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Can Blues Break Their Home Hoodoo? Huddersfield Town Preview
Lee Clark welcomes his former charges Huddersfield Town to St Andrews as Blues look to end a barren home run that has not seen a home league win in four months.
Huddersfield Town
Last Saturday’s win over Wigan was the Terriers’ first win in five games in all competitions and was their first clean sheet since before Christmas. Huddersfield sit four places and four points ahead of Blues with thirty-seven points and Mark Robins’ men will be hoping to improve that with their first away victory in the league since December 3.
Leading scorer James Vaughan will miss out with a calf injury picked up against Forest but otherwise Robins has no new injury or suspension worries.
Blues
Blues come into this game with Mitch Hancox back in the squad although Jonathan Spector still needs game time with the reserves before he will return to the fold. Lee Novak will be pushing for a recall with Albert Rusnak most likely to make way; Shane Ferguson could also be a possibility on the left but has been out of favour for some time.
Olly Lee will also be pushing for a recall in the middle but will struggle to dislodge the impressive Emyr Huws or Tom Adeyemi.
I’m tired of typing how much we need a win but this really is one of those games we should look to win if we are to remain outside the relegation mixer. The home form is a real monkey on the players back – just two home league wins all season is nowhere near good enough.
Tags: Albert Rusnak, Emyr Huws, Huddersfield Town, Jonathan Spector, Lee Novak, Mitchell Hancox, Tom Adeyemi
74 Responses to “Can Blues Break Their Home Hoodoo? Huddersfield Town Preview”
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If we put in the work rate and endeavour we have at both Charlton and Watford I can’t see why we shouldn’t pick up all the points.
Either Novak or Lovenkrands should partner Macheda up front and Lee coming in for Howard, though Adeyemi looked to be tiring on Tuesday, which is probably why he was taken off. Maybe two games a week are too much for him at the moment.
The players have to go into this game without the psychological burden of not winning, a good crowd in full voice will help overcome this. The one thing the supporters have not done is get on the players or manager. However, once the opponents score there is an air around the ground, and this is transmitted to the players, I don’t think it is intentional. We need to score first and then go for the throat and get that second goal, if we can do that with Huddersfield I don’t think they will have the fight to come back.
KRO+DNM
That’s what good ‘fansmanship’ is all about CW – wish I could be there. Don’t boycott the game lads and please don’t embarrass BCFC with bad behaviour or racism …the best protest is 3 pts. I might be over in March and I will be at games for sure if it comes off. I hope I can hold my head up with the best fans in the Championship.
Am gonna reason with any fans around me chanting the ‘Chinese Bastards’ chant. Have concluded that undoubtedly for some it is racist based for others it’s just joining in. Hopefully if a few of us can do that it may help stop it.
Can’t wait to get down that beautiful old ground today and see those blue shirts. I love it and am optimistic for a 2-0 win. We did well at Charlton and Watford and a home win is overdue. These new players know each other now and I expect that to improve our performances.
Saturdays here everyone. It’s Blues time.
Just pop up to the back of Block 11, I imagine you will be able to reason with them . That’s where the chants eminate from.
the fans deserve a home win – so come on clarks babes do it !!
1953 i think it was the last time blues went 11 games at home without a win so todays
the day to put that right so 3-1 my prediction and looking forward to the game.KRO.
Jeez dave, that was the year I was born. :-o We can’t let that record be broken today.
Before the Sheff Wed and Millwall games, I said on this blog that some team soon were going to get a thumping and look what happened. I think that time is here again. We’ve had some awful luck lately and it’s time things went for us. I’m hoping that today is the day. It’s as good a time as any.
I think the biggest decision today, is whether Robbo continues at left back, or if Hancox comes back. We’ve missed his attacking down the left.
Not 1953, Dave. We suffered ten consecutive home defeats from 5 Oct 1985 to Feb 8 1986, scoring 2 goals and conceding 15. This was part of a run of 17 games without a win which began with eight consecutive defeats. Not surprisingly we were relegated at the end of the season, but still finished five points above the Baggies!
