The Curtain Raiser
Town welcome newly promoted Bury to the Galpharm stadium saturday for the first game of the 2011-12 season and expectation will be high on both sides.
The Terriers will be looking to put the disappointment of a playoff final loss at Old Trafford far behind them with a strong start to the season, Lee Clark is likely to include many of His new signings in the starting line up, the Terriers will have a new retooled midfield which could prove key to promotion.Clarke has been experimenting with a 4-2-3-1 formation which looks to utilize the creative talents of Clark's two marquee signings Danny Ward and Donal McDermott.
Bury are new to league one this year and will be looking to make a strong start to the season to help ensure survival , Bury are currently one of the favorites for relegation at 5/2.
Bury have been quiet in the transfer market , Defender Mark Hughes was brought in on a free transfer and Young Hull striker Cullen is on loan to the shakers , However influential midfielder Bennet left for Doncaster rovers for in undisclosed fee.
Played for Both
Saturday we will welcome back two ex terriers , Joe ( 5 stars) Skarz and Efe Sodje.
Ticket news
The Game is a category C game details can be found here http://www.htafc.com/page/HomeTicketsDetail/0,,10312~2403995,00.html
Where to go
Huddersfield has many a fine drinking hole, the Head of Steam by the train station is a popular one, closer to the ground the Gas Club on gasworks street welcome away fans providing you behave and the Rope Walk next to the stadium welcomes away fans but has restrictions on numbers and the wearing of colours.
Recent Form
Last 6 games:
GF:
GA:
League position:
Top Scorers
None of the form tables or top scorers have been filled in for a reason, Last season doesn't matter anymore and pre season doesnt count , saturday is day 1 folks
Team News
The Terriers have no injury worries and can choose from a fully fit squad, Bury are waiting on ex town man Sodje, although he is expected to be fit.
Quotes
Lee Clark
"We are up for the challenge that Bury will pose tomorrow; this is the real deal now and we need to hit the ground running."
Richie Barker
"i've picked a particular 11 that i think can win this game"
Town Line Up
......................... Bennet.........................
Woods ...... P Clarke ©...... Kay...... Naysmith
................ Robinson...... Gobern.............
........Roberts.........McDermott........... Ward.........
..........................Rhodes.....................
subs Colgan,Cooper,Lee,Novak,Miller
Huddersfield V Bury
posted on 6/8/11
Well Well Well....How many games is that in our unbeaten run now..29 (excluding play offs and FA cup at Arsenal)...UTT...
It's also december 2010 since we won at home on a Saturday....
I'm getting a bit fed up of driving home from the Galph on a Saturday feeling like sh-!te....
posted on 6/8/11
crooks ?, sorry yes woods...
We need a bit more guile at the back, KAy won plent but hoofs it away too often..had a coupe of beers now and calmed down a bit...still v disappointed tho', just looks like a continuation of last year, midfield did look better, but we're dogged by the tactics, again
posted on 6/8/11
Dave Jones anyone? Clark clueless.
posted on 6/8/11
some people are just not made to be managers..
whatever badges they take, however much money they are given etc etc..
at some point deano is going to have to accept it..it will prove he made the wrong decision but throwing more time and money at it are not a good option..
id very, very much like to be wrong..
posted on 6/8/11
38 you're not wrong...Lc just doesn't 'have it', that tactical 'nouce', that decisive edge...he's a stats man, computers and theory and all that...Good managers get the best out of players, LC just seems to bring out the worst in ours..3 years is enough. OK one game, but it's not one game...it's a continuation of last year...one up front and chaos in midfield..he's learnt nothing, neither have his coaching staff. I just get the imression he's using Town as an experiment to further his own career and credentials by trying to deploy fancy schemes, formations and tactics which are just over the heads of Div3 players..Wonder what Oscar thinks of him compared with Nigel Adkins..
posted on 6/8/11
Majorly dissapointed today, i really thought we would be back to our attacking best, a la 2 years ago. Clearly not!!!
I agree with most on here and its not been negative, but when are we going to start feeling good following a home match??? I mean, we used to be bankers for a home win most of the time, but that seems to have changed since the end of last year! I I dont get why we are so poor at home?!
Clearly following the friendly against Rotherham a week ago, Woods aint upto it! Hunt, nowhere near the team sheet and Kay at CB!!! Cooper for me just for the mobility and pace!
I was happy to go with the formation of 4-2-3-1, although 4-4-2 according to LC post match who i think was trying to convince himself, but why the headless chickens routine?!
