After a productive week in which we took seven points from a possible nine against Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers and Barnsley, Town have had sufficient time to recover before this weekends clash with Brighton. This will be the first time the two teams have met since April 2011 when Town won a close encounter 3-2 in what was the last ever match at the Withdean Stadium.
While Brighton had already secured promotion to the Championship, that win for us kept the pressure on Southampton at the top of League One, but ultimately it would be the Saints who finished in second spot while we were beaten by Peterborough in the Playoff Final. Town finally secured promotion to the Championship last term, and head into this weekends match three points ahead of the Seagulls, who have dropped off slightly after a good start to the season. |
| Brighton are in poor form both in the league and in recent encounters against Town |
Having topped the Championship at the end of September, Brighton have won only one game since and could end November in the bottom half of the table if their current slide continues. Heading into this weekends contest their form will offer hope for Town fans as they have won only one of their last nine matches, and have held leads in three of their last four but ultimately failed to take three points. They haven't won away from home since they beat Millwall at the New Den in September and remain in eighth place only because of their good start to the season.
The Seagulls recent record against us will also offer Town fans a reason to be optimistic ahead of Saturdays game as they have failed to beat us in their last nine attempts. The last meeting between the two teams was the aforementioned 3-2 Town win at the Withdean Stadium in which Benik Afobe scored two goals including a dramatic late winner. Recent matches in Huddersfield have also gone our way - we won the last meeting 2-1 in December 2010 while the biggest winning margin ever between the two teams was our 7-1 victory in August 2009.
Simon Grayson however will definitely not be taking our opponents lightly as they are better than their current form suggests and possess some top players at this level. Wayne Bridge is on loan from Manchester City and has impressed so far this season while the likes of Liam Bridcutt, Tomasz Kuszczak and top goalscorer Craig Mackail-Smith are all key players. The former Peterborough United striker is well known by Town fans having scored against us in our 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
Given the form of Brighton it could be a blessing in disguise that we play them this weekend as we are on a decent run and will be looking to keep that run going. Key to our recent form are the performances of midfield duo Adam Clayton and Keith Southern. Oliver Norwood had been carried to an extent by these two in recent weeks and was dropped for last weekends win against Barnsley, and I reckon Grayson will stick with two central midfielders on Saturday.
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| Adam Clayton has been massively impressive in recent weeks |
Up front we have a strike-force in good form as Jermaine Beckford scored the winner at Oakwell while Lee Novak scored two goals against Blackburn. Beckford will obviously be our biggest goal threat while Novak will endeavour to run the channels but also offer the option of switching to the right wing to allow Church to play up front. James Vaughan will definitely miss out but with these three, plus the option of Alan Lee who has been immense from the bench, we have plenty of fire power in our ranks.
Town have looked much better defensively in our last three matches since Joel Lynch returned to partner Peter Clarke at the heart of our defence and when fit that partnership should always start. Jack Hunt will remain at right back while Paul Dixon, who impressed most against Barnsley despite not impressing me, should stay on the left side of our defence. Alex Smithies has done nothing to deserve dropping so my starting eleven for this Saturdays match would be as below:
There's no doubting Saturdays opposition will offer more of a threat on Saturday than Barnsley did last weekend, but if we remain solid and take our chances like we have been doing there's no reason we can't continue our good form. The performances of Clayton and Southern should dictate how we play as a team and if they can repeat their feats of recent weeks we should be okay. My prediction is another hard fought win for the Terriers.
Brighton do not struggle against 4-4-2 unless the opponents are a better side. It is teams that park the bus and play 5-4-1 that have proved frustrating for the Albion. The midfield battle with be crucial and as Brighton play 4-3-3 the theory says Huddersfield will have the extra man. It does not work like that because Brighton withdraw one of their forward players to bolster the absence of a man in midfield. The drawback of this is the firepower upfront is sometimes lacking (like in a 4-4-2). The Albion have failed to score through their midfielders this season (if you exclude wingers).
ReplyDeletePlayers to watch: Wayne Bridge at left back (if recovers from his short term injury), Vicente, creative midfield, (who will be missing because of a long term injury) and the slightly enigmatic Will Buckley with pace and strength on the right wing. The expensive Craig Maskell-Smith blows hot and cold, scoring difficult goals and missing much easier ones.
Because the Brighton team has been squandering chances it is unclear if Dobbie or Barnes will start. If Dobbie starts it means that Gus Poyet does not rate Huddersfiled's attack so much as Barnes is better defensively.
The speed merchant winger is Kazenga Lualua but he has been off-form and might not even make the squad. His place will be taken by the Spanish "interiore" midfielder Orlandi in the absence of Vicente. He does not appear to be at full match fitness and this applies to the Spanish forward-midfielder David Lopez as well.
Kuszczak in goal for the Albion is as good as you will face and has not let the side down yet.
Albion may have players missing through injury with central defender El Abd a doubtful starter. The replacement is the youngster Dunk who is not experienced. Liam Bridcutt at defensive midfield may be influential as the game progresses. He is a player that is often overlooked as he is tidy and efficient rather than spectacular.
I doubt Poyet will not rate our attack given that is one the strongest areas of our squad with Beckford, Church and Novak to choose from. We've only failed to score at home once this season against Leicester who were by far the best team we've played, so it will be interesting to see how your defence v our attack works out.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned both Mackail-Smith and Bridcutt when talking about Albions key players as whenever I've seen them they've been very impressive. Mackail-Smith always seems to play well against us - I was hoping we'd sign him in the summer but he seems to have found some form for you lot.
It seems like Albion caught Huddersfield on a bad day and Town missed their top strikers Beckford and Novak, whereas Barnes just missed the goal when he should have scored. Typical Brighton performance with squandered chances. Brezovan the Albion third choice keeper was your main threat and so it proved when it was too late.
ReplyDeleteBarnes did indeed adopt his defensive duties. Huddersfield 1 Will Buckley 2