Looking forward to Blues doing the double over them and think Macheda will be on the score sheet again. Same result as at Huddersfield so 3-1 to Blues for me kro
this fixture makes for a very good game, both teams playing well without getting the results, it was towns worst performance of the season in the reverse fixture at the galpharm and have improved dramatically since then. a 3 – 1 town win is on the cards
Agree with you staffs that Hancox should come back in.
I’d like to see us play in the new Liverpool style with huws
holding in the gerrard role, adeyemi doing what henderson does
and giving he likes of brown,Burke and maybe rusnak the
freedom to roam about and create for macheda. All sounds good
on paper but we ain’t got Suarez ! C’mon you blue lads and keep it
Peaceful but vocal guys.
I agree. It’s time we started putting sides to the sword… get our noses in front, then go for the jugular. We tend to do well, then sit back. We can’t do any worse than go for it at home.
That’s the trouble with Blues, they score one but fail to consolidate and force the second goal.
We need Hancox down the left but where would that leave Robbo, Packwood and Martin are beginning to form a partnership, though they do play the ball sidewards or back a little too much, I would leave them as they are.
Lousy at forecasting this season, bit like the weather, but I’ll go 3-0 Blues.
Though Ziggy won’t feature but even so it is not a day for route one football if the winds are anything like here in Nottingham.
Time to break that home run and turn it around with wins.
KRO+DNM
Aint got Suarez We aint got none of em Boosh.
We got the Italian equivalent…. Macheda, turn Novak into a Sturridge and Hey Presto!…
KRO+DNM
Magnifying what most posters are saying….glad the trust did a brief statement…those wishing to come to the stans with their own agenda please p lease stay away…..you are not wanted. We are a well run family club. on to the football I believe blues will hammer hudders 4-0..
yes i will be attending for football reasons……………
LC Should play Macheda and Ziggy up front but he won’t because he’s stubborn.
Good keep being stubborn lee and we might se some football played. Get over zingy, he,s on his way out and not before time
iMiirkwood, that was 10 games without a win at home….i said 11!!! KRO.
i think ziggy and macheda as the look of a good partnership but as RKBoosh rightly says
ziggys finished and wont play for blues again, unfortunet but lee sticks to his guns and
that must be applauded……randolph, caddis, packwood, martin, robinson, adeyemi, huws,
burke, novak, rusnak, mecheda will be close to the side he will pick but who can pick a
lee clark team these days!!! KRO.
WELL RUN FAMILY CLUB ?????????? have I been commatosed for past three years ???? or are you taking the piss !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think things will get better with the new chairman and they surely can’t keep paying PP his ridiculous wages. When his contract ends, hopefully he’s gone or demoted. Things will get better little by little. No bad behaviour that that disgraces the club, please. You’ve made your point in the last home game.
i wouldnt mind if it was gonna get us anywhere but the chinnese are investing in the club
now so they aint going away and wont be put off by any banners by the looks of it so the
long hard slog his going to go on for quite a while yet ime sorry to say!!! KRO.
This will be a drab, barren 0-0
Excited for this one. Team sheet looks good just don’t understand central players playing on the left.Hope zig puts some effort in if he comes off the bench. KRO!
All I can think is Novak will slot into the left hand side when we don’t have the ball
van nistolrooy of man U at his best used to score a goal
every fourth attempt and his accuracy was top notch .
at the moment blues are not getting enough attempts on
target to win often ….you make your own luck…come on
he who dares
Well, this is the first time this Season I have felt this way, but looking at our next few matches, we are in very big trouble.According to the BBC Web Site, we have been dire.
Trouble what Trouble?
