By Nathan Findlay –
What a rollercoaster ride of a season for Huddersfield Town. From pushing up the table to fighting against relegation, the Terriers have had to face it all.
Huddersfield finished their season in 20th position; this is something that Huddersfield will look to improve on next season. Huddersfield had a total of 12 wins this season compared to their 21 losses. This season’s results were very disappointing, as the first half of the season Huddersfield was strong, with them averaging really with their wins to losses.
The new calendar year is when we really saw the start of the Terriers negative run. It took Huddersfield almost three months to secure a win from the start of the calendar year, putting the Terriers in a very vulnerable position. Going on a losing streak as long as this was clearly not good for the team’s morale either, almost turning up to the game knowing that they would lose before they even start.
In total, Huddersfield only managed to get three wins since the start of January 2021. This is not acceptable, and Huddersfield is extremely fortunate that they had a strong start. Otherwise, it would have been relegation for Town. 24 league games played since the start of the year and only 3 wins to show for this.
Injuries
Huddersfield faced a lot of early injuries that did reflect on Huddersfield’s performance. The injured players were some of the key players for Huddersfield, which was something that the Terriers had to adapt to.
A few stand out players, such as Christopher Schindler, who received a knee injury and then could not play for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, Schindler has now left Huddersfield Town as of 11 May 2021. This will be a big loss for Huddersfield in the defence and certainly a position that needs to be filled.
Another big injury is Harry Toffolo, who received a back injury, leading him to not play for a big chunk of the season. Huddersfield did get him back for a couple of games but is now injured again after the second to last game of the season.
The Fans
This season has been vastly different for everyone this year with COVID-19. I do not think anyone expected this whole situation to be this bad. It has been a surreal experience having to view an entire season of football behind a TV screen. ‘IFollow’ has been the only way fans could watch Huddersfield Town this season and sometimes even that did not work.
Something else that people do not really think about is the players in the stadium; not having that backing and support from the ‘12th man’ is something that the players will never have expected.
Fingers crossed that we are all going to be back in the stadiums and back supporting our teams.
Carlos Corberán
Carlos has had a very rough season with Huddersfield. From going on good streaks to bad ones, he seems to have experienced it all this season. Carlos was receiving a lot of stick from the Huddersfield supporters and rightfully so. The players can only do so much on the field, but after being on such a long streak of losing, I felt that something should be changed.
I think that Carlos is a positive manager and a manager who will push Town to their limits, but I do think that some of his choices this season were not the best. Maybe when Huddersfield was on these losing streaks, something new should be tried out to try and push for that win. At the end of the day, if it did not work, Town would have been no better off; this was just my opinion on the situation.
I am also sure that there have been times where people have been waiting for Carlos to be sacked. Personally, I can remember a couple of times where even I was expecting it. I am glad that it did not come to that conclusion though, Carlos has already spoken about his plans for the summer and what he will do to prepare for next season.
“You need to have a mix and balance the break because it’s necessary, especially after this tough and demanding season,”
“But at the same time, we know that maybe one of the most important moments of next year starts now because it is going to be a key process and period of time for next year.
“In football, you cannot find moments to stop because you know every year is connected and as soon as one season is done, you are going to be starting the next.
“I know here I have Leigh Bromby here as a Sporting Director and all the people working for him, it is going to be an important moment for them to analyse the team and see next year’s squad.
“We now need time with our families because all of us need this, but at the same time, we are going to keep the connection because the process here is not interrupted, the league is interrupted, but not the process to start to create the future for Huddersfield Town.”
Looking onto Next Season | New players?
I think that the break now between here and next season will determine it all for Huddersfield. Depending on what the players and Carlos do in this gap will reflect on how they play in the Championship next season.
The break is also a suitable time for Huddersfield to evaluate the financial side of things and see what players they could add to the squad and which players they could release.
One player that is going to be a big loss for Huddersfield is Christopher Shindler. Being able to have such a committed and strong defender on the team made all the difference. Unfortunately, Shindler has now left Huddersfield Town, so finding someone to fill this spot will be particularly important for the Terriers.
Another position for Huddersfield that I think would help the team is having another forward, preferably a striker. If I had the job to choose, I would be looking for a younger player, someone who is very hungry for the ball and a player with good pace, a good vision for the ball. If Huddersfield were to pick up someone like this in the summer, I feel like it could significantly impact the Huddersfield squad.
Finally, the midfield. Huddersfield has a strong midfield, one where they can control the ball when needed. One negative that I have picked out is the noise coming from it. From the games that I have viewed this year, I have just felt like the voices from the midfield have not been as loud as they need to be. All-around this year, I feel like the Huddersfield midfield has been exceptionally good, but this one negative does put a damper on the performance this season.
Overall, I think that the Huddersfield squad is strong. There will be a few tweaks needed to be put in place to make sure that the squad is up to the best of their ability for the next season.
21/22 Season overview and prediction
I am looking forward to seeing what Huddersfield will be able to show us next season and I am convinced that Carlos will push the squad to the limit and make sure that they have a great season.
It will be interesting to see what fresh players Huddersfield bring into the squad over this summer and see which players renew their contract with Huddersfield as there are quite a few that have run out so far this season.
My prediction for Huddersfield next season is going to be a mid-table finish in 11th place. I think that this would be a positive place for Huddersfield to finish the season on.