Huddersfield Town digest: VAR debate after tears at Bristol City
Huddersfield Town digest: VAR debate after tears at Bristol City
Andre Breitenreiter's reaction, injury latest, a look ahead to the Swansea game, and a sad week for Town Women
I was already planning a piece about whether video technology should be introduced in the EFL off the back of Andre Breitenreiter’s comments before the Bristol City game, but it seems even more topical now. I’m really interested to hear your views, so get your votes in now!
What’s been said
“We spoke to the referee some minutes ago. She hasn’t seen the clips after the game. You have to be 100% right when you give a penalty in the 98th minute.
“I know the questions would be different if we had won here 1-0, and I spoke to you at the last press conference: you need a VAR here in England in the Championship for sure. Maybe it takes some more minutes, but you have correct decisions, and we should win here 1-0 today. It’s never a penalty, I disagree with the penalty decision.
“The boys played really well over 90 minutes, and now they are crying in the dressing room because they cannot understand. Ollie Turton is playing [for the first time] after one year [out injured] — it’s totally frustrating.
“It’s hard, it’s really hard, but the performance was great and what we expect. They played as a team for over 90 minutes and not just for 45 minutes. They worked hard, they created chances, they also played good football. Maybe we should score the second goal, but we defended well as a team and this is what we need in every game, and what we needed in some more games in the past. It goes on.”
— Andre Breitenreiter, at his post-match press conference after Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw away to Bristol City
Coming up next
Swansea City have ended any lingering relegation worries over the past couple of games by claiming back-to-back victories over Rotherham United and Stoke City, lifting themselves nine points clear of the bottom three to 14th place.
The Swans have had a disappointing season after a late surge under Russell Martin last year meant they finished just three points outside the play-offs. Michael Duff did not work out as the now-Southampton boss’ replacement, prompting another mid-season change to bring in Notts County’s Luke Williams.
As they have been for years, Swansea remain a short-passing side who look to patiently dominate the ball. They have rarely dropped below 50% possession this season — with their highest, 77%, coming in the 1-1- draw in the reverse fixture against Town in December.
Elsewhere in the relegation battle
Other fixtures to keep an eye on this weekend (Saturday 3pm unless noted). And yes, some of these teams sadly seem less and less worth putting in bold, but we’re going to go with what the maths says for now…
Rotherham United v Birmingham City
Stoke City v Plymouth Argyle
Sunderland v Millwall
(Saturday 5:15pm) Queens Park Rangers v Preston North End
(Sunday 12:30pm) Blackburn Rovers v Sheffield Wednesday
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Jack Rudoni and Tom Lees both returned to training on Friday following hamstring and calf issues respectively and went straight into the starting line-up against Bristol City, both completing 90 minutes and looking good doing so.
Breitenreiter is not hopeful of having Jonathan Hogg back from his shoulder injury or Radinio Balker back from his quad injury before the end of the campaign.
Yuta Nakayama (knee) and Josh Ruffels (groin) are both ruled out for the season, while Kian Harratt is suspended for the rest of the campaign.
Predicted Huddersfield Town line-up to face Swansea City
4-2-3-1: Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Michal Helik, Tom Lees, Brodie Spencer; David Kasumu, Alex Matos; Sorba Thomas, Jack Rudoni, Josh Koroma; Delano Burgzorg.
Substitutes: Chris Maxwell, Tom Edwards, Jaheim Headley, Ollie Turton, Tom Iorpenda, Ben Wiles, Rhys Healey, Bojan Radulovic, Danny Ward.
Huddersfield Town Women
Town Women have been relegated to the fourth tier after falling to third and fourth straight defeats.
The Terriers lost 0-2 at home to Nottingham Forest and 10-0 away to Newcastle United, with the latter result both confirming Town’s relegation and crowning Newcastle as FAWNL title winners.