Stayed up till 4am to ‘watch’ the game on gamecast. While no video I cabn only build mindscapes; the stats and commentary suggest we did not start playing football until halfway through second half. Hudders obviously went in hard – 13 fouls and 5 yellows but we had 6 offsides against their 3 – were they playing the trap or did our young guns overreach? Up until almost extra time we’d only had 6 shots against 14.
Once again Zigic made a difference after he came on – like it or lump it.
Look forward to the customary great reports back here from you lot. Off to bed now, gutted.
Just got in. Good mood turned depressive within the first 10mins.
Huddersfield put the effort in. we didnt. Poor on the left, robbo isnt a lb and brown doesnt play as a winger… So why? Brown was terrible today and i just hope it hasnt dented his confidence too much..
Zigic took 10minuites to warm up but did make a difference. He was quick to jump up in defense of macheda after his incident and i like that. More partnerships from them please.
We missed the extra man in midfield but grinding out draws just doesnt do it for me. 4-4-2 from now on please & Fix the left side…
Gave the ball away far too many times… All the lads seemed to have forgot how to pass.
Best player was probably Huws again, but the Terriers did their homework and smothered him for the majority of the game.
TLDR: Atmosphere was dire as usual. The better side won.
Preferences for next week:
———-Macheda–Zigic————
Fergueson—Huws—Adeyemi—Burke–
-Hancox–Robinson–Martin–Caddis—
————–Randolph————–
Bench: Doyle, Novak, Rusnak, Howard, Brown, Blackett, Packwood
KRO & DNM
I think that’s our best starting line up certainly at home. Can’t see him going two up front away.
hi all….just abysmal….
Carsen Yeung picked the wrong side again. Clark out!
Complete waste of an afternoon and £26. Absolute shapeless dross from start to finish. Outclassed by Huddersfield at home. I have said it before but Novak on the left at home doesn’t work. Having said that I wasn’t sure whether he or Brown were supposed to be playing on the left and neither, quite obviously, were they. An overcomplicated mess. Robinson has to go back to centre back.
We need at least 5 wins to stay up. That probably means we will need to win a couple at home. It is really hard with the remaining home games where they are going to come from.
Very poor performance and unless we continue picking up points away from home relegation is still a very real possibility. We started brightly and had some decent half-chances but Huddersfield looked the better and more composed side throughout. Brown really struggled today in an unfamiliar role but his replacement Lee, apart from scoring our consolation goal, was also quite poor especially with his wayward passing. Very surprised to see Adeyemi taken off who had put in his normal workmanlike shift and had no visible signs of injury. At least Zigic put some effort in today winning a good few knockdowns which unfortunately none of his fellow players read.
Did Terry Mac get do do the post match interviews again?
Well he stormed out of press conference
That’s me done for this season. I can’t stand another pile of rubbish like that. I could have had a curry and a couple of Cobras for the price I paid to be bored out of my skull this afternoon. As someone with a limited income I have to prioritise my spending and Blues will not be at the top of the list.
For me, we lost mainly because Huddersfield ran the midfield. There was no bite and no ideas in there. There was no closing down at any point during the match. Seconds before their second goal went in, I was shouting to close the bugger down… no one bothered and in it went. Unbelievable.
The defence played well… Packwood and Martin look a very promising pairing. Packwood cleared up everything thrown at him and anything that he missed, Martin was there to clean up. And, they both tried to play out from the back, instead of constantly lumping it. I was very impressed with both of them. Macheda battled away on his own for most of the match.. he deserved more help and better service. At the end of the day, the midfield stole their wages today, they certainly didn’t earn them. Apart from maybe Huws, I can’t make a case for any of the others being involved against Blackpool.
The one thing I would take issue with concerning the manager, is that while we have 4 left-footers available now – Hancox, Ferguson, Huws, Howard – he insisted on playing Novak and Brown on the left hand side and neither knew wtf they were doing. If I had to say one thing to the manager, it’s that we need to attack down both flanks, especially when, like today, the right hand side were inneffective. Play left-footed players on the left and right-footed players on the right!
