Huddersfield Town digest: Duff's future, rearranged game, Kasumu injury latest
All the latest Huddersfield Town news ahead of Saturday's trip to Stevenage and Tuesday evening's visit from Wrexham
What’s been said
— Michael Duff, on whether he has had reassurances from the board about his job, at Thursday afternoon’s press conference:
“I’ve had conversations with people above me but I haven’t had reassurances, in the bad runs or the good runs. I live in the world of reality and you know where you stand, but the sack’s never driven me in any job I’ve done. It’s not why I get up in the morning.
“It might happen, that’s the world I live in, but that’s not why I’ve got up this morning and come to work. I’ve come to work because I’m the manager of a very good football club and there’s an opportunity to do something. There’s loads that needs doing, so you need time and you need to survive in order to thrive, but you’ve got to do the first part first.
“It feels like the end of the world at the minute and [feels like] it’s falling apart and I get that, it’s an emotional game. It’s an emotional club, there’s been lots of ups and downs here the past few years, and this season’s been a perfect example of it.
“… You’re at a crossroads, way do you want to go? Do you want to carry on the slide? Or do you want to recover like we’ve done twice already this season? That’s the challenge to the players. It’s not pressure, it’s a challenge, and we have to be able to accept it and deal with it as a group.
“I wouldn’t ever ring up and ask for assurances either. I don’t wake up and wonder. I live in a world where eventually you will get sacked. Whether it’s today, tomorrow, two months, two years, 20 years, it will happen eventually.
“Hopefully it doesn’t, because I think the work that’s been gone at has been good in terms of the long-term progress of the football club, but you have to do well enough in the short term as well.”
— Michael Duff, on the character of his players, at Thursday afternoon’s press conference:
“There’s never been any questions about character, as in assassins in the building - I don’t think we’ve had that. Sometimes we question their character more in terms of personality - when the heat comes on, can you do the jobs that are asked of you?
“Those are the questions we ask of the players, because it can’t just be blind hope, but it can’t just be criticise, criticise, criticise, criticise, criticise. It’s easy to do that but it’s got to be constructive. We’re trying to create a learning environment, the players do get coached, and it’s taking the training ground onto the pitch, which hasn’t happened often enough recently.”
Charlton trip moved
Town’s trip to London to face Charlton Athletic on Saturday 29th March has been rescheduled for live TV coverage.
The game at The Valley remains on the same date but will now be a 12:30pm kick-off.
Coming up next
Town will visit Stevenage on Saturday, and the opposition’s recent form has been as indifferent as you would expect from a side sitting solidly in mid-table. The 12th-placed side ended a four-game winless streak at the weekend by claiming a 1-0 victory away to Shrewsbury, courtesy of an early own goal.
Dan Kemp has been Stevenage’s main danger man this season, scoring nine goals from what is usually an attacking midfield role.
Town won the reverse fixture 2-1 back in August, with Lasse Sorensen setting up both Josh Koroma and Ben Wiles to score either side of the break before Stevenage scored a consolation penalty in injury time.
Then it’s Wrexham’s turn to come to the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday evening. Phil Parkinson’s side go into this weekend sitting third in the table, six points ahead of Town and three points away from the automatic promotion places.
Wrexham had been unbeaten at home before suffering back-to-back defeats to Stevenage and Leyton Orient, but they have balanced that out with a significant upturn in their recent away form: they’ve won all of their past three on their travels, at Crawley, Northampton and Mansfield.
Town shared a goalless draw with Wrexham in the reverse fixture in October.
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
David Kasumu went off with a hamstring injury on Tuesday evening. It is the opposite hamstring to the one he recently injured, and is not as bad as first feared, but he is ‘struggling’ and is doubtful for the weekend.
Jonathan Hogg picked up a knock in training ahead of the trip to Wigan, but is ‘touch and go’ for the weekend, says head coach Michael Duff.
Radinio Balker has a small quad tear and is expected to be out for the next 2-4 weeks.
Ruben Roosken returned from injury on Tuesday evening, appearing from the bench against Wigan, and is thus in contention to play on Saturday.
Duff said on Monday that he hoped Joe Taylor would be available to play from the bench against Stevenage on Saturday, but did not re-affirm that on Thursday afternoon.
Matty Pearson is expected to be out for another month or so with a calf injury, but has been back in individual training for the first time this week.
Mickel Miller is not expected back until March-April with his knee injury suffered in November.
Herbie Kane is set for another seven weeks out with a PCL injury.
Tom Iorpenda remains out with a back issue.
Rhys Healey and Danny Ward are both out for the season with knee injuries, while Tom Lees’ chances of playing again this season will be assessed in a few weeks after he picked up a knee injury of his own.
Predicted line-up to face Stevenage
3-4-1-2: Lee Nicholls; Ollie Turton, Nigel Lonwijk, Brodie Spencer; Lasse Sorensen, Joe Hodge, Antony Evans, Ruben Roosken; Ben Wiles; Callum Marshall, Dion Charles.
Substitutes: Jacob Chapman, Loick Ayina, Josh Ruffels, Cameron Ashia, Tawanda Chirewa, Josh Koroma, Joe Taylor.
Huddersfield Town Women
Town Women will host local rivals Leeds United in Sunday’s 2pm kick-off. The two sides are separated by just three points in the table, and will both be keen to make up ground on the top three sides currently competing for the division’s sole promotion place.