Town Women will now see out the season with an away trip to Fylde on Sunday followed by a final-day dead rubber at home to Stourbridge on 5th May.
Ins and outs
Well, it was going to happen eventually: Kieran Phillips has joined Town sister club Sacramento Republic ‘for the rest of the 2023/24 campaign’.
Although the American soccer season runs until autumn, that wording confirms that Phillips is set to return to Town in the summer.
The centre-forward spent the first half of the season on loan with League One Shrewsbury, but suffered a hamstring injury that ended his involvement in October and led to his recall to Town in January.
The owner of both clubs, Kevin Nagle, said in a statement: “This is an exciting day and a first step as we grow the relationship between these two great clubs.
“Kieran is a talented young player that we think will be a good fit for Republic FC as the club pursues silver in USL Championship, and this loan is a great example of how we will continue to develop synergies both on and off the pitch.”
Town sporting director Mark Cartwright added: “While there are obvious off field appeals to this move, the sporting reasoning behind it remains the most important and we’re excited to see Kieran return to playing regular competitive first team football. Going to a side we trust, and who have their own high ambitions, all concerned have shared an appetite to see this deal completed since the initial discussions.
“Having been unable to move during the transfer window as he rehabilitated, Kieran has proven his ability to score in both Sky Bet League One and Two, with the USL Championship providing him a fresh challenge as both a person and professional. The prospect has captured his imagination, and we’re looking forward to how well he takes this on.”
Other notes
• Town are offering quid-a-kid tickets for the Swansea game on Saturday afternoon. Children aged 11 or under can attend the game for just £1 when accompanied by an adult — more details here.
• I’m looking forward to seeing you all (yes, all of you) at the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday 30th April to mark the 30th anniversary of the last game to be played at Leeds Road. I’ll be hosting a Q&A with Andy Booth, Peter Jackson, David Taylor, Mel Booth and Alan Sykes.
Full details on the event and how to attend are here, including a call to let the club know if you have any interesting Leeds Road memorabilia that they may be able to highlight.
• Congratulations to Huddersfield Town for winning the Diversity Award at the 2024 EFL Awards. The club were recognised for their Terriers Together programme, in particular their efforts towards female inclusivity.
Town HR manager and equality lead Zoe Shackleton commented: ““Female inclusion has been a longstanding priority, and this award is testament to all the work that everyone at the club has done. I must say thank you to our chairman Kevin Nagle and our chief executive Jake Edwards for all their support.”
Edwards added: “I’m incredibly proud of everyone at the club who’s hard work has been recognised by the EFL in winning this prestigious award. Inclusivity is of the utmost importance to not only myself and Chairman Kevin Nagle, but the entire leadership team at Huddersfield Town, and we’re delighted that those within our EDI Working Group have had their efforts rewarded.
“In particular, to see our efforts in female inclusively highlighted is really meaningful. We know that our work in that area isn’t complete, but with our Women’s+ Network, Empowerment Conferences and training in Menopause Awareness so prevalent, we have given ourselves a wonderful platform from which to continue working.
“We want our Club to stand for much more than just our sporting endeavours, and our Terriers Together initiative ensures just that. Those core beliefs and principles are engrained across the Club and all employees, and that will only grow over time as we continue to progress together.”
Our schedule
All being well, we will have this week’s We Are Terriers podcast out for you first thing on Wednesday morning.
Good news in case you missed it as well: as long as you have a We Are Terriers subscription, you can now listen to the podcast on Spotify! Details on how to link your Substack and Spotify accounts can be found here.
I’m aiming to get my VAR piece out on Thursday afternoon — like the podcast, that will only be available to our lovely backers. Sign up now to get access if you haven’t already — you can start with a seven-day free trial of all our best content.
All the games are massive at this point, so it’s a great time to get involved with us if you haven’t already (ooh, saucy).
Player ratings will be available to all readers on the whistle after the Swansea game, followed by five conclusions on Saturday night/Sunday morning.