I made the point earlier about what a mess the left hand side was. I get Robinson playing at left back in away games but it severely limits us from an attacking point of view at home. He can’t be expected to get up or down like Hancox would. I am still mystified by his treatment of Ferguson this season. I don’t go to away games so haven’t seen Novak wide left there but as soon as it gets to him at home everything just stops as he has to come back on his right foot. We were horribly unbalanced again today and not for the first time this season by a long chalk.
Picking the positives out of today’s game is like picking the winning lottery numbers.
Packwood and Martin put in a shift; they are growing a decent partnership.
Adeyemi is definitely carrying an injury; either that or he is burnt out. After half a game, he is tired and running on empty.
Burke does not seem interested at the moment, the Caddis/Burke combination is not firing anymore, no understanding down the right, Reece Brown and Novak were running round like headless chickens, hindering each other more than anything.
We were second best in every department and what worries me, Lee Clark seems unable to alter things, and to be fair we don’t really have the personal to change things.
As soon as Huddersfield scored you could see the players’ heads drop, after the second the ref might as well blown for full time, we were rudderless and wretched.
Someone claimed Zigic changed things and won his headers, BULL!
He did nothing, which I suppose compared to some of his team mates then yes he did change things, but only because we went about hoofing the ball towards him.
Looking forward to Blackpool, if only for the stick of rock and Ipswich.
Then we have QPR and Burnley at home, both at the top and likely to be promoted.
KRO+DNM
Keeping on playing Novak in a left hand side attacking position at home hasn’t worked all season yet he has persisted with it despite having other options. He over complicates it IMO. I would love to know what the players think.
I don’t rate Lovenkrands, personally I think he is the same as Zigic, picking up hid wages without having to put in any effort.
On saying that, he offers another option, he can carry the ball or hold it up. How many times did we lose the ball because no one would hold it, while waiting for support at times it was like a hot potato.
LC must be as frustrated as we are, the difference is he is paid to sort these problems out.
I have sympathy with him, but in all honesty I think he has done the best he can, unfortunately I don’t think it is enough, the same players perform differently away from home, we have our best spells when pressing higher up the field, at home we sit back, let the opposition push on us. If I could put my finger on the problem, that would be it. Todays goals were conceded because, as at Watford, no one closed down on the player with the ball
KRO+DNM
I was thinking more along the lines of Shane Ferguson than Lovenkrands.
Not sure what he has done, but he doesn’t reckon in LC’s plans lately. When he has played he has been a shadow of his last seasons performances.
Hancox is another option that can’t get on the bench either.
KRO+DNM
Dan are you deleting all comments critical of Clark? only I noticed both my own and Shirleys posts were deleted
Reasons to be cheeerful:
1. We generally follow a dire performance with a decent one.
2. Three teams are worse than us.
3. China is the world’s fastest growing economy.
4. Our shares are relisted.
5. We are Blues.
Almajir you wrote that we should look to win this match . We didn’t . Two home league wins is not good enough . I genuinely fear relegation following todays performance against Huddersfield Town , worthy winners in my opinion . They did what we couldn’t , namely played football , passed to each other , pressed when not in possesion ( which wasn’t very often) and created chances . The board are entirely to blame for the mess we are in , and boy what a mess it is..
I think the manager has to take some responsibility for the home form too. If you look at the stats we are ranked 23rd on home form this season and 8th on away form. Last year also under Lee Clark we ended 20th in the home form league and 6th on away form. The previous season under Hughton we were 2nd in the home form league. Looking back on the records I can’t see a previous time when the home form was so much worse than the away form and to me that points to tactics. Clearly the chronic under investment in the club dictates our overall competitiveness but I think there is something in the management/tactics at home too.
Oh how the haters love it when we lose. Straight in aint they loving it. Constant negativity week in week out but not a peep when we play well like we have in our last 2 games.
