Huddersfield Town digest: Lee Grant on absentees and injury
All the latest going into Town's trip to Reading and the upcoming League Cup clash with Leicester City
What’s been said
— Lee Grant, on whether some of last weekend’s absentees may be available to face Reading this weekend. Get the full press conference here.
"Leo [Castledine] was in the building 24 hours and it certainly wouldn't have been right for him, having not trained to the level the group has trained for the last five weeks, to throw him right into the mix.
“It's great that we've now been able to get a proper week's work into him. He's getting close to where we need him."
"Marcus McGuane similarly has not come in on the same schedule the group had behind them. As much as I'd really like to force people back in and have them available from minute one of day one, we're taking our time to make sure we have him right and available for long periods.
“It's probably the same story for Murray [Wallace], actually. We knew when we signed him we had to manage [his foot injury] and I think we're managing it pretty well, getting minutes into him in Austria. We've been really steady away with Murray and we're now at the point, off the back of another good win, where I think he's going to be champing at the bit.”
Coming up next
Huddersfield Town will visit Reading for their first away game of the season.
The Royals are in an altogether different mood after facing horrible difficulties off the pitch last season that included the potential threat of expulsion from the EFL, only to be buoyed by the announcement a long-awaited takeover on the final day of last season.
Reading have recruited heavily over the summer, but got off to a losing start as they were defeated 2-0 away to Lincoln despite dominating the run of play.
Town will then take on Leicester City in the first round of the League Cup on Wednesday evening.
The Foxes are a familiar foe to Town boss Lee Grant having earned automatic promotion into the Premier League alongside Ipswich in 2023/24, only for both sides to head straight back down into the Championship.
Leicester will kick off their season at home to troubled Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday afternoon.
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Josh Feeney has served his one-match ban for the red card he received for Shrewsbury on the final day of last season and is now available to face Reading on Saturday.
Sean Roughan went off with a bash to the knee against Leyton Orient on Saturday, but is ‘fine’ and got through a full day’s training on Wednesday.
Marcus Harness then followed Roughan off with a knock later in the same game. He will be assessed alongside Murray Wallace. The Scotsman also been in training having arrived at the club with a fractured foot and playing a limited part of pre-season, but is now ‘champing at the bit’ to get back into action.
Fellow signings Marcus McGuane and Leo Castledine may also come into contention after missing the opening day. Grant explained their absence in the quotes at the start of the digest, if you scrolled straight past.
Rhys Healey and Jacob Chapman remain out with injuries sustained in pre-season.
Predicted line-up to face Reading
Another tough one as we wait to see how far the vicissitudes of Lee Grant’s rotation policy will go from one game to the next.
We’re going to err on the side of caution when it comes to Marcus Harness following his knock against Leyton Orient at the weekend…which may be a bit hypocritical given we’ve chosen to include Sean Roughan at left-back.
That gives us something fairly close to the side that finished the game against Leyton Orient, with Alfie May at number 10 just behind Joe Taylor.
Honestly, though, we’re still in ‘your guess is as good as ours’ territory here.
3-4-2-1/4-2-3-1: Owen Goodman; Jack Whatmough, Joe Low, Sean Roughan; Lynden Gooch, Herbie Kane, Ryan Ledson, Ruben Roosken; Alfie May, Ben Wiles, Joe Taylor.
Substitutes: Lee Nicholls, Josh Feeney, Lasse Sorensen, David Kasumu, Mickel Miller, Marcus Harness, Dion Charles.
Bits and bobs
• Many of you will be aware, already, but just to spread the message…this year’s Walk4Pounds charity walk will see fans making the 25-mile walk from the Etihad Stadium to Accu Stadium on Saturday 20th September — the day of Town’s meeting with Burton Albion — in memory of the late great Denis Law. A more accessible ten-mile walk is also available, which is the one I’ll be doing because fat.
The majority of the funds raised will go to the Alzheimer’s Society with the rest going to the Huddersfield Town Foundation in support of their Sporting Memories programme, which brings together adults aged over 50 who are interested in sport and the local area to reminisce and meet like-minded people.
Full details on the walk and how to sign up are available here.
• Town have officially reclassified their B team as the Under-21s with immediate effect following the restructuring of the club’s academy.
Academy manager Jon Worthington explained: “Having grown extensively since reopening our full academy last season, the direction and philosophy of our entire operation has evolved in that time, too.
“While we had been previously committed to our limited structure with a heavy emphasis on the B Team supporting the First Team, that is no longer the exact case, with a longer-term mindset and talent pipeline in place.
“With that in mind, it no longer feels appropriate to categorise that group as a B Team, with the average age of the squad having fallen significantly in line with the wider changes in the academy as a whole. By reverting to the Under-21 label, we give a more accurate representation of that side, and move away from a title that was more appropriate within our previous structure.
“We remain extremely proud of how the academy as a whole continues to grow and evolve, and this change shows a full commitment to our current model, bringing the side in line with all other age groups from Under-8s upward. Still a young, developing side who are embarking on their own journey, we want to ensure that the immediate expectations on them are realigned, allowing them to commit and concentrate fully on improving both individually and as a group.
“The side have another exciting, challenging season ahead of them as they face Category Two opposition for the first time within the Professional Development League, and with the continued support of those right at the top of the club, we look forward to helping them fulfil their potential and become the best they can be both on and off the pitch.”
• Don’t forget that the final deadline for season cards is this Friday at 5pm and they will not be returned to sale thereafter. Details on how to purchase one are available here.
Town Women season cards are also available for sale, with men’s season card holders eligible for a 50% discount — an absolute bargain, when you consider the full price is just £50 for adults, £40 for concessions and £30 for under 21s. Information on that is available here.
Our schedule
We’ll have one more written piece for our lovely paying subscribers ahead of the game this weekend — that’s likely to be out Friday morning.
Coverage of the Reading game will include player ratings for all readers on the final whistle, followed by five conclusions as usual on Sunday morning. The podcast on the Listening game will be out first thing on Monday morning for paid subscribers too.
The Leicester game on Wednesday night is unlikely to get the full conclusions treatment unless the game is really remarkable, but either way it will be the usual drill with the ratings and our paid subscribers will get a substantial match reaction in their inbox first thing Thursday morning.
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