Is it time for fringe players to be handed their chance?
HUDDERSFIELD Town fans are understandably concerned about the direction the club are going, with the Terriers sitting secondbottom of the Championship table and yet to win a game this season following relegation from the Premier League.
The appointment of Danny and Nicky Cowley has provided something of a boost despite the 2-0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend.
Our Huddersfield Town writer STEVEN CHICKEN gave his thoughts on some of the big talking points at the John Smith’s Stadium during a Q&A session with fans...
■Poffy Mouse asked: Tommy Elphick - his legs have gone and concentration gone. Time for Jon Stankovic or Rarmani EdmondsGreen if Terence Kongolo remains at left-back?
CHICKEN: A lot of people really have laid into him. He had a shocker of a debut against Derby and I think has really struggled to win the Town fans back over as a result.
He and Schindler are probably too similar. They share the same strengths and weaknesses, and that means if the opposition are able to get at one, they can also get at the other.
I would agree the pair of them were poor on Sunday for both of the goals, leaving way too much space in the box for dangerous strikers to win headers and failing to provide a challenge when the cross came in. CHICKEN: Difficult one to answer because it would require a level of behind-the-scenes knowledge and understanding of a particular player’s psychology that we’re just never going to get without working with them on a day-to-day basis.
Schindler leads by example and was the obvious candidate to take it off Tommy Smith at the time, and having had it such a short time it probably felt cruel to take it back off him, particularly given that after Hogg, he is the longest-ser ving undisputed firstchoice at the club.
I think the importance of the captaincy is a bit overblown – players should know who to listen to on the pitch, armband or not. And I don’t think it is the primary reason for Schindler’s recent dip in form.
Elphick had a shocker of a debut against Derby and I think has really struggled to win the
fans back over CHICKEN: I have gone out of my way to defend some players but I have to be brutally honest here and say I share the fans’ opinion on Hadergjonaj. His tactical indiscipline and unwillingness to get back has created problems for Town because it throws the whole of the rest of the side out of kilter trying to cover for him.
He needs to sit ten yards back from where he generally has been – as the Cowleys kept telling him from the touchline on Sunday – and be more selective on when he gets forward. He also should have done a better job stopping Kadeem Harris putting in the cross for the first Wednesday goal, though Schindler should also have done much better challenging Fletcher for the header.
I would caution, though, that even if Hadergjonaj instantly became a solid defender overnight, he is far from the only Town player who has been underperforming this season and improvements need to come across the board.
Duhaney has to be considered as an option but he is probably not quite ready yet after his injury. He missed basically all of pre-season and only got his first 90 minutes for the development team last Monday.
The fact Town are so light at fullback is the number one issue for them to solve in January, if they can’t do it before then.
CHICKEN: I think Reece Brown deserves a look even if only from the bench, particularly if Alex Pritchard isn’t available.
Phil Hodgkinson said on the pod