Yesterday was dire absolutely and freezing. I’ll make the point again inconsistent players play well one week and poor the next. Burke being a prime example. Consistently good players go elsewhere so with our squad of kids, loanees and has been this is what will happen.
Everyone was poor yesterday. Ziggy had a go but made no difference. Good to see the racist chanting disappeared which just proves that pointing it out does have an effect. Well done to the Trust for their protest organisation.
It’s not just one home game. This appalling home form has been going on for the best part of two whole seasons now. 9 wins in 39. Great if you can afford to and don’t have the time constraints that allow you to go to every away game but most of us don’t have that luxury. As I said yesterday it was a complete waste of an afternoon and £26.
Shirley – its 10 in 39. 8 last season, 2 this season.
Dan could you answer my earlier question regarding deleted posts?
I didnt see your question. Needless to say, I deleted a bunch of yours last night as they added nothing to the discussion – inanity about chip shops and kebabs. This not a forum.
I’ve had a bit of time to digest yesterdays performance and we can all blame Clarke but sometimes the players have to take full responsibility . The midfield as a unit were non existent, no pressing when we didn’t have the ball and no clue when we did. Probably Burkes worst performance of the season. Novak huffed and puffed but someone said headless chicken and I think thats about right.
There has to be changes against Blackpool, ferguson has to come in for a start. Reilly was missed yesterday in my opinion. Macheda continues to impress but I think he plays better with Lovenkrands .
I’ll be at Blackpool and hopefully there will be a reaction to probably the worst performance of the season.
Not sure what Ferguson has done, but we also have Howard who can fill that role, Reilly has looked jaded and needed a rest, my only concern with Reilly is his passing, he does give the ball away to regularly.
Lovenkrands, and I’m no a fan, does offer something different to Novak, he holds the ball and runs better with it, but he also holds it for too long and many a time the opportunity has passed.
What I can’t get my head round is the lack of passion, nothing from the players, there seems no remorse, look at their faces after the game and there was no pain.
LC was a beaten man as he walked toward the tunnel, not sure what more he can do, if he can’t find a solution then maybe it is time for him to walk away while he still has some credibility with the hand he has been dealt, but that is because the players cannot or will not fight for the club.
As soon as Huddersfield everyone inside that ground knew there was only going to be one outcome, another home defeat, the fans accepted it but still showed passion to the cause, the protest, the singing, even the humour when we actually had a shot on goal…. Can’t fault the fans,
A response has to come, but we need one at home, the next two games are Q.P.R. and Burnley, as strange as it seems I can see us getting something from those as we always raise our game against the better teams.
Looking forward to Blackpool, but the away supporters have been treated to some excellent performances, in fact I am beginning to dread going to home games.
KRO+DNM
Yesterday was the worst home performance I’ve seen this season. Although Lee has managed to keep us out of the bottom three with limited resources, bad luck and clubs recalling players he has to take the blame for yesterday’s performance. The Huddersfeild fans nickname Lee ticker man because he was always changing his tactics and players. My advice to Lee is to stick to a formation play players in there correct position. Robo is a centre half not a full back and Novack is not a left sided player although he has played well in away games in that role. For the next game I would bring back Hancock and move Robo to centre half., play Ferguson and maybe play the big man up front in a formation of 4 4 2
PS well done to the Trust and delay no more for yesterday’s effort, next game lets have some fans to help by attending, we need to keep the pressure up now
KRO Delay no more
If you move Robinson to centre back, who are you going to drop? Packwood and Martin were excellent yesterday, the ONLY two players who earned their wages. If I was the manager, I’d deploy Robbo in front of the back four to add protection and to patrol the midfield. We have no presence in midfield at all. He’s the only player at the club who could do the job.
Robbo as midfield enforcer sitting in front of the back four with orthodox full backs for the tough home games is a must. We need to get aggressive in midfield too so as soon as Spector’s fully fit I have him alongside Robbo too.
