By Nathan Findlay –
Huddersfield Town host Rotherham United at the John Smith’s Stadium in the EFL Championship this Saturday. 3 pm K.O.
Team News
A sound thrashing from league leaders Norwich City earlier this week has left Huddersfield 19th in the table. This upcoming game is going to be a big test for Huddersfield to see if they can bounce back from such a devastating result.
Manager Carlos Corberán is going to have to put together a new game plan and get everyone’s heads back up before they go into this game otherwise it will be another negative result for them.
Learning from the mistakes that were made on Tuesday has to have been a priority for the Terriers over the week. With the end of the season drawing near and Town being in such a precious position, every single point they earn is crucial.
The last time that Huddersfield and Rotherham faced up was in October of last year, where the Terriers managed to scrape a draw in the last seconds of the game.
The result did not reflect the state of the game as Town were a formidable team throughout the 90 minutes with a total of 11 shots and 74% possession, and looked poised for at least one goal.
Unfortunately for Rotherham, an own goal was given away in the 96th minute from Angus MacDonald.
Rotherham United
Rotherham are currently 22nd in the table, and facing an even steeper uphill climb. The Millers need seven points to pull themselves away from the relegation zone and a win against a team so near in points would be vital.
However, a brutal schedule of four games in 10 days is likely to factor into the outcome of this game, with Rotherham having little time to train, recover between each match.
One player to watch for Rotherham is forward Michael Smith. This player has scored a total of nine goals and three assists so far this season. Compared to last week, Huddersfield will need to be on point as to not repeat the mistakes of Tuesday night.
Pre-Match Press Conference
Huddersfield Town Manager Carlos Corberán spoke to the press ahead of the game.
Fielding questions on the Norwich game, he said: “We didn’t solve anything we wanted to solve.
“They were the better game in both attack and defence and it was clear that we didn’t perform.”
Huddersfield were already five goals down by the end of the second half on Tuesday night.
When as about the team talk in the locker room at the break, Carlos said: “We had to make sure that we kept fighting for the fans and to make sure that we have a better half than the first one.
“It would have been very hard to come away with one or three points after being down five.”
Finally, in his assessment of the upcoming Rotherham game, he was succinct, simply stating: “Three points is going to be important for both teams.”
Predictions
It’s crunch time now as we barrel towards the end of the season. Both teams will be desperate for a win. Rotherham needs a result to be in with a chance of staying up, and Huddersfield will be desperate not only to secure their safety, but to make amends for the woeful midweek performance.
Overall records see Rotherham in the lead in head-to-head battles, winning 29 times compared to Huddersfield’s 11. Recent times have been a bit different however with Rotherham regularly moving up and down between League One and the Championship, and Huddersfield having their short stint in the Premier League.
With all that being said, the Terriers will need to bring a much better attitude than the one they had on Tuesday, if they are to see this season through