Something has to give somewhere, but where? In the manager's office???
posted on 6/8/11
large numbers of town players stood holding hands..rhodes, ward and roberts in a line down the middle of the pitch when it is lumped up over rhodes head..the centre back heads it wide where there are only bury players because mcdermott has tucked in somewhere near the halfway line.. they then pass the ball clear to a midfielder standing in the centre circle who turns and runs towards our two holding midfielders who are far too deep..
its called pressuring the other team in their own half, we managed it for the last 8 minutes today..its not long enough and not good enough..
clark cannot pick a player on a regular enough basis, the right back is not as good defensively or going forward as hunt and he does not have his pace or commitment.. bad, bad move..
novak showed rhodes what to do but by then he was knackered..we couldnt give him away never mind sell him to the "plethora" of clubs who were supposedly after him.. he did precisely nothing today and did it poorly..yes he didnt get much support from anyone and the balls played to him were sunday league standard but he is so unlikely to make anything actually happen it makes little difference..
back to the tactics book and the subbuteo board and the pro zone stats again for lee clark...
lets see if there are any other really complicated systems that the players wont actually understand or be happy with..
academy coach at best is mr clark..
posted on 7/8/11
Another Godawful performance. Difference this time is that we didn't play hoofball until the headless chicken came on.
Jordan Rhodes started brightly, winning 3 out of his first four aerial challenges and putting himself about a bit on the floor, unfortunately he faded miserably and by the start of the second half he was back to his former self. The fact that he played 90 minutes says more about Lee Clark than it says about Jordan Rhodes, trying to Justify his selection and maybe trying to get some kind of match fitness out of him.
Jacko, it was Woods playing right back and not Crooks and he had an uninspiring debut, often getting caught out of position and on wrong side of the players he was marking. He reminded me of a Robbie Williams but with commitment.
PClark did OK but goes to ground too easily in the tackle. Was obviously lucky to not concede the penalty. Antony Kay was majestic. All over the place cleaning up behind Clark and for Woods when he went walkabouts. I've read some garbage about his distribution but he always did what was required of a defender with one or two strikers beaming him down.
Naysmith was very ordinary and some of his passing was awful.
The game seemed to pass Gobern by, he kept coming way too deep for the ball but he will get better. Anton Robinson looked a class act until his injury. Big and strong good balance and with quick feet and he's got a few tricks up his sleeve too. I suspect if he'd been playing for Bournemouth he'd have lasted much longer.
Ward had a lively first half, but seemed to try to hard. He faded into obscurity. He was obviously told to get up with Rhodes and support him but I guess Rhodes dragged him down to his level
Lee Clarks subbing of McDonut was typical of the useless excuse of a manager that he is. He was our liveliest player and was getting more confident as the game progressed and wad looking forward to him making an impact....... but we ended up with "no skill Novak"
The player he should have taken off at that stage was Roberts who seemed to be playing in slow motion with lead boots on. The game was far too quick for him.
Tommy Miller, I'm sure Lee Clark thought he was buying Kenny Miller. He might just as well have bought Glen Miller, because ge was just as anonymous.
We looked better with Novak on the pitch, but that had nothing to do with Novak, it was all to do with the balance of the team. Lee Clark has got himself into a hole. He has more than likely promised Ward, Robinson, McDonut, Gibern and probably Roberts a start and the only way he can fit them in is ib a 451. Unfortunately we don't have a striker that can do that job.
Clark just has to play the same team on Tuesday, Rhodes apart. He has to get them to gel into a unit as soon as possible. I said in an earlier thread that it would take this team a while to gel with all of the new signings and that I didn't thick that Lee Clark had enough time to gel the team before he gets sacked.
This team will gel, but only after Lee Clarks drawing dole and the new manager has spent Dean Hoyle's "new manager kitty" on at least one proper striker.
posted on 7/8/11
Yesterdays results, but even moreso performance, has definitely increased the pressure on Clark and the players - something they will have wanted to avoid. The performances just wasn't there at all, there wasn't even a 10 minute period where we looked great, it was just a tedious 90 minutes.
Woods hasn't been up to scratch in pre-season yet got the nod ahead of Hunt who wasn't even on the bench, and he had a nightmare. He doesn't seem up to speed, and Naysmith looks well past it.
Danny Ward was kept quiet by Joe Skarz - Joe bloody Skarz! He was more bothered about cutting inside and trying to make something happen that way that getting his head down and running at Skarz, where there would have been only one winner.
Donal McDermott, although subdued, looked the most likely of our 3 flair players to make something happen but was hauled off to be replaced by Novak even though Roberts had done absolutely nothing - granted he went on to score.
Peter Clarke should have gone, regardless of if he touched him or not, he was once again caught behind his player and forced into a desperate last ditch lunge - he hasn't improved since last season and looked a liability again. Kay actually looked solid until he got turned like the titanic for their goal, schoolboy stuff and he went downhill from there.
Jordan Rhodes, awww sweet little Jordan Rhodes, has their even been a player with less will to win, effort, desire or commitment than this lad? Clark should have known not to play him up top alone but did anyway, and what happened was what everyone said would happen. Why we didn't bring Lee on for him to try and at least trouble Sodje is beyond me. How good did we make Efe look by the way!?
Oscar Gobern - does he know what colour we play in? Why can't he pass to one of his own players? Anton Robinson - too early to judge but did look the better of the 2, hopefully he won't be out too long.
Novak isn't even a footballer and continues to put others to shame with his will and endeavour, defenders don't like to be chased and they don't like playing against strikers who run around all day for fun. We need a striker who can do that and play a bit of football as well.
posted on 7/8/11
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