We need to step up the pace of our attacks too. Not lumping if forward at the earliest opportunity but more speedy distribution. We are so slow in our passing movements.
Sorry it should be tinker man not ticker man
Is Howard injured?
If he was, I doubt he would have been on the bench yesterday.
We were always going to head to our worse ever performance hopefully that out the way now ….
again imo feel the players need to take a good look at themselves and rightly so blues fans expect 100% from their players regardless of their wage, Hudders imo completely dominated the midfield… yes we had a few chances in that first 5 mins but they were half chances. The team needs to blame its self not individuals you win as a team not as individuals.
IF CLARK is angry i hope he throws the books at them in the classroom…………
Maybe the problem lies with the manager and not the players.
Or maybe, as I said in the article its a combination of factors… ;)
Maybe it would be worth trying out the 3-5-2 formation again. It was close to working early in the season, we had a win and three one goal defeats using it. But, we have better players now (imo) and could make it work. Something like this;
Randolph
Martin Packwood Robinson
Caddis Adeyemi Huws Howard Hancox
Macheda Zigic
Personally, I like the look of that team.
staffs – you know i am a big fan of 352 would not mind watching that team selection against blackpool..
you can have as many talented players as you want but they got to learn to win the ugly side of the game….. you got win your 50/50 and use the ball intelligently we failed quite miserably yesterday. If a manager prepare you thats all they can do……if the players are mentally shot in front of their own fans it do not matter who’s clark plays imo……..
staffs – you know i am a big fan of 352 would not mind watching that team selection against blackpool..
you can have as many talented players as you want but they got to learn to win the ugly side of the game….. you got win your 50/50 and use the ball intelligently we failed quite miserably yesterday. If a manager prepare you thats all they can do……if the players are mentally shot in front of their own fans it do not matter who’s clark plays imo……..
To be honest mark, I was disgusted with our midfield yesterday. There was no bite, no ideas and very little effort. I kept thinking, it looks like they’re too cold to bother. It’s too easy to blame the manager for performances like that. How about the players grow a pair and have a little dignity, instead of producing performances like that!
he has a week to get them to grow pair and nothing less than 100% commitment what ever formation or player plays. We are all fans if you lose and show no commitment to the shirt then you are damn right.
My frustration is the players are paid good money who ever they are, hopefully that the last one until the end of the season………..Blackpool here we come……………….
Only a couple of points Staffs, I disagree with Zigic, for me he brings nothing to the team other than
Apathy and frustration. We are still light in the striker department I do believe Lovenkrands brings more, he can hold the ball and run with it, with Macheda as the main striker I feel Lovenkrands is a better option.
Novak does a lot of running around without actually producing anything; particularly in recent games, headless chicken comes to mind. Is Ferguson fit? Hancox could certainly fill that space. My other concern is Adeyemi, I am not sure he has fully recovered from his injury, or maybe he is tired? He has been the engine room this season, but burn out is taking its toll on such young shoulders. Huws is more than capable of filling in leaving either Burke, who has been off the boil too in recent games, or Rusnak given a free role just being the strikers.
So maybe 3-1-3-1-2, it would mean pressing the opposition higher up the park, something Huddersfield did so successfully yesterday, and we have been doing in away games.
Maybe we should be playing the away tactics at home, the players seem to like it and we have had a lot more success away from home.
Hopefully a bracing training session on Blackpool beach will blow some life into the team, all we as supporters ask is commitment, passion and 100%, yesterday there was only about 5%, no commitment or passion, I was particularly disappointed at the attitude of the players after the whistle, they didn’t seem to care, showed no remorse or feeling.
KRO+DNM
He changed formation three times yesterday,what has ferguson done wrong? he keeps playing either Novak or Brown in his position.
Two statements Clark made yesterday1 I am doing an unbelievable job (hes right there an unbelievably bad job) 2 you dont always need your most talented players on the pitch, that just about sums him up.