Terriers have to try and keep Eiting next season
WELCOME back, Carel Eiting.
And we really, really mean that.
The numbers suggest that after Jonathan Hogg, the Dutchman is the player Huddersfield Town have missed most this season. They have taken 1.56 points per game with him in the starting line-up enough to be in upper-midtable but just 0.81 points per game without him.
That won’t all be down to him, of course, with Eiting’s injury coinciding with several other lengthy key absences including Harry Toffolo and Josh Koroma.
In their 10 games with all three of them in the starting line-up, Town’s points per game tally jumps to 1.70 - not far from play-off form - and their goals per game almost doubles compared to when any one of them is absent.
All of which tells us what we already know, that while Town’s first 11 this season is actually pretty good, the back-up options are sadly deficient.
The difference Eiting made in his brief late cameo against Barnsley was immediately apparent, with the Dutchman the only Town player on the day who was able to carve out time for himself on the ball.
At his best, Eiting has that rare ability to make time seem to stand still around him. He doesn’t look like he’s doing anything very quickly, but he always seems to have half a second of extra thinking time that just isn’t available to other players.
That is, surely, a result of his upbringing at Ajax, a club obsessed with the importance of space even in a country that is singularly fascinated with the concept.
In his book Brilliant Orange,