Huddersfield Town digest: Moore on transfers, injury latest and match previews
We look ahead to a busy week as the Terriers take on Preston North End and Millwall
I’m still getting used to how we’re going to do things here at We Are Terriers. As you’ll know from having signed up already, our intention is not — and never has been – to charge you for information you could easily get for free elsewhere.
However, we are starting to feel that gap as much as we imagine you are, so we thought it might be useful to present you with something of a scene-setter at the beginning of each week, looking forward to the games ahead, the latest injury news, all the transfer latest, and any highlights from the pre- and post-match press conferences.
We’re going to call it our Huddersfield Town digest. For now it’s just something we’re trying out to see how much interest there is.
Our current thinking is to publish it around the start of the week and make it available to all subscribers (free and paid), on top of the exclusive features and interviews that are available only to our brilliant £5 a month backers. (On which note, Five Conclusions on the Bristol City game are here, if you’ve not already partaken.)
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This week’s games
Town have had something of a bad habit of playing teams at exactly the wrong time this season, but they can have no such complaint this week as they take on a pair of sides in pretty rancid form.
Both Preston North End and Millwall have taken just a single point from their respective past four games, causing Ryan Lowe’s side to drift away from the top six and pulling Millwall well and truly into the relegation fight: they’re now ahead of Town on goal difference alone.
Preston’s goalless draw away to Norwich on Saturday was their first clean sheet since 2nd September, but also made it three straight games without a goal scored. We’re set for an absolute classic, then.
In Millwall’s defence, they have played some good sides recently: since helpfully beating Sheffield Wednesday 0-4, they’ve lost to resurgent Coventry, outstanding Ipswich and capable Cardiff, as well as drawing 1-1 with Sunderland and costing Tony Mowbray his job in the process.
Town dropping points in either game would raise the prospect of being caught by Queen’s Park Rangers and potentially placed into the bottom three in their stead. However, the state of the bottom half of the table means it’s quite possible that Town could be overtaken by QPR and still stay outside the relegation zone.
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Sorba Thomas has served his one-match ban and will now return to contention to face Preston.
Town welcomed back Ben Wiles and Lee Nicholls from hamstring and neck injuries respectively against Bristol City on Saturday afternoon, though the goalkeeper was kept out of the side by the in-form Chris Maxwell.
Darren Moore had previously indicated that Ben Jackson’s knock is hopefully fairly minor, but confirmed at his Monday morning press conference that the utility man is unlikely to be able to take part against Preston.
Jack Rudoni and Kyle Hudlin are both making good progress and it is hoped that both will be back before Christmas, like a better-organised Chris Rea.
Ollie Turton is entering the final stages of recovery from the ACL injury he suffered in February and is on course to make his return sometime around the turn of the new year – though his re-introduction to full competitive action may have to be carefully managed after such a lengthy lay-off.
Kian Harratt, Pat Jones and Josh Ruffels are all expected to remain out until the new year, however.
Predicted Huddersfield Town line-up to face Preston North End
3-5-2: Chris Maxwell; Matty Pearson, Michal Helik, Tom Lees; Sorba Thomas, David Kasumu, Jonathan Hogg, Ben Wiles, Josh Koroma; Danny Ward, Delano Burgzorg.
Substitutes: Lee Nicholls, Loick Ayina, Tom Edwards, Jaheim Headley, Yuta Nakayama, Josh Austerfield, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Brahima Diarra, Tom Iorpenda.
What’s been said
“Naturally you look at the here and now, which is the game, and then after that the opportunities throughout the day and throughout the week present themselves [to work on transfers].
“In all honesty the phone doesn’t stop: whether there’s games coming or not, the phone’s on now, it’s 24/7 now, and it will be continuing throughout January.
“It’s something you’ve just got to deal with and it’s what calls you’re able to take now before training and what calls you to take afterwards and throughout the day.
“But for now we have a strategy in terms of dealing with those. We have a fantastic sporting director here and a fantastic head of recruitment here in terms of dealing with those footballing matters.
“So there’s a structure in place, and when those calls are coming and those conversations need having, they are being had.”
— Darren Moore, looking ahead to the January transfer window at his Monday morning press conference
Huddersfield Town Women
Postponements have continued to keep Town Women out of action over the past few weeks, but they’re scheduled to get back to it against Nottingham Forest on Thursday evening from 7:45pm at the Stafflex Arena. Tickets are £6 for adults, £4 for concessions, and free for under-16s.
Our schedule
We’ll have five conclusions on the Preston game by Wednesday lunchtime at the latest, and on the Millwall game by Sunday lunchtime.
All being well, the next episode of the podcast will be out either Wednesday evening or on Thursday, covering both the 1-1 draw against Bristol City and all the talking points that emerge from the Preston encounter.
Those pieces and the podcast will be exclusively available to our backers, so make sure you’re subscribed to get them in your email inbox as soon as they’re published!