean zilch in the grand scheme of things. Promotion is the only thing on our agenda, and if we beat Newcastle on Saturday, or achieve promotion in May no-body will give a Witch's tit about the result of this game. That's how it should be, yes it feels strange, as in recent years we'd have gone bonkers if we'd played our second string in a game like this, but it's right. We need all of our players fit, fresh and ready for the weekend.

Until next